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Subcribe to comment rss feedWhy perspective comes before legs, locks, and level horizons
Mark Littlejohn
Mark Littlejohn is an outdoor photographer who lives on the edge of a beach in the desolate wastelands of the Highlands of Scotland. He takes photographs of anything unlucky enough to pass in front of his camera.
Over the last few years, I’ve seen various comments about people no longer using tripods. Perhaps making disparaging comments about them. I’ve never encouraged people to change their style of shooting and burn their tripods. There is no right way and no wrong way to make a photograph. Some people use a tripod because they have unsteady hands and find it impossible to take a sharp image without the steadying influence of a tripod. Some might feel a better connection to the landscape when they use a tripod. It slows them down, their breathing steadies, and they can relax and see clearly.
It might be that you're slowing down a shot. Perhaps slowing it down to a second or two. Maybe even a minute. Some. And I'll use David Ward here as a prime example, shoot the most beautiful landscapes in miniature. Everything sharp. Tilted and shifted to perfection. A tripod isn't just desired, it's essential. Others will take similar shots of minutiae that will require those dark arts known as focus stacking, and again, a tripod isn't essential.
But I do have a couple of tiny issues. Firstly. How do you set the tripod up in the first place? I live in quite a picturesque part of the world. There are often little groups of photographers dotted around our landscape. They usually stand side by side in a neat little row and have the tripods lined up in front of them. They are all set to eye height for the user. No ricked necks or creaky knees for them. Cameras aligned horizontally. It always makes me wonder who we are setting up the tripod for? Us? or the view? I’m a firm believer that there is one absolutely right place to take an image from. Perspective is king. You have to decide what that perspective is before you start extending the legs of that leggy thing. The right perspective is very rarely precisely at eye height.
Another problem is a tripod's ability to hypnotise its owner. I was on Luskentyre recently, and I saw an unknown photographer on the beach. Tripod set up facing the sea. There had been some nice light catching the curling waves. A wonderful luminance as they folded in upon themselves. But that light had paused, flickered and vanished. The gent, however, was still transfixed by the rear LCD screen of his camera. Oblivious to the views on either side of him.
I have no issue with setting up a tripod and then leaving it in the same space for prolonged periods of time. You might love a composition, and you're just waiting for that wondrous bit of light a la Julian Calverley. But step back from time to time. Remove your gaze from the back of the camera. Let your shoulders relax a little. Take a long, slow look around you. Over your left shoulder. Your right shoulder. I think a 35mm lens has a field of view of around 60 degrees. Much the same as your eyes. Which means that, thanks to the hypnotic effect of that three legged thing in front of you, you’re ignoring about 80% of the world around you. At the end of the day, all I’m saying is, keep the tripod, but use it wisely.
Don’t let the tail wag the dog.