Adventures with the Tripod

Today's blog post is inspired by a question I got last week from Sandi, who wanted to know how we get such good pictures with our tripod. I loved that question!

Back when I was single, I was adamant that being alone could not mean a lack of photos. This was before the days of smart phones with reverse picture options that could let you see yourself as you took photos. I got to be quite expert at holding my little point-and-shoot camera backwards and taking selfies that did not include half my arm over on the side.

It's all so much easier now, with timers and tripods and such. And Ryan is such a good sport. He is great about setting up the tripod and setting the timer and being willing to stick with the attempts until we have great pictures!

On our honeymoon, we purchased a little compact/travel tripod similar to this one - which we have used for every photo shoot, every vacation, every county tour, everything in the last three years. It was so tiny that it folded up nicely in my purse or our backpacks, but alas, on our most recent vacation, it broke, thankfully NOT while propping up our fancy pants camera.

Fortunately, Ryan's mom had just given us an amazing, grown-up, fancy pants tripod that raises higher and is MUCH more durable than our old one. We had it with us too, so even though we can't shove it in a purse, it saved the rest of our vacation.

With all of that fascinating info out of the way, here are some things about our tripod pictures.

1. Our camera has the capability to take either one or ten pictures on a timer. I almost always go for ten. I do that partly because Ryan is a blinker {sorry, Baby!! But it's true!!} and partly because we're goofballs and usually cram serious AND silly pictures into one round of shooting. Taking ten is also very helpful when taking a big group photo because it increases your chances of having at least one good photo of everyone. If I get two good pictures out of ten...yay!

2. I try to pull the lens back so it captures a bigger space, and then as I edit, I crop and zoom in various ways to get some close-ups and some farther away, without ever actually zooming in and out with my lens.

3. When we set the timer, one of us is always IN the picture already and the other one runs in after we press the shutter. By having one person already in, we can give the camera something to focus on that won't change with the last minute run-in person. This helps us eliminate so many blurry pictures.

4. Sometimes we just have to do it over. Sometimes, no kidding, we'll take thirty pictures to get one good one. We always check after our first round of ten, and if there's something we really didn't like, we'll adjust it and try again with a second ten. And sometimes - we have to do a third try. Some days are just like that.

5 We've learned things about ourselves that help make the photo shoots go faster now. Like we've learned how NOT to stand with our hands so that it doesn't look like I'm pregnant or that our crazy noses aren't sticking out like beaks. All trial and error.

6. Have fun with the mess-ups. Sometimes pictures are a FLOP. And sometimes the flops are the funniest.

Here are some examples of our tripod adventures, for better and worse:

When Ryan underestimates the time needed to run around a bed ON plastic before the pictures start...

The beginning of a shoot...

Caught changing positions...but it was still funny...

What starts well...

Can end in the MOST interesting way:

I think for us...our best pictures are the ones where we're actually not TRYING to do anything organized and nice. The ones where we can just be goofy. Maybe that's the key. Be yourselves instead of being perfect.

Hope that helps! Happy tripod-ing! :)