How to hold a DSLR Camera

Holding your camera in right way matters in photography. Beginner photographers try to grab camera however it is easy for them. Even though there is no standard written rule to hold your camera, best camera holding technique could lead you to better shooting experience. I have seen many people holding their camera in a wrong way and the result is obvious; shaky picture because of instability of camera during shutter release time. Camera positioning and holding is very important point you have to remember every time you go for shooting. If you are using VR lens for shooting, minor camera shake doesn’t matter because VR (Vibration Reduction) lens is made for that purpose. But it’s not the case always. That’s why I thought it’s good idea to share information about how to hold your DSLR camera for perfection in shooting.

When you shoot fast moving subject (sports photography) or do macro photography or night photography, it is always recommended to use tripod to avoid camera shake. The reason is you need quick action, patient mind and sometimes long exposure settings in these kind of shooting. Like I already said there is no hard and fast rule to hold camera and it varies from person to person depending up on what kind of camera they are using and what they prefer to do but let me put some techniques that I usually follow.

1. Use your right hand to grip camera body from the right side of camera. In this positioning you can use your thumb to adjust settings by using command dial and index finger to focus and release shutter button.

2. Support your camera specially lens using your left hand and place it in proper place on the lens barrel so that you can adjust focal distance using lens ring.

3. If you are using Live View mode to shoot then you can skip this point but if you are shooting using viewfinder which I normally do, make your body close enough to camera body so that you can see your subject from viewfinder comfortably.

4. Use tripod for better stability of camera body but it’s not necessary always except in few situations I already mentioned above.

These are general conventions to hold your camera body and lens but not the rule and I believe if you follow above guidelines, it definitely helps you to take great picture.

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