Steadier Hands

[Harold Gough]

This is of limited relevance to photography with tripod-mounted cameras or to photomicrography. It is of special relevance to hand-held photography, most so in telemacro with long focal lengths and tiny fields of view, or with high magnification (say, 1:1 +) at close working distances. In other words, it is where tiny movements of the camera/lens combo are, apparently/effectively, highly magnified in the viewfinder.

This is not about hardware but about muscle control, more specifically in the context of recent exercise. Essentially, if you have just finished an activity in which a lot of muscle power is needed e.g. lifting very heavy objects, digging large holes in the garden, hammering fenceposts into the ground, etc., the fine control of muscle movement will have been, effectively, switched off. Returning to fine manipulation very soon afterwards is likely to show that the finest movements are not possible. After a period, somewhat proportional to the intensity/duration of the preceding exertion, and probably usually only minutes, without strenuous activity the fine control with have returned.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

Harold

[enricosavazzi]

On a related note, I heard from a pistol sharpshooter than drinking a little beer shortly before shooting reduces the physiological tremor and allows a better performance. It is illegal in shooting competitions, by the way.

[rjlittlefield]

Interesting about the beer. Certainly not the first thing I would think of when I hear the phrase "performance-enhancing drug"!

--Rik

[Harold Gough]

The role of muscle tension in various activities throws up a few surprises. For example, breathing out before grasping a camera for a steady shot is more effective than breathing in. That is logical if you think it through.

Nothing to do with fine control, more the opposite, in a karate strike (kick, punch, chop, etc.) the muscles of the striking limb (arm or leg) are more or less relaxed until the moment of impact, when maximum tension is applied, the power mostly coming from speed.

Harold

[Harold Gough]

On a related note, I heard from a pistol sharpshooter than drinking a little beer shortly before shooting reduces the physiological tremor and allows a better performance. It is illegal in shooting competitions, by the way.

Well, maybe...

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=13304

Harold

[Oskar O]

The beer can also be substituted with a small shot of vodka, which acts fairly quickly. It's however fairly important not to take too much for the best results

I found pistol shooting very similar in technique to hand held photography. Some of my hand-held shooting involves a lot of effort to get to the location of photography, raising the pulse and thus making hand holding noticeably more difficult. I try to combat this with a lightweight tripod whenever possible, but of course being fit also helps...