Whether your subject is wildlife, landscapes, sports or some other type of distance-related photography, using a tripod is a must for stable, clear images. Yes, there are workarounds, and some photographers insist they don't need a tripod. Award-winning nature photographer Steve Perry has put together an easy to watch video on techniques that work for him when he's using long lenses to capture his subjects.
The emphasis is on lenses which attach to the tripod like large telephoto lenses, super zooms, and the like. What's great about this video is that you can actually see what he's talking about as he demonstrates a technique he uses to deal with common problems many photographers face.
Perry's video deals briefly with the importance of a solid tripod platform and moves into a discussion of gimbal heads versus ball heads, and how to integrate both. Again, what's nice is that you can see exactly what Perry is talking about as he demonstrates how the heads work separately and in combination. We've put a link to the B&H section on tripods, heads, and accessories here if you want to check them out.
Perry's photos speak for themselves and if you haven't checked out his work, you can head over to his Backcountry Gallery to see the amazing array of images he captures through his long lenses.
Great video Perry! My father is a wildlife photographer and this is the method he uses as well. For focusing though he uses "back button focus". When he made that shift in approach it greatly improved the number of sharp images he gets. Whenever I am out shooting with him and have used back button focus it is astounding how many more images I get that are useable verses using the shutter release for focus. Attached are a couple images of my dads.