Image #1

Image #2 

 Image #3

“Capturing Alaska”
with Wayde Carroll






Tripod, Tripod, Tripod!


  These three images were taken along the Inside Passage  in southeast Alaska but they have something else in common as well. Dare to take a guess? (Hint: See this weeks’ blog heading!) That’s right! They were all taken with my camera mounted on a tripod.
  If there is one piece of advice I’d give an aspiring photographer it would be “take your tripod”.
  By making the effort to lug the extra weight around you are setting yourself up for better photo taking opportunities. The reasons for this are many. The photos here illustrate several of them.
 In Image #1 it was a dark day on Mitkof Island, heavy rain clouds filled the sky. I didn’t have days to spend on the island hoping for perfect weather but I loved this scene.
  By using a tripod I was able to use a longer exposure than I would have been able to if I was hand holding the camera. Therefore I was also able to use a small aperture to achieve a greater range of focus (depth of field) and use a slower ISO of 100 to minimize the image noise. Having the camera mounted also left my hands free to hold an off camera flash that I used to make the foreground rocks and grasses “pop” out of the dark surroundings. This image was taken with an aperture of F16 and a shutter speed of 1/25 of a second.
  In Image #2 I was on the Rainbow Falls Trail in the dark recesses of the Tongass National Forest. Again, I needed the tripod to allow for a slower shutter speed and greater depth of field. I also wanted to have a human element in the photo to provide some perspective. Unfortunately I was the only model available, but with the camera on the tripod I was able to provide the perspective I was seeking. I used a wireless trigger to make the exposure. This image was 1/5” at F18 at ISO 200.
  Image #3 is of the lower portion of Rainbow Falls not far from where Image #2 was shot. It was somewhat dark here as well but the tripod was especially useful  for a couple of reasons. First of all, I needed to use a telephoto lens to isolate the falls in a composition that was pleasing to me. In case you didn’t know, the longer your zoom, the faster your shutter speed needs to be to allow you to handhold and still retain a sharp image. Well, in the dark Tongass there was no way I could keep this image sharp while handholding.
   I also knew that I wanted a long exposure so that the cascading water would take on a silky appearance. Hurray for the tripod! This shot was 1/4” at F11 at ISO 100
  As you can see, your tripod really opens up your photographic opportunities in situations where quality photography would be nearly impossible otherwise.
  Even on bright sunny days, when handholding is possible, many pros still resort to their tripod for several reasons. One of the best arguments is that by taking the time to mount your camera to your tripod you are slowing down your image taking process. Rather than taking a quick snapshot, you can ,instead,  study your composition and fine tune it. Once you think you are set, it is a good idea to scan around the edges of your frame and make sure there are no extraneous elements  that might distract from your main subject. A client at a recent workshop aptly dubbed this exercise “border patrol”. Often, we can be so focused on the main subject of our image that we forget to see what else is in the frame.
 Sometimes, ok most of the time, it’s a pain, but I’d rather make the effort than miss a possibly great image.

Take your tripod!