The blue hour shot that made me ditch my tripod forever

I was out at Arches National Park last month and it was that weird 20 minutes after sunset where everything glows. My tripod kept slipping on the sandstone and I got so frustrated I just braced my camera against a rock and fired off a handheld shot at ISO 3200. That accidental photo came out sharper than any of the tripod ones, and now I only bring my monopod for long exposure stuff. Has anyone else found that ditching gear actually improves their night shots, or am I just getting lucky with mild wind?

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nora11023d ago

That "accidental photo" line really hit me... it's funny how we hold onto gear as a crutch until something forces us to let go. I noticed the same thing with my old film camera when the light meter died, I just started guessing exposures and my keeper rate actually went up. It's like the extra fuss makes us second-guess ourselves, and when we strip that away we finally trust our eyes. Maybe there's a lesson there about most things in life, the more we overthink it, the less present we actually are.