Grammar of the Shot, 2nd Edition

Tripod

To begin with, the camera should always have a companion piece of support equipment to keep it stable and level. The tripod is the ideal tool to do this job. Tripods come in different sizes and weights depending on the camera that needs to be supported but they all have three legs. The three-leg design allows for solid balance and leveling on most surfaces. You attach the camera to what is called the tripod head. On most models, the tripod head is designed to provide pan and tilt movements—thus it is often called a pan and tilt head. Attached to the head is an armature that allows you, through the use of torque, to execute rather smooth pan and tilt movements by grabbing this arm and swiveling the tripod head on either a horizontal or ...