Holding camera in a correct way

Holding camera for hand held shoot is a skill. By following simple rules of physics and anatomy of our body, we can provide firm hold to the camera. Below are illustrations of how to or how not to hold a camera while shooting.

The stance is very important while handling a camera. Balanced posture with legs apart will make us stable. Keep the weight of the entire body on both the legs.



We must take support of anything available around. It may be a wall or a tree or a car.



When shooting from a lower angle, put the right knee on the ground and rest the left elbow on the left knee. This will stabilize our balance of the body. As weight of the camera is on left hand, left hand will get support of left knee.



We can also take support of a bag. We can even rest the camera on a bag.




This is a wrong way to hold a camera. In this case. the weight of the camera is on the right hand and left hand is just focusing. Elbows and upper arms are not braced with the body, so chances of camera movement is more.



With compact camera having a screen display, we have to keep the camera far from our eyes. This also makes us unstable.



We can support our elbows on railings or a table or anything which is available.



This is the correct way to hold an SLR and other camera while shooting. The weight of the camera should fall on the left palm. Left hand fingers are free for focusing and zooming. Right hand is giving an additional hold to the grip of the camera body and the index finger is on shutter release button. We can see from the view finder with either left or right eye, which ever is comfortable.



Notice how upper arms are firmly braced with the torso. This is how a triangle is formed between hands and elbows, which is a good and stable formation for the body anatomy.



While taking a vertical frame, always bring the shutter release button to lower position. This will let our right elbow be in contact with the body. If we try the other way, we will have to lift our right elbow high, which is not a preferred posture.

Secondly, all compact cameras with built in flash have the flash light on the left top of the camera body. When the camera is turned for a vertical shot, the flash should always come above the axis of the lens. If we are holding camera other way of the illustration, then the flash will go below the axis of the lens.


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