Photography Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional, enthusiast and amateur photographers. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I have heard something about photographers getting trained like butlers by walking with a full glass of water on their hand and removing fingers one by one.
As I have heard, the training technique makes the photographer's hands less shaky, but does that technique really exist or is it just another urban legend?
Also what is the name of that technique?
Now I will tell you a real training exercise. Train yourself to hand-hold the camera with a steady and non-jerking stroke when pressing the shutter release. Place an operating flashlight on a book shelf or mantel, at eyelevel height. Mount a small mirror before the camera lens. Use masking tape.
Assume a picture taking position. Adjust yourself and camera so the light beam from the flashlight reflects off the mirror and projects a spot of light on the wall. Practice holding the camera and pressing the shutter release, all the while observe the light spot for movement.
Practice until you can execute this deed with a steady hand. You will need to practice breath control if you train yourself for a hand-held prolonged exposure.
I don't think I've ever heard of it, and I've been reading about camera stabilization techniques since the 1980s. If I have ever heard of it, I have since forgotten it to the point that even this discussion does not jog a memory.
Most instructionals emphasize holding the arms against the body (or other solid objects such as a wall, or a tree, etc.) so that the hands have nowhere much to move. They also tend to talk about using the same breathing techniques that military sharpshooters are taught to increase their accuracy and consistency with firearms.
I am not familiar with that technique and to be honest, I don't recall any training or practice to help holding the camera steady. This is because of two factors: holding the camera correctly, and understanding the impact of shutter speed on motion.
I suggest doing a google search on 'how to hold a camera', where you will be linked to many stories such as this one. Providing the proper support to your camera will bring significant stability, and reduce 'shake'.
Of course, ensuring that you are shooting at the proper shutter speed is critical as well, and likely the largest noticeable impact to your images. An old 'rule of thumb' for full frame cameras was to ensure that you shoot at a shutter speed above the 1/focal length of the lens you are using: if you are shooting at 70mm, ensure your shutterspeed is above 1/70th. Likewise, if shooting at 200mm, shoot above 1/200th. In general, you should ensure that any hand held shooting occurs at 1/60th or above, though these days with stabilization and crop sensors, it is no longer a very useful gauge, only a simple reminder to ensure you are shooting at the proper shutter speed for your conditions.
You will notice photographers using long lenses with monopods or tripods, such as during sporting events or perhaps shooting wildlife. This is because many use very long lenses, and they often need shutter speeds lower than the focal length.
Certainly the muscle stability this could potentially develop could be useful, but I'm not familiar with this being an actual training method in any training I've ever seen for building a stable platform. I have both a steady hand for photo and film (was recognized recently at a film festival for some of my stabilization work) and am a qualified sharpshooter and training for neither involved this.
There is actually one way that this could potentially be counter productive. This would tend to cause strength building and strength building can tend to make things less rather than more stable. I'm not sure how the balance would play out between the fine motor control of working on controlling minor twitch movements would compare to the strength building resulting in them being harder to control.
It certainly isn't the most effective training you could pursue, nor the most effective technique as the vast majority of stability comes from bone on bone support and breathing control with only some things like ninja walking actually coming down to pure muscle control and even that is more gross motor control than twitch control. Twitch control is helpful, but it's a much smaller piece of the puzzle.
Does that technique really exist or is it just another urban legend?
There is no such technique. What you describe appears to have been inspired by Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, and other depictions of monastery monks in training. It could also be part of the patter of a magic trick, where the water disappears or the cup floats or something.
I have found the source of the answer
Our photography teacher was indeed trained that way. The name of the technique was called "Bardak Çalışması" (Glass Practise, rouglhy) it was done like this;
1-You get a glass full of water then you are ordered to hold it on the ends of your fingers with a flat hand while walking through an room doing maneuvers an photographer would do.
2-Then you remove your fingers from under the glass one by one till you can do the stunts with only two or three of your fingers still holding the upright glass full of water.
So thats THE answer.
