QuickTip: Setting Up a Tripod

I’m giving a QuickTip on how to properly setup and use a tripod, today on The Slanted Lens!

Tips for Setting Up Tripods

1. If you aren’t planning on fully extending the legs of your tripod, don’t use the thinnest part of the leg first! You are using the weakest point of the leg to support all the weight of our camera! Don’t do it! Instead, extend the thicker leg before you extend that tiny little leg.
2. When extending your tripod to a point somewhere between the second and third sections, drop them all to the ground to ensure that each leg is actually the same length. Don’t just eyeball it because you will end up with an unbalanced tripod!
3. If you don’t have to, don’t setup the tripod so that you have to straddle one of the legs to access your camera. Of course there are going to be situations in which you have to straddle a leg to get the shot you want, but when avoidable, don’t risk your camera’s safety by straddling the tripod leg.

Mounting Your Camera

1. Mount your camera so that the knob on the mount is not blocking your battery compartment. This will make your life infinitely easier when you need to change your battery mid-shoot. If not, you are going to have to remove your camera from the mount completely in order to switch out that battery. 
2. Leave the height of your tripod just a little lower than where you are going to shoot. This will allow you more wiggle room so that you can adjust your camera up and down to find the perfect shot. So, if you want to shoot at eye level, set the camera up below eye level.

Let me know if you have any other tips for setting up or using tripods! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! And don’t forget to enter our giveaway to win either a Vanguard Alta Pro 2+263CT, an Alta Sky 45D backpack, or a VEO Travel Tripod!

Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!

– Jay P.