The Real Reason Why You Need A Tripod For Landscape Photography
There are many reasons why you need a tripod for successful landscape and nature photography. The most important and most obvious reason for tripods is that you drastically increase your chances to get a sharp image even in low-light conditions when longer exposures beyond what can be hand-held are necessary.
So far, so duh, you might think.
BUT… one reason that not enough people talk about for why it’s a good idea to use a tripod for landscape photography is this: It slows you down.
Think about it… We’ve all been guilty of coming to a new location and being completely blown away, wanting to shoot everything, right away. Before we know it, we’ve rushed to start photographing because the light is good and we don’t want to miss the shot. And then we get home, look at the images in Lightroom, and we realize… we missed the shot.
Why? Because we didn’t take our time to really analyze the scene. We didn’t take the time to think about our WHY?, to think about what it is that draws us most to this scene. If we don’t think about that first, chances are, we are not making the right lens choice. If we don’t think about the WHY? first, it makes it that much harder to follow the process for what makes a good composition in landscape and nature photography.
Why a tripod is necessary and WILL improve your landscape photography
In short… Composition is a process that requires thought, that requires time. It requires us to get to the location early (and by early, I mean BEFORE the first light). It requires us to slow down, to get into a contemplative mindset. I’ve never met an artist who did their best work when they are rushed, without thinking through their brush stroke first in painstaking detail. Photography is no different.
Which brings us back to the tripod. Although I recognize that the act of setting up a tripod doesn’t (and shouldn’t) take a very long time, at least it is one extra step in the process before you start firing away. And once the camera is on the tripod, because of the restricted movability at that point, framing your composition will take you longer, too.
Taking longer is a good thing as a landscape and nature photographer. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. The more time you give yourself to think about your composition, the better it will be.
The crucial mistake to avoid when using a tripod for landscape photography
While using a tripod will slow you down enough so that your thoughts can catch up with your hands, the tripod in and of itself doesn’t guarantee successful images, of course.
One mistake I see both beginners and more experienced photographers make all the time when using a tripod for landscape photography is an extension of the rushed approach to photography: They get to a scene, they find a spot they like, they set up the tripod right there, and that’s it. That’s where they shoot from, until they pack up and leave.
What a missed opportunity!
Part of the reason why I always show up at a location as early as I possibly can is because once I found a spot I like and I set up the tripod, I then like to take the camera off the tripod again and walk around, looking through the viewfinder for more compositions while I wait for the light to get great. More often than not, I find a composition I like even better than the one I originally set up for, and so I move the tripod.
This form of scouting out the location is of course best done the day before, when you have plenty of time, rather than during the quickly-changing light conditions around Golden Hour. But that’s not always possible, and with this technique, at least you don’t limit yourself to a first impression.
Nature, just like humans, doesn’t always reveal its truest beauty upon first impression. It’s our job to get to know a scene if we want to successfully capture its true essence. That’s a process that takes time. So take it.
A tripod will slow you down. And that’s a good thing!
The best tripods for landscape photography
The question, “What is the best tripod for landscape photography?” is a topic for an entire blog post of its own. So I am going to keep this section short and sweet. When thinking about which tripod works best for you, a couple of factors to think about are:
The tripod height: I’m speaking from experience here. I’m 6’5”, and I used to routinely have to hunch down to look through the viewfinder when my camera was on a tripod. Ideally, you’d want your viewfinder to be right around eye level when your tripod is fully extended (which doesn’t mean that that’s always the best angle to shoot from).
The tripod weight: Again, speaking form experience here… If you do a lot of hiking with your camera pack, weight quickly becomes a factor. I usually look for carbon-fiber tripods that have reduced weight. Simultaneously, I always make sure that the tripod is rock solid, because a tripod that’s too lightweight is less likely to support your camera system, including long and heavy lenses, making it more susceptible to shake — and increasing the potential for ruined, out-of-focus images.
When I first started out, I was using the Oben AT-3565 Folding Aluminum Travel Tripod with the BC-217T Ball Head. And I’d recommend that tripod to anyone just starting out or starting to get more serious about their photography. You get a ton of bang for your buck with this true workhorse of a tripod.
These days, I’m using the market leader when it comes to tripods: Really Right Stuff. Their stuff is expensive, very much so. But the quality, marksmanship and longevity of both the tripod and the ball head I chose are pretty much unparalleled. It very well might be the last tripod you’ll ever buy.
Again, there are many more considerations for choosing the right tripod, and if you need help, please do not hesitate to reach out.
PLEASE NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links to Amazon. If you end up buying something through those links, I may earn a small commission — at no additional cost to you. It’s just one more way to keep my small biz running. Please know though that I only link out to useful photography items I would or have used myself.