THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE

in the wind. Its full height, for most
purposes, should bring the camera at
least up to your eye level, preferably
higher. The tripod's head (the
platform on which the camera is
mounted) should move through all
conceivable angles (up, down,
around, and side to side). It .iliould
lock tight and loosen quickly and
easily.
As for options, one hotly debated
choice concerns the leg releases,
which either clip or screw opsn and
shut to unlock and lock the leg extensions.
Clip releases tend to be faster
to operate and are less likely to
"freeze up."
One option that is unquestionably
desirable is a removable or releasable
camera mount. On the simplest tripods,
the camera screws directly onto
the tripod head. Unfortunately it
can often be exceedingly difficult to
unscrew it. The solution is to have a
mount that can be removed or
released by flipping a lever.
Additional options that come in
handy but are not necessary include
metal prongs that screw out of the
rubber tips on the ends of the legs (to
anchor the tripod in soil); a level (to
help in aligning the tripod on uneven
ground); and a circular scale (for
measuring off camera positions for
a panoramic series of shots).
When you use a tripod, first adjust
the legs so the head is just below the
height you need. Be sure the legs are
spread out fully. Plant the feet firmly
in the ground if you're outside. Check
to be sure that the tripod is sturdy.
If it isn't, adjust it. Attach the camera
body (or lens) and crank the head up
to the desired position. Aim the
camera at your subject. Adjust the
head (or the legs if necessary) until
the camera is level —line it up with the
horizon if possible. Shoot away.
266 The Photographic Eye
For very long exposures (i.e., over
1 /8 of a second), use a cable release
to avoid camera shake. Unfortunately,
some shutters will still produce
a considerable amount of camera
shake, especially if the camera is
fairly light and the tripod is unsteady.
If your tripod does wobble despite
your best efforts to make it stand
still, you may do better by pressing
down hard on top of the camera and
pressing the camera's own shutter
release. Just be sure you don't wiggle
during the exposure. (This only
works for exposures down to about
2 seconds.)
A short, inexpensive tripod can be
very useful in emergencies. It will
cover your needs for steadiness under
most conditions ... so long as you
can set the tripod on a table or can
get the shot you want from a very low
angle. Do not extend the legs if they
are at all wobbly.
For sports photography requiring
long telephoto lenses and other situations
in which a moderate degree of
steadiness will suffice, you might try
using a monopod, which has one leg
instead of three. Since you have to
provide the other two legs to hold the
thing up, it won't be much help for
very long exposures.
Filters
There are essentially three kinds of
filters: atmospheric, colored and
special effects. Each kind has very
specific uses.
The basic atmospheric filters are
UV, skylight and polarizing. The first
two have very mild effects on the
quality of the sunlight. Their greatest
utility is in protecting the lenses from
accidental damage.
The polarizing filter is more interesting.
Under certain lighting conditions,
it can reduce or eliminate
glare on glass, water or other partially
reflective surfaces. It can darken colors
dramatically. And it can make
clouds far more vivid in contrast to
the sky. Though most useful for color
photography, a polarizer can help for
black-and-white as well. To use one,
focus on the subject and then turn the
outer rim of the filter. This shifts the
polarization, often substantially
altering the image quality.
Color filters have very different effects
in black-and-white and in color.
When used with black-and-white
film, they can compensate for the
film's limited responsiveness to certain
ranges of the spectrum. A color
filter lightens the black-and-white
rendition of its own color and
darkens its complementary color.
Red, for example, lightens red and
darkens blue.
When used with color film, colored
filters can produce subtle or dramatic
shifts in a subject's appearance. A
subtle shift might be produced by
using a light orange filter to enhance
a sunset, for example, or by using a
light magenta filter to "warm up" the
bluish tones of twilight. A dramatic
shift might be to use a green filter to
make your friends look like Martians.
Used carefully and for specific
purposes, color filters can be very
useful expressive tools.
Finally, special effects filters do all
sorts of things. Some play tricks with
light, some play tricks with color,
some play tricks with your vision. A
defraction filter may make every
point of light into a starburst or a
mini-rainbow or a repeating pattern.
A multi-color or split-field filter combines
two or more colors, such as
purple and yellow, to produce a surreal
lighting effect. A multiple image
or prism filter scatters a series of
"ghosts" of a subject all around the