The Most Important Photo Gear For Sharp Photos

Celosia flower taken with 210mm lens mounted on a sturdy tripod

Photo enthusiasts spend a great deal of their time thinking about camera bodies, lenses, filters, etc. to try to bring the quality of the images they produce just a notch higher than where it is now. And I am as guilty of that as anyone.

But there is one simple piece of photo gear that will make more of a clear difference in the sharpness of the images you produce than almost anything else in your camera bag. It's not sexy and high-tech, it's the good old tripod!

If you are a nature photographer and you take the time to mount your camera and lens to a good sturdy tripod, you may be shocked at how much better work you produce. Why? Well, even the best of us aren't rock steady at all times when we hold the camera. And sometimes, if we are honest, we trust ourselves a little too much and start shooting hand-held under low lighting conditions just because we don't want to go to all the trouble of getting the tripod out and mounting the camera to it.

Over time, I have realized that this is not wise. At least, not if you want really sharp and detailed shots. It's true that image stabilization can help a great deal if you start to encounter lower light conditions and a tripod is not handy. But nothing actually replaces the clear advantage of having your camera and lens locked down tight and solid as a rock. And if your subject is stationary, you can go as slow as you want with your shutter speed and still get sharp and clear results.

It's true that you can spend thousands of dollars on very expensive lenses to get the sharper photographs that you want, but for a small fraction of that cost, you can buy a very good tripod and improve the results you get from almost any lens you have now.

You can take a look at the photo at the top of this post as an example of how a tripod can help keep your images sharp and clear.

In my next post, I'll explain the gear that I have settled upon to help me get as much mounted assistance for my camera as possible.