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If you’re serious about your photography, you should plan on making an investment into a good quality tripod. The are necessay when shooting long exposures, and can even make photos taken with a fast shutter speed a lot sharper. Since we tend to introduce camera shake when are shooting handled, it’s best to elimiante this all together whenever possible.

However, the typical tripod isn’t your only option and they certainly aren’t always the best option either. Here are four different gadgets you can consider when you’re in the market for a means to stabilize your camera.

Tripod

This is the most commonly used and pretty much everyone knows what a tripod is. Even if they aren’t photographers. But that doesn’t mean they are being used as often as they should be! As much as I don’t like carrying around a bunch of gear with me when I travel, I always bring a tripod with me. The downfall is they can be big and cumbersome. But this is just a reality we must deal with. There are also smaller travel sized options available if you are concerned with portability.

They’re great to steady your shots and they’re not just for landscape photographers. There are a bunch of uses for a tripod. Whether you’re a portrait photographer, a product photographer, a food photographer, or any other type of photograper, your tripod should be considered an essential piece of gear. Use them anytime you are able to. Especially when shooting with slow shutter speeds.

GorillaPod

Similar to your typical tripod with the exception these handy little things are super portable. They’ll fit in your bag. Plus, they’ll let you put your tripod in places your standard tripod just isn’t capable of going.
If you’re planning on picking up one of these bad boys, make sure you’re getting the option that best suits the type of camera you are using. They have varieties that are smaller which are designed for compact, lightweight cameras. If you have a DSLR, check to ensure it is capable of holding the weight of your camera and your lens. They do make a solid version designed especially for this, just make sure that’s the one you’re buying!

Monopod

Rather than having three legs, a monopod has only one–as the name suggest. While they aren’t freestanding, meaning you can’t just set them up an walk away from them, they are still mega useful. I love my monopod when I’m shooting fast action shots where a tripod would be clumbersome, but I still require some stabilization.

They are especially useful shooting motion blur shots, since they make it very easy to pan the camera without accidental tilting it up or downwards.

Bean Bag

A lot of wildlife photographers I’ve met swear by these simple inventions. More or less, these are just tiny bean bags designed to rest your camera on, allowing for steady shots and minimizing motion blur. They can be set up just about anywhere. You can roll the window down on your car, set the bean bag on it, and start shooting. Pretty convenient!