Hiring a camera - what you need

Mobile phones take great pictures. But sometimes you want something more. Movement detection for animals at night. Underwater. Or higher spec.

Camera. Lens. Choice of wide angle, telephoto and so on.

Tripod.

Camera lens covers front and back. 

Inventory.

I shall show you photos of the camera we hired soon.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Does Your Group Need A Camera To Record Meetings? Do your need permission? For, Against, Alternatives

I heard a proposal in Singapore that a Toastmasters Club should buy a camera. I have already experienced this process at HOD in London.

The idea is not new. Years ago the John May school of public speaking recorded speeches. People could see the playback and observe their own mannerisms, such as rattling metal coins or keys in their pockets.

An organization such as a charity will want a fundraiser to raise money. The film can be shown at the start of a fundraising dinner.

Arguments For Cameras
1 As a speaker you can see yourself.
2 You can compare yourself at the start and end of the year and see your progress.
3 You have a reel of speeches to show to a potential employer.
4 The club can take the speaker's first and last speeches of the year if they developed to show what a difference the club makes.
5 If the club is uniformly good, they have a lot of showcases.
6 You could select the two best speeches of each speaker.
7 People can learn not to be self-conscious and camera shy.
8 Get a sponsor or donor - local camera hire shop, supermarket, department store, auction house, second hand shop.
9 Look on ebay and in camera magazines.
10 Consider using recording facilities on Zoom, learncool or other places.
11 Use a summer BBQ or Xmas dinner at a restaurant, and/or a raffle, with profits going towards the cost of the camera.
12 What about permission? Many events organizers state that the event will be recorded and that you are deemed to have granted them permission.
13 On zoom and other platforms you have the option to turn off recording which conceals your from view.
14 Sometimes everybody is asked to turn on their camera for a group photo.
15 Warn the participants of the impending photo taking. Allow them time to comb their hair and find props such as toys or flags for a fun shot.
16 A camera on a tripod can take in focus shots in poor light.

Arguments Against Camera
1 Cameras are expensive.
2 They are expensive to maintain with storage, a key for the storage cupboard, insurance, accessories such as a tripod and flash and a carry bag and duplicated instructions and time for training sessions.
3 You can use a mobile phone.
4 A camera needs somebody trained to use it otherwise it gets forgotten or the operator is away.
5 You need permission to film somebody and again to show the film.
6 If you want in focus shots you can shoot outdoors in daylight in daytime.

At HOD Toastmasters club in the UK we were offered a camera by a technical person who wished to upgrade. We asked is any members would lend the club the money and be paid back later in the year. It took at least a year, maybe two, but the club got the camera and the donors got their money back.

Calls to action.
Form a committee of three to check the price of a camera and other groups' experiences.
Enquire about second hand cameras or buying a camera from a member who has an unused old camera.
Share the cost with a group meeting another day or the same day same venue another time.

The camera can be used to record parties, karoake, talent contests, testimonials for the club. Also podcasts.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

Common rock thrush Calling, Lissen Birds - Natural Birds Voice, Bird Nat...

In London the busiest birds in our garden are the four magpies, a couple of parakeets, the occasional robin, some wood pigeons or collared doves, and a very busy woodpecker, pecking away, plus a blue jay.

In Singapore, we recorded a bird singing on a balcony. We set the camera up on a tripod, focused on the balcony railing. At first we were too far away to get the bird in focus and the song loud enough to hear. We gradually moved the camera nearer and nearer.

We do have a remote clicker to operate the clicker. But it is designed to take you own photo or yourself with a group and the camera facing you. No good for the camera facing away from you.

We looked online to see cameras you can set up.

In Singapore we have always had plenty of birds. Singapore is a garden city. The palm trees and high trees abound, keeping birds way above the ground. Birds can fly from balcony to balcony.

Cats
What about cats? Yes, there are cats. If you have a balcony, you can only keep cats if the balcony is copletely railed so the cats cannot jump over.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

How To Buy And Use A Mini-Tripod With Your Mobile Phone

I just took a photo with my mobile phone on a tripod, for the first time. Success? What took me so long?

Problem
For years I had seen people setting up their mobile phones on desks to record themselves giving a speech. I had also seen people set up a mobile phone on a tripod to take a wide-angle photo of a group, set the timer and run to join the group.

I had suggested that a group I belong to should invest in a tripod so that members and visitors could record themselves speaking.

I recall the format: attention, interest, desire, action.

Why record yourself?

Attention
You can share your photos and make friends and win kudos. Keep in touch with guests.

Equally important, look at the photo. The camera makes you pay attention to yourself and your surroundings. The camera does not lie. Friends will be polite. You look in the mirror and from the front you look okay. But from the back, the mobile phone photo or video reveals, your hair is uncombed.

Hair - Bald Patches and Roots
Your camera says that when you walk onto the stage everybody can see your bald spot. Back view shows the roots of your hair are a different colour. Nobody will tell you that. The camera will tell you.

Interest - Your Outfit Analysed
The camera shows if your shoes are down at heel, or your shirt is hanging untidily below your jacket. If you got your appearance, your look, just right, the camera tells you that you looked wonderful, even if everybody else was too busy to take time to congratulate you.

The Room Revealed
The camera will tell you that the room looks a mess and a fire hazard with bags in the aisles. The Sargeant-at-arms responsible for the room set up and health and safety should be like the air hostess before take-off. He or she should walk up and down the aisles to check the route to the exit is clear and ask for obstructions to be removed, before they trip up somebody running up the aisle to speak on stage.

Desire
Yes, I had wanted to record for years. The camera can be set up on the front table. No need to have yourself on recorded telling somebody else, 'Press here'. If other people are too busy with their own speeches, never mind, you can record youself.

In Focus
The other great thing about the tripod is that you can take photos indoors, at night, in poor light and artificial light, with less risk of camera shake.

Action
How did I do it? The first surprise was that the tripod was so cheap. I already had a tripod. I must have bought it from the Poundland Shop in Harrow, London, England. The tripod was still attached to its backing, which said that it came from Birmingham, which is on many items supplied to the Poundland Shop.

So it had cost me only £1!

First step was to cut the plastic ties, relasing the tripod from the instructions and backing and pop the tripod into my bag. The tripod folds up small.

At the venue, second step was to attach the camera. I struggled with this. I was trying to pull the supports sideways and they clearly would not go. I asked my friend Anand for help and the problem was isntantly solved. You really have to be logical. It's like those taps in toilets. Process of elinination. If the door won't push, try pulling. If it won't go up sideways, try up and down. The camera was fixed by pulling the grip upwards, inserting the camera into the space, and letting the grip back down.

USING THE TIMER
At the end of the evening, we took a group photo. Another expert came to my aid. He set the camera up at the back of the room, checked everybody could be seen (small epople at the back come forward into the front row). He set the timer and ran to join us.

Afterwards, I went to take a photo but nothing happened. The camera was still set to timer so there was a delay.

REMOVING THE TIMER!
I ran after the photographer and asked him: 'How do I turn off the timer, and set the timer?'

He showed me that on an LG phone, the timer is in settings. You can move the timer through three settings, three seconds, ten seconds, and off.

Practising Using A Tripod
Before setting off to a meeting, try out your new tripod. Go onto the internet and type in the brand of your phone and the question, how do I set the timer.

Practice doing it at home. No tripod? Ask to see somebody else's and ask how the delay device works. Now that you know how to use it, you will be more inclined to buy one for yourself.

Buying a Tripod
If you don't have a tripod, look for one next time you are in a camera shop. You don't see one displayed?  Ask if they have one? Too expensive? Ask if they have a cheaper model. They might have a different one. Or they might mutter, "You can get one down the road in ... shop.'

Alternatively, look in a budget shop. You might also get one cheaply on the internet.

Happy snapping!

If you are running a speaking club or a photography training session, look for a cheap tripod to record your training, or to demonstrate the tripod to your pupils.

Harrow, London, England has both a Poundland and a One Pound Shop. Keep checking because their  stocks change all the time.

A miniature tripod from a budget store is also an inexpensive gift which is small enough to go in a Christmas stocking for children or adults. You'll be surte to get good use from it, taking pictures of the family's Christmas dinner.

Useful Websites
Lazada
A sturdy tripod at S$16.99
https://www.lazada.sg/products/heavy-duty-tripod-ubeesize-phone-and-camera-tabletop-mini-tripod-with-cell-phone-clip-holder-for-iphone-smartphoneswebcams-compact-camera

You Tube Demo of Poundland tripod


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

How To Take And Edit Group Photos At An Event Such As A Club Meeting Or Wedding

Problem
Your three main problems, er, nine main problems, make that eleven, are:
1 Timing
2 Getting near enough to take photos
3 Getting good poses - interesting pictures
4 Lighting and Angles
5 Permission to photograph places, events and people
6 People who don't want to be on Facebook or the internet
7 Remembering names for captions
8 Getting credit for your photos

9 People online who don't switch on their camera
10 Privacy of identity

11 Revealing that few of you attended

1 Arrive Early
You want a nearby parking place so you are not taking heavy bags a long distance.

You want the venue looking pristine before people arrive and obscure features or stand with their back to you or making funny faces, running about creating blur.

You need time to establish goodwill.  Get a seat near the front or side, or a place in the aisle (without obstructing fire exits and doors).

Take photos of VIPs because they will be surrounded by well-wishers later

Getting Near
If you have a zoom lens and tripod, arrive early, ask where the chairperson or president will be standing or sitting on stage so you can choose where to position yourself. You can move freestanding chairs to get in a better position.

2 Early Photos
Take an early photo, ideally of somebody standing on stage and sitting in the audience, preferably a VIP, failing that any willing bystander. This will show you if the area is visible.

You will notice any annoying obstructions such as trailing wires, or stacked chairs.  Advertisements for other events (which can be removed during your event and replaced), religious messages in a hall attached to a religious building, distracting children's drawings, or fire hydrants. You might wish to move so as to focus on the centre of the stage.

Also notice chairs vacated by the president and left empty with papers, bags in the aisle or on chairs.

If the front row is empty, I ask members of the audience to move forward.

Lights
If you have not enough light, you could turn on some lights.

If you have too much light, and you get glare from a window behind the stage, or people turned into black silhouettes against a white background, move to one side, or get separate photos of people standing with certificates at the other side of the hall.

Smiling Before And After
Take contestants before the event in case they leave at the half-way interval. They may also be smiling, confident, standing upright at the start. This will be the flattering photo to show, rather than one of them looking glum or slumped after they learn they did not win first place.

Conversely, you might find that your winner looked anxious before the contest, but jubilant afterwards.

You might think to ask the losers to congratulate the winners. Also tell the winners to tell the losers that they gave great speeches (or painted great paintings or made tasty and amusing cakes - whatever the event). You might also add your own praises to the 'losers'. You can then photograph all the participants together looking happy.

Photo Editing
To save time, spin through all your photos and delete blanks and accidents on both the original mobile phone or camera and any editing device with a larger screen.

You might immediately select one, two, three of the best photos to send immediately to your website or the local newspaper. This will help you catch deadlines.

If the event is a family and friends affair, such as a wedding, anniversary or reunion, you can share with family members before they go home.

Save any programme or agenda of the event and tick or star the people you have photographed.

Some photographers, on an event shoot, list every photo taken in a notebook. They have columns with the photo number, the event number, the names of the people in the photo, the place, time of day, correct title.

Numbering storing and indexing prints
I visited the home of the head of a New Zealand photographic society. He had all his photos stacked on shelves in shoe boxes going back several decades. Every photo was stored numerically by date order. He had books of indexes by subject, so he could find a waterfall, or local shop owner, or boat race, in different years.

Disasters
Many people get cross about photos of disasters. However, you may be doing the victims a favour if your photo can identify who is at fault and help a victim claim compensation, or if they were accused of wrongdoing, prove they were not guilty.

Happy Events
Even if there's an official photographer, your extra photos may be welcome. The official photographer might take mainly the VIP family. You might take the aunt in the corner, the boss who arrived late, the dog, or the dessert. If there's a dispute with a photographer, or a disaster with the photographer's equipment, your photos could be a handy backup. Even if the bride is happy to pay for the large photos, you might have some small ones for yourself and guests with a lower budget.

In the event that the official photos are lost during house moves, it can be handy to have duplicates of the official and unofficial photos.

Historic Family Photos
Duplicate wedding photos kept by others are useful at the time - and years later.

I went to the 80th birthday party of an elderly great-aunt. Her nephew, who I hardly knew showed me a lot of photos of people I didn't know. Then he produced a wartime (WWII) wedding photo and said, "I don't know who these people are. Do you know them?"

I gasped, "That's my parents - their wedding photo! In World War Two. Before I was born. I don't have that photo."

My distant relative didn't know the people, or even that it was a wedding photo.

I knew. "It's their wedding. I can tell by my father's clothes and the flower."

"But she's not wearing white."

Wartime Wedding Story From A Photo
"They are both wearing hats, and my father is wearing a top hat, and they both have a flower. It's not her first wedding, but her second wedding, so white would not have been considered suitable. Her first husband died in a plane shot down at El Alamein. She married my father towards the end of the war, when there was clothes rationing. Some brides had white dresses made out of parachute silk from used parachutes. She wouldn't have wanted that, even if she could have afforded it, because any reminder of planes would have been too upsetting. So she's wearing a sensible suit in dark material which she could use again."

"Would you like the photo?" He handed it to me. I was so happy. Thank you to the photographer who printed so many duplicates, to the family who kept them, to the descendant who was able to give it to me.

Making Friends With Official Photographers
Make friends with the photographer. The photographer is often ignored and avoided. They might be glad of a chance to talk, or have a request. You can give each other names of the VIPs, work out timing, position yourselves to not get in each other's way,

At a presentation of awards find out if the event organisers have asked you not to use flash, and how to get around restrictions.

Make Friends With Event Organisers
There may be a sign saying no photography. That might mean you cannot photograph the statues and ornaments in a religious or historic building because the venue sells their own photos. They might be or afraid of photographers acting on behalf of burglars. However, the organisers might be happy for you to take photos of people at the event.

Maybe the historic statue is OK to photograph but not the company logo which is a trademark. On the other hand, you might be forbidden to photograph the valuable painting on the wall behind you, but the organisers might be delighted to have publicity for their logo, their event, or flyers for their future events.

Conversely, the organisers may have an exclusive arrangement with a photographic society to take and sell photos of VIPs at the event, but you may be free to photograph the outside and inside of the building and your own family in the building, or on their own with certificates in a corner.

You might also be allowed to take photos before the event, of the building and the audience, or during the interval, or upstairs at the reception, or of a bride and ring after the wedding ceremony.

Organising Posing and Photos
You can brief the chairperson to ask recipients of certificates to turn to face the audience, not stand talking with their back to the audience.

The chairperson can also announce in advance: "I'm going to ask everybody to come up, one by one, and stay on stage for a group photo."

I ask people to keep their hands still. I also ask, everybody face the front. I also say: One, two, three.

Another useful message is:
Please don't take photos during the singing. The choir will pose for photos in a big group at the end, and individually during the interval.

Editing
You can either go through each photo and correct every aspect of that photo. Then mark which photo is best.

Or select the best photos and edit only the best ones.

Or edit all photos for brightness, or automatic enhancement, or vertical alignment, or cut out empty foreground, crop to enlarge the people.

Selfies
Remember to take yourself at an event. You can take a selfie, or ask another person to photograph you. This is useful for your cv, your business, your blog, your family and friends, or as a record of everybody at the event.

Captions
I like to caption all photos the evening of the day I took them with the aid of my event agenda, on the back of which I write the spelling of names and nicknames. Sometimes a long name is on the agenda but Stephen Michael Horphin prefers to be captioned with the name everybody knows, Steve or a jokey nickname or caption, 'Speedy' Steve.

It's lovely afterwards to be told:
'You take great photographs.' (Thanks for telling me that, Gill.)
'You make me look good.' (Thanks for saying that, Shan.)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

I Spy A Spider - What Next - A Cockroach on Camera?

Problem
A spider.

Answer
It's not a problem if you have a camera. In fact, far from trying to get away, or moving it, your main aim is to get as close as possible.

Mobile Phone Cameras
I took this picture with a mobile phone. My phone is the one I bought after trying out three mobiles of different sizes (and prices) in the shop, taking something at a distance, comparing results to see if the extra money made a difference.

Our other more recent experiment was to see whether two phones, one for the UK, one for overseas, had the same results, or if one was better. The phone with the larger screen did not have the best camera. So, with a choice of two mobile phones, you might gain best results using the large screen mobile as a phone, but the one with the better camera on days when you expected to take photos.

Story
When I saw the spider, I called the family photographer with the tripod and the patience, (the introvert) to take a close up picture.

Looking at the spider on a big screen, I am amazed how colourful is our spider. What looks like black and white from a distance, close up the legs are oblongs of orange and brown as well as black and white. And so many hairs on the legs!

Where are the face, the eyes?

On a day when you are stuck at home working, still a chance to get great photos, in Singapore birds on the aloe vera on the balcony, geckos.

Maybe next time I shall try to treat 'my' visiting cockroach like my spider.

I can send somebody else in with a spray and a tripod, and view it at a safe distance, on the screen.

PS
I have tried to identify this spider. It looks a bit like a Garden Centre Spider.

This is a British spider.

http://www.uksafari.com/garden_centre_spiders.htm
Their first page shows you several spiders to help you identify yours.

If you prefer a bigger spider for your photographs, go to Australia. We had a spider the size of a tulip in the bathroom at Margaret River, Australia.

As for cockroaches, in Singapore, when I called an Texan American to see what I thought was a shockingly large cockroach, she shrugged. She commented:
We've got bigger ones in Texas.

AUSTRALIA office tourist board site:
https://www.australia.com/en-us

SINGAPORE
http://www.visitsingapore.com/en/

UK
visitbritain.com

USA
visittheusa.com
https://www.visittheusa.com/state/texas

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher of English and other languages.  Please read my other posts about Singapore, the UK, photography, destinations and languages. Share links to your favourite posts.

How I edit photos

Problems
1 You have a dozen photos of a person or place.
2 You can't remember the name of the person you met at a business meeting, holiday or conference.
3 Your photos are distorted.
4 Your picture of a holiday destination are ruined by bits of litter, graffiti, people scowling in the background and somebody's hand waving in the foreground plus your finger across the corner.
5 The helpful bystander cut off your hat and your shoes.

Answers
1 However busy you are, go through the photos and pick one to send to the organisers of the event, to put on social media or your website, with the names of the persons, the place, and yourself as photographer so they can come back to you later for more photos.

Captions
2 Caption every photo immediately with the names of people and the place, whilst you have the literature handy. Photograph the event programme or tourist brochure so that you have the name of the place with correct spelling for later captioning.

Look for banners or advertisements with the names of the event and organisers and phone numbers and correct addresses and postcodes and websites.

3 Your photos may be distorted because you are too close. At an event, try to sit in a different place in the second half.

Watch any professional photographers. If they are professional they may have a tripod.

If you have a small camera such as a smart mobile phone you might need to be near to the people on stage.

If you think you have distorted photos, ask them to pose later. With a window behind you will get a silhouette. (Might be useful if they don't like being photographed.) Too much light and they screw up their eyes. Take two photos, preferably from different angles.

Take one vertical picture and one horizontal. Most magazines are A4 or A5, tall, so you/ they want one photo that shape. You might want a vertical picture for the back cover of a book.

Multiple Photos
Take at least two photos. In case they shut their eyes in one photo.  Or you have camera shake on the first one.

Steady your camera against an upright surface such as a desk or shelf or wall if there is poor light.

Editing
1 I cut out duplicates, blanks from having the view finder covered and photos accidentally taken of my own foot.
2 I go through several versions of the same place or person and select the best. The others can be deleted or hidden. I have found that if I have six photos almost the same and edit only one I risk accidentally loading up one of the un edited versions. to edit every one wastes a lot of time.
3 I lighten a photo where the face is in shadow because of the angle or because the person is dark skinned.
4 I click on contrast to enhance colour. If the colours look unnatural, I gradually go back towards the original.
5 I sharpen the picture. If this reveals spots and wrinkles on faces I can either edit out spots and wrinkles or go back to soft focus.
6 I crop to remove distractions: the fire extinguishers, the notices about other events, the handbags in the aisles, the disembodied feet and hands from somebody else unknown alongside, the cigarette butts in the street, the trailing wires from electrical equipment.
7 I could keep two similar photos in case I ever want to offer one as an exclusive and then get asked for another photo by somebody else.
8 I use the one with the graffiti, cropped to show the graffiti, in an article about graffiti. I use the one with the cigarette butts, cropped to concentrate on the cigarette butts, for a post about smoking.

Self Censorship
9 I self censor the photos. If that was a photo of me, would I want it to show me frowning, scowling, with wrinkles and blemishes?

If I were the tourist board or PR would I want the photo showing the place looking a mess? But if I were a tourist, would I want to know that the pretty place seen empty at sunset after closing is full of queues of people at mid-day on a bank holiday?

I can show both pictures as a contrast and use that as a tip for tourists. Or even show photos of a queue (Americans say line-up): For example: ''Go at sunset to take a romantic photo without the crowds.'

I can write a caption to please the tourist board whilst warning the tourists. For example, "You can see how popular 'Dracula's' Bran Castle, in Romania, is in summer time."

Or, a building under scaffolding in the UK: "The museum is closed for renovations. I plan to go back next summer. Make a note in your diary."

Time Taken
It takes me half a minute or a minute to write a caption and another half a minute or a minute to edit the photo. That is a short time.

However, if you have thirty pictures of an event, that's at least half an hour of your time, plus the time emailing to the subject of the photo, event organiser, or a magazine or newsletter or social media page.

If you have sixty pictures of a big event or a two day event, that's at least an hour. A three day weekend conference or a holiday means three hours, half a day. You can see why a photographer would expect to be paid, or at least a big thank you, a photo credit, and maybe a certificate of appreciation, a round of applause at the next event, or a small gift.

You don't see the time they spent deleting all the photos where people waved and made camera blur, or the idiot at the back made a V sign over the head of your VIP.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please bookmark useful posts and share links to posts which you find informative or amusing.

Photographic Competitions - some suggestions, or Instagram

Google photographic competitions to see what you can enter and what inspires you.
What do you need to do?
Take photos in the categories listed.
Make sure your photo is sharp.
Do not take any pictures which might infringe somebody else's copyright.

First look through your existing photos to see what you have in the listed categories.
If you have a good subject, but bad lighting, go back and take more photos in better light. If your photo is not sharp, go back and take another photo with a tripod.

If previous winning competitions included human interest, or objects to illustrate size, add these to your composition.
1 Dress in your best clothes. Take a selfie. Or use time lapse.
2 Take your dog or a family member's dog. For example, a photo of a tree might be enhanced, or size exaggerated, with a dog or bird.
3 Set up time lapse in your garden and take multiple shots hoping a bird or cat or spider will come into view.

Many competitions have closing dates far ahead. You have time to take many different photos or many photos of the same scene with different lighting, people, or added objects.

Emotions
Add the joy of a prizewinner. The sadness of a funeral. Loneliness. Crowds. One person out of step.

Contrasts
Large and small. Old and young. Light and dark.

https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/2017/open

Instagram
If you don't feel your photos are ready for competitions, you might like to use Instagram. A new friend told me she does not use Facebook which is full of distracting text. She used Instagram just to put up photos.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Travel Tripod from Manfrotto - do you need it?

A handy travel tripod from Manfrotto. First, why does a photographer need a tripod? Because otherwise you get camera shake.

Even if you know to hold a camera steady, you may want somebody in the audience to photograph you. For example, when you are with a friend on holiday. Or on business if you meet a VIP colleague, to record shaking hands on a contract, for the company newsletter or local newspaper.

You might be performing on stage, prearranged. Or you might volunteer from the audience suddenly. A bystander might not hold the camera as steadily as you would.

So you need a tripod. There are plenty. Smaller ones with thinner legs are inclined to tip over. You may already have one. I do, somewhere. But I don't use mine because it tips over and risks damaging my camera, delaying me, unnerving me, fails to take the picture.

What's good about the new Manfrotto model?
1This one is good for placing on tables and other flat surfaces. It has fat curved legs you can grip.
2 The legs are curved designed to be gripped so you can hold the camera in the air by the tripod.
3 You can rest the base of the legs against your chest.

Price? About £20. The postage might vary depending on where you are located.

http://www.manfrotto.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, author, speaker, poet, trainer