I often get questions on how I get photos when I am traveling abroad and occasionally the answer is a kind stranger takes the photo but if it was taken in the last three years on one of my solo trips, the chances it was my tripod are fairly high. Before I went to Iceland in November 2017 I did a great deal of research and ended up buying a great tripod and certainly have not regretted it. I purchased the TYCKA Rangers 56” Compact Travel Tripod and they key feature for me was that it was made of lightweight aluminum and totalled only four lbs (less thank 2kg).
I wanted one that was easy enough to cary around all day but sturdy enough that I could put my nice DSLR camera on it and not be afraid it will topple over. As any one close to me will tell you I am not the most gentle on my tech and this travel tripod has held up beautifully. Another key feature is that it has a 360° panorama ball head which not only allows me to take vertical and horizontal photos but to also put at on an angle if need be. I have not been anywhere on a solo trip this year but most recently it was incredibly helpful in the Fall in Paris and on my trip to the castles in Germany. Here is a look at how I use it.
(1) On Countdown. I stand behind the tripod and camera, set it up the shot, and push the button and then to run to the spot I want to be (within the 10 second count down) before the camera fires off 8-10 shots, 3 per second. This helps a ton with the focus to make sure it is me, not the background.
(Setting up the tripod for shots at the Duomo in Milan an angle to make sure I got the whole roof in)
(We used a tripod and countdown to get this family shot last Fall in Veinna)
(Getting this shot on the Les Deux Plateaux black and white columns in the Palais-Royal in Paris)
(2) Using my Phone. My current camera has a Bluetooth mode which I most often use to sync photos directly from my DSLR to my iPhone to upload to the gram in real time but another feature the Canon camera / app have is remote shooting. I can sync the devices and get a live preview of what the camera sees, even when I am in front of it, and can ensure I get the shot I want. the first mention is form here with a photo of when it almost got swept into the water at the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach in Vik, Iceland more than three years ago.
(At the galleria in Milan using the phone feature to get the shot (and make sure the focus did not shift to a pedestrian behind me)
(With the phone hidden behind my back at the Islamic Museum of Art in Doha, Qatar)
(At the hill across from the Hohenzollern Castle in Southern Germany)
(3) For Landscapes and Long Exposures – Not all photos are of me but if you are taking night time shots (such a stars or car lights) you need to ensure the camera does not move. Here is an example of cars in Paris and the stars in Africa.
(Photograph of the stars at night in the Sahara dessert in southern Morocco)
As you can see, there are many ways that I use the tripod but overall this TYCKA Travel Tripod has been one of my best travel investments and I can not wait to bring it with me to the next locale!
Do you have a travel tripod?
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Nancy says
You certainly are talented with that tripod. I would probably end up taking pictures of the sky or my shoes.
Emily says
I do not have one but this is certainly making me think that I need one. Never really thought about it and always imagined that they would be bulky or heavy to travel with or that I really wouldn’t use it very often but now I am rethinking things.
My birthday is coming up and I might just put it on my birthday list.
Nan says
I never really gave it much thought. I guess I always assumed someone was there being your photographer. But you certainly have mastered the tripod. I would just have to keep my fingers crossed some tourist went back into it and make everything crash.