How do I get a steady telephoto shot?

N

nyvideo

Active member
As it was nearing sunset this afternoon I tried to take a telephoto shot from a bridge, but the cars going over the bridge prevented the shot from being steady. I tried it with and without my tripod with pretty much the same results.

Let's say I needed to take the shot from that location, any ideas on how to get the shot cleanly?

Thanks.
 
Well if it was me and I was forced onto that bridge, I'd make sure the scene had a fixed point of reference in it and then I'd just use the image stabilization mode in the After Effects motion tracker.
 
Depending on the vibrations, weighing the tripod down with some sandbags might help, or it might make it worse.

You could also try laying down a few layers of carpet or something similar to dampen the vibrations and putting the tripod on that.
 
Doh! I feel a little dumb not having thought to use OIS in the camera. I should have tried that to see if/what it can do and if it'll help. I'll try that next time I have the chance to return to the bridge.

I don't have After Effects, but I think there's a similar feature in Final Cut Studio's Motion.

For a few minutes I thought about sandbags, but then I realized that I was bouncing about as much as the camera was - and I weigh considerably more than a couple of sandbags. Nevertheless, it would be educational to see if it helps.

Thank you all for the suggestions.
 
Yes, Motion has a stabilizer and FCP 7 does too. It's a filter called smoothcam but I've had mixed results with it. I'd recommend the tools in Motion.
 
Some kind of material - carpet, or sponges, etc could help to dampen the vibrations a little. If you are going back there you could also pay extra special attention to where you stand on the bridge - even spots a few feet apart can have very different movements depending on the materials used and placement of supports - eg concrete will vibrate less than metal. Also, anyplace there is a join will be stronger/steadier but.

Another possibility could be as simple as going back at a different time of day when there is less traffic.

If all else fails, then re-shoot it but make sure you use a higher shutter speed to give yourself a nice, sharp image to do post-stabilisation with.
 
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