Okay, now that I’ve got your attention, of course tripods are for shooting. But the most under-appreciated advantage of a tripod isn’t when you’re shooting it is when you’re waiting. For any type of wildlife photography and many sports there can be long periods of waiting patiently and then a quickly unfolding moment of drama. You may only have a second or two to react and get a shot of the peak of action. If you need to pull your camera up from your side, aim, and shoot, then no matter how fancy you’re camera strap, you’re skunked….

I was reminded of this as my friend and safari participant Doug Mosher and I patiently waited for “hummers” to return to their favorite flowers to feed on a great morning at the UCSC Arboretum.

And if you think you can hold your camera with any reasonable lens to your eye for 10, 20, or 30 minutes on a regular basis without putting it down you are probably deluding yourself. Instead if the camera is set up on a tripod and pre-focused on where the action is most likely to occur—a bird nest if you are waiting for an exchange, a favorite flower if you are waiting for a hummingbird to reappear like in the photo below or the cute moment when a wet bear cub climbs on its mother’s back to get a ride off the beach like the image at the end of this article.

A monopod provides some of the same advantages obviously with the downside that you need to keep it steady. I use one almost all the time with my 200-400mm f/4 lens for photographing softball. That way I can quickly move to shoot around the players and umpires as needed but I’m also comfortable waiting for a steal or even the next swing to occur.