Video School / Lessons
Tripod Tricks
The world of video production can be a pricey place. Luckily, there are tons of quick tips and tricks that can help you create professional looking shots for practically nothing! This lesson focuses on the secrets a plain old tripod holds deep within those magical extending legs that can help take your videos to the next level.
Check out this short tutorial we made to help you unlock the secrets of the tripod.
Let's recap these tips below-
Tripod as dolly slider- If you retract one of the legs on a tripod you can use the remaining two legs as pivot points to smoothly move your camera back and forth. This effect can help add motion to a static shot, suspense to a bland scene, or to help emphasize an object. Just remember to carefully pitch your camera forward and back as you lean the the camera. This will help keep your shot level while still giving you that smooth slider effect we all love.
Tripod as crane- Just like the dolly slider trick you again retract one leg and lean the camera on the remaining two. Since you're trying to emulate a crane shot though, you'll want to lean the camera far forward, almost to the ground and back. This effect can be exaggerated by extending the tripod to its maximum height. These types of shots are great for revealing moments in a scene or inversely moving from high to low to help emphasize a character or object.
Tripod as steadicam- The weight of your tripod can actually help smooth out your shots. Just open up the legs and grip the tripod from below the camera mount. The extra weight displacement should help keep small shakes to a minimum. This technique takes some practice to get right but with a nice smooth shot your video will look better. If you are unsatisfied with your footage, feel free to add some image stabilization during post. We used Final Cut Pro's 'Smoothcam' filter!
Rubber band for pans- If you take an everyday rubber band and place it on the handle of your tripod you can smooth out your panning shots. The extra tension provided by the rubber band will help make your pan shots smooth instead of jumpy. Just make sure to grip the camera firmly with your other hand as you lead the movement by pulling on the rubber band carefully.
Remember that all tripods are different. Some of you might own a top of the line model while others might be stuck with your family's old handy-cam tripod. Make do with what you have and keep in mind that making videos is about being creative and solving problems, it's half the fun! Learning to shoot video isn't an easy task and these different tricks took us a few times to get just right so practice before using them on a serious video project. Give them a shot though and who knows, maybe you'll come up with your own tripod tricks.
- Category:
- Do It Yourself
- Shooting
- Difficulty:
- Beginner
Lesson Summary
Want to polish up your video productions but can't spare the cash for new equipment? Check out these cheap and easy tripod based tricks to give your video a professional look.
New to Video School? Read our Frequently Asked Questions.
Browse by Category
Submit Your Tutorial
Most of the video tutorials in our Video School lessons come from Vimeo members. If you have a tutorial you'd like to share, please submit it here.
22 Comments
Jesse Ramos
Great Tips..Thank you... Cheers.
Jakin
What tripod are you using? Or which do you recommend? LOVE all these videos!
Riley Hooper Staff
We're fans of Manfrotto tripods over here at Vimeo HQ!
TheOldRussianBum
Manfrotto, SLIK, Benro
Son Rise CF Plus
Thanks for the tips!
kadene yen
These tips will go a far way. Thanks a lot!
SueTheClue
Thanks a lot - fun to learn with you guys!
torquil boyd Plus
very well made and funnny excellent !!!!
Toni Vucic
I need to buy a rubber band now. I really liked that trick.
Alex Kraljič
Rubber band!!! Awesome guys, thanks!
Tony Murnahan
"I just get so excited about tripods..." lol
Thanks!
Solid Rusk Production Plus
A f*****g rubber band...been looking for that tricks for so long man. Merci guys.
Allyance Entertainment Vimeo Plus
Fun instructional vid. Thanks :)
Chris Erskine
Can you guys talk about steadicams etc for phones, particularly any tricks for non-iphone users?
sam richeson
Trix are for kids silly rabbit
marcelo Gerevini
Thank you for the tricks
Coach Friday
Love the sense of humor and not giving a eff about trying to be cool. A+ embrace your limitations!
Shiply PRO
Great ways of using the tripod. Learnt new tricks here, thanks!
TheOldRussianBum
Thx for tips, but you won't need rubber band if you have nice and slow tripod videohead
Eructo Films
genial!!!
Antonio Leyva
Thanks so much!
Renee Shutts
I signed up for this but then seen that it cost money so how do I un sign myself?