Project one: Core skills - Delayed reaction

Mike Harris explains how to reduce bad vibes and capture super-sharp long exposures every time

- Mike Harris

The Mission – Learn how to mitigate camera shake when shooting long exposures

Time – 15 minutes

Skill level – Beginner

Kit needed – Tripod

You’d be forgiven for thinking that using a tripod is a sure-fire way to capture shake-free shots. But even when your Nikon’s securely locked in place it’s still possible to end up with images that aren’t tack-sharp. This is because even the slightest vibrations can cause camera shake.

A good starting point is to turn off a lens’s Vibration Reduction, because image stabilization has been known to compensate for movement that doesn’t exist when the camera is stationary. If you want to be really thorough you could extend this to the in-body VR present in some Z cameras, although we’ve yet to experience any adverse effects by leaving it on.

Perhaps the easiest way to introduce unwanted movement is by physically pressing the shutter button. Even if you have a super-light touch you can still introduce tiny vibrations that could reduce the sharpness of your images. A common way to mitigate this is to use a remote shutter release or set a self-timer so you can fire the shutter without physically touching your camera. However, if you’re using a DSLR, even this method won’t completely safeguard you from unwanted shake.