In this week’s Quick Tip Thursday we look at one simple but important tip for long exposure photography: Remove the camera strap.
Capturing razor-sharp images is something most photographers strive to do. Sturdy tripods, remote shutters, and mirror lockup help us to achieve this but that’s all useless unless you remember to do one simple thing: Remove the camera strap.
This won’t make a difference for handheld photography but it can make a huge difference when doing long exposure photography. Especially in windy conditions.
A Camera Strap Causes Vibration and Blurry Photos
The purpose of using a sturdy tripod or remote shutter is to reduce camera vibration. Small things such as pressing the camera’s shutter button is enough to cause vibration when extending the shutter speed. This vibration can, in the worst cases, lead to blurry images.
A camera strap can cause a lot of vibration as well. In fact, in windy conditions, it can lead to blurry images even when you follow all other guidelines to capture sharp images.
Even if you use a camera strap on a daily basis I strongly recommend to remove it when you’re extending the shutter speed to one second or more. The longer the shutter speed is, and the windier the conditions are, the more important this will be.
How to Put the Camera Strap Back On
Many photographers deliberately ignore this tip because they struggle to reattach the camera strap when they are done. I get that it can be frustrating but this really shouldn’t be an excuse.
Luckily it’s not nearly as difficult as some think and it can be done in less than a minute. In fact, using a quick attach camera strap such as the Peak Design SL-BK-3 makes it possible to do in just seconds (there really isn’t any excuse now!)
For those that are using a more traditional camera strap, this video by Photography Concentrate shows just how easy it is to put the camera strap on, the right way:
Conclusion
Today’s challenge is quite simple: remove the camera strap from your camera. This is going to make difference in the sharpness of your images.
Again, just to repeat myself, this tip is for long exposure photography and won’t make a difference for when you’re photographing handheld. You might not see a big difference during calm days either but once the wind picks up, you’ll be happy that you’ve removed it.
Did you enjoy this quick tip? If so, make sure to read our other Quick Tip Thursday articles!
For more in-depth information about long exposure photography, take a look at our best selling eBook The Ultimate Guide to Long Exposure Photography. There you’ll learn everything you need to know in order to create compelling images with a slow shutter speed.