Chris at The Pier with her new Induro CT214 tripod with her Nikon D90 mounted on the Induro BDH2 ballheadTo my great surprise Chris showed up for our third of four lessons with an Induro CT214 carbon fiber tripod, the exact same one I have! I gave her some tripod buying advice, but for a truly no comprimses tripod, I can only recommend the one I, myself, bought last summer, which was the Induro CT214 (reviewed in detail here). After I got over my initial surprise I went about the business of showing Chris all the features of the Induro CT214 that I have amassed in a year of using it as well as good tripod practices in general, like making sure the lens always points out over a leg of the tripod.
She even had new Yongnuo speedlight radio remotes for triggering a flash off camera, but they can also be used to remotely trigger the shutter too, a really cool bonus feature. This way she was able to shoot from the tripod without adding the risk of camera shake from physically pushing the shutter. Now that we had all this exciting new gear to use, all we needed was a great location, and The Pier in the evening time always provides one. There was even a nice breeze making the temperature almost pleasant.
We concluded the lesson up on the top of The Pier photographing the sunset as it dipped below the St. Petersburg skyline (example of the view). Chris has ample opportunities to photograph the sunset and other great vistas so I look forward to seeing the images she takes between now and our fourth lesson.
