Here are a bunch of completely random hints that don’t really fit under any particular category.

Which Shutter Speed?

How do you know what a safe shutter speed is to prevent camera shake? A good rule of thumb is that the shutter speed should be no longer than 1/(lens focal length). For example, if I’m shooting with a 50mm lens, I should not use any shutter speed slower than 1/50 second. With a 200mm lens, though, I should keep the shutter speed above 1/200 to prevent camera shake.

With image stabilisation technology, this rule can often be broken (I’ve shot sharp images with a 300mm VR lens at 1/30 second) but it’s a good point to aim for nonetheless.

How do you hold a DSLR?

I would not have thought of putting this here until I was at a sporting event recently and saw a teenager holding a camera and telephoto lens with his left hand on top of the lens! When you are handholding your camera, think of yourself as a tripod. You are what stabilises the camera and, as we all know, a stable camera equates to nice sharp pictures.

• Hold the camera with your left hand underneath the lens, supporting its weight.
• Keep your elbows in towards your sides.
• Put your eye to the eyepiece (I don’t like LiveView – you are less stable if you are holding the camera in front of you than if you have it wedged against your head).
• Squeeze the shutter gently. If you punch it, you move the camera and introduce shake.

Don’t listen to me, though – take a lesson from the master. Joe McNally is left-eyed which means he holds his camera in a strange way but watch his video and learn regardless of which eye you use to look through the viewfinder.