How to shoot photos - with a movement disorder

Do you have a problem with camera shake? Most photographers do to some extent, some more than others. Those who know me have seen the tremor in my hands and head in all its glory. Ah, the joys of Essential Tremor. Yeah, essential to whom, I damn sure don't need it! Actually the word 'essential' means 'of unknown cause or idiopathic' to medical folks. Makes life interesting.

Featured in a Reynolda Gardens calendar.

So how do I get sharp photos? With my phone, rarely. It is usually really tricky to get sharp photos with such a light weight camera. That's one of the many reasons I prefer my 'big' cameras - Canon DSLRs. Of course, "the best camera is the one you have with you," and I don't carry the big guys all the time.

So I try to brace the phone either by clinching my elbows tightly to my side, leaning against a door jamb, or bracing my elbows on top of something solid like a table or bookcase. That helps. I also make sure to take a breath in before the shot, hold it for a second, and release it slowly while I'm hitting the button.

With the big cameras, though, I have many more shooting augmentations to prevent or ameliorate camera shake.

 - First of all, I almost ALWAYS use the burst (continuous shooting, drive) mode. That way I can count on at least one shot that happened when everything was still. My cameras shoot at from 10 - 24 shots per second depending on which camera I'm using. I use a Canon T2i, my macro camera, released in 2010 or T7i, released in 2017. It also depends upon which image size and quality the camera set on. I keep mine on "Raw+JPEG." Burst mode is also great for moving subjects like brides walking up the aisle, flowers waving in the breeze, or soccer players running up the pitch. I have an app on my phone that is supposed to be a similar mode. It works okay, but not great.

 - I keep my camera on Auto-focus most of the time, specifically AI Servo. That's Canon-speak for Nikon's, Olympus's and Sony's AF-C. That is a very useful setting for  constantly moving subjects or, in my case, a constantly moving camera.

 - I use a tripod for portraits mostly. I know, you'll hear, "Always use a tripod!" But for me, fumbling with a tripod, I'd lose possibly great shots. I have a heavy-duty tripod and a monopod with feet. I prefer the monopod.

 - I brace these cameras the same way I brace my cell phone: elbows tight to my body, brace on a solid surface.

 - I breathe the same way: in before the shot, hold, then slowly out during the shot. I usually do the breathe-in and hold while I'm locking the shot by holding the shutter button half-way down, then breathing out as I press the button all the way down.

 - Then there's post production editing. Photoshop has had great motion blur correctors for a long time and I use them on EVERY shot that comes out of my production.

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As I age, the tremor is slowly getting a worse. Of course, I have $60,000 worth of wiring in my head and chest to help correct the tremor, but it never completely disappeared and it's turned up as far as it will go without interfering with my speech. So with photography, as in everything else in my world, adaptations are the rule. If I can take sharp, in focus shots, so can you!