Why You Should Always Use a Tripod

There are no magic bullets to instant quality in photography, but if you want the quality of your exposures (and your photos overall) to improve suddenly and dramatically, I can give you one invaluable piece of advice: Buy a good-quality tripod and use it every single time you take a photograph. Yes, of course, there are exceptions — like photographing your friends at dinner in a fancy restaurant (“Proper attire required — no tripods, please!”), but I’m certain that you will find that in reality, there are few excuses for not using a tripod. If you follow this advice, I promise it will vastly improve your photography and your creativity, and I have dozens of letters from students thanking me for pushing them to use a tripod.