Couple of things which work for me when hand holding.

- Instead of pressing the shutter button down vertically, slowly 'wipe' your finger across the shutter button.

- Elbow rested in stomach/ribs, I Breathe in, breathe out a little bit, hold and shoot.

- This one only works if your subject is static. Stick the drive into multi-burst and take 3 shots. I find that out of the three, the second or third one will be sharper. Perhaps this is because I make so much effort to be still to press the button, I am more relaxed a few centiseconds later ?

- My girlfriend in 5'6",where I am 6'3". I find her head perfect height to place a bean bag on and then rest my 100-400L on top. She gets annoyed when I shout at her to stop bloody moving !!! She gets even more annoyed when I say "thanks, mono-girl !"

- I've never tried it, but I've heard about inverted mono-pods. Basicly a hook which threads into the tripod mount of the camera, with a loop of string which you put under your foot. you then pull the camera up so the string is tort.





Sean Rose wrote:
> Hey all, there was a thread in the 300d forum on lens shake and I
> posted the following tips I use to help steady the camera when
> shooting long telephoto. Still, it's made me think.. maybe someone
> else has some great tips too! So here are mine, please share yours!
>
> There are a number of things that affect camera shake. As you have
> pointed out 300mm is one. The 1.6x crop factor is another - it
> amplifies your shake by using less of the 35mm frame - enlarged to
> the same final output size. Not using a fast enough shutter speed
> is another.
>
> Still, one of the most often overlooked is YOU the photographer.
> You have to concentrate on what your body is doing. Try not to
> breathe. Inhale or exhale and hold it - then click the shutter. Is
> your right arm (left for lefties!) dangling out in the air as it
> holds the camera? Or are you pulling it in tight against your torso
> for support? If it wont mess up your framing too much, I find that
> kneeling, squatting and sitting can make your body much less prone
> to shake compared to standing up. Shooting several frames with a
> click of the shutter makes up for the movement as your hand
> squeezes the shutter button (and thus the camera). If you are
> shooting flowers.. drop your neckstrap and stand on it.. pull the
> camera up and voila - a rudimentary monopod/tripod.
>
> Hope that gives you some ideas!
>
> --
> -Sean
>
> Gallery: http://www.seanrose.com
>
> http://www.seanrose.com/images/sean.jpg

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Kit in profile. 'I can't let you do that Michael'