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10 tips to help you get sharp photos when shooting handheld

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Getting sharp photos when shooting handheld is probably the biggest struggle for new photographers – especially if they haven’t figured out how exposure and shutter speed works yet. Even if you know what you’re doing with exposure, though, it can still be a little tricky sometimes. And with as tiny as camera LCDs are, it can be difficult to spot until you get back home and look at them full-screen on your computer.

So, how can you help to guarantee you get sharper photos? Well, photographer James Popsys is here with a bunch of tips to help you figure that out. Not all of them may apply to you – particularly the first one if you don’t drink coffee – but between them, with a little practise, you should be able to start seeing sharper images in no time.

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Follow these tips to nail handheld shots with telephoto lenses

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Using telephoto lenses handheld can be quite challenging and it may not be easy to get a sharp photo without a tripod. They’re also bulky and heavy, so it can be difficult to even hold them for extended periods of time. But there are ways to make your life easier and your photos sharper even if you don’t want to use a tripod. And in this video, Leigh TheSnapChick will share them with you.

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A guide to handheld focus-stacking

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Handheld focus stacking is a brilliant solution for many scenarios. It saves you all the troubles of using a focusing rail in the field and provides a maximum of flexibility.
Whenever you need more depth of field than you can get with trading off image quality, this is the way to work around it.

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Should you use a tripod or shoot hand-held for nature photography?

When it comes to nature photography, should you shoot on a tripod or hand-held? Let me share some personal stories and then I would love to get your opinion.

I shoot the vast majority of my images on a tripod. I am fully aware that I sacrifice some flexibility in the field. However, such an approach gives me sharp images with a horizon in level. I predominantly shoot during the golden hour. This entails that I often shoot exposures where the shutter is open way longer than if I was shooting in bright daylight. If possible, I also almost exclusively shoot at base ISO. Base ISO means that the sensor produces very little noise and peaks in terms of dynamic range. I know that with my sub-par hand-held technique I’ll probably ruin many images during golden hour due to handshake. Even vibration reduction activated can’t save me there.

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This wooden DIY camera rig is about as frugal as it gets

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When push comes to shove, the kinds of DIY solutions people come up with to solve photography and filmmaking problems really can be amazing. Take camera rigs, for example. DSLRs aren’t exactly the most ergonomic of devices when it comes to shooting video. But camera rigs can be very expensive, even relatively modest ones. So what can you do?

For Ghana-based filmmaker Abass Safian, the answer was obvious. Make his own. And that’s exactly what he did with a few pieces of wood, some basic tools, and a little time. It’s a great looking DIY rig and probably does the job as well as some of the commercial options.

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This algorithm quickly resolves blurry footage caused by camera shake

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Stabilization is definitely one of the essential things to have in mind while shooting and processing the video. Computer engineers from Duke University have come up with an algorithm that quickly resolves the problem of blur caused by the shaky footage. This solution looks at the problem from a fresh angle and resolves it in a new way. And it’s now even integrated into Adobe After Effects.

This stabilization algorithm helps you handle blurry videos in a quick and efficient manner. The scientists behind the code shared the way it works, as well as some sample footage to see the software in action.

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Yi Technology are releasing a handheld gimbal for action cameras?

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I’ve become a fan of Yi Technology’s action cameras since I started using them a couple of months ago. For what they offer, they’re an absolute bargain, and they work very well. A video posted to YouTube today suggests that they’re expanding their range to include stabilisation.

Having recently picked up a gimbal for use with my phone, one soon realises how useful they are for handheld filming. I’ve been thinking about picking up another for using with action cameras, and it looks like the list of options just got a little longer.

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