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There are pros and cons to using a tripod in photography but there are times when it\u2019s absolutely necessary to produce the type of image desired.<\/strong><\/p>\n Several weeks ago I bought a new tripod.\u00a0 This is the third tripod I have owned.\u00a0 They are\/were all inexpensive tripods purchased at a big box store.<\/strong><\/p>\n People who know me, especially those who have known me for many years, know that I am frugal.\u00a0 Okay, I\u2019m cheap!<\/strong><\/p>\n Keeping up with the Jones or always buying brand name items has never been important to me.\u00a0\u00a0 I was so excited to get my first transistor radio.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t care that it wasn\u2019t one of those expensive name brand ones that were all the rage.\u00a0 I was just excited to have ANY small, portable radio.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Saving money and putting emphasis on value is part of who I am and have always been.\u00a0 Yes, you get what you pay for \u2013 most of the time.\u00a0 However, sometimes when you purchase an expensive name brand item you are really paying for that name, not necessarily for a better quality product.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Also it\u2019s important\u00a0 to consider how much and what type of usage an item will get before deciding on how much you are willing to spend and whether or not that big name will survive the conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n In regards to camera tripods there are also other considerations.\u00a0 For one example, the less expensive tripods and especially the very cheap ones are lighter in weight than most of the more expensive ones.\u00a0\u00a0 That issue becomes even more important to me as I get older.\u00a0 I am probably not going to haul around a heavy, albeit quality tripod. <\/strong><\/p>\n Those are the reasons why I have been buying inexpensive tripods from that big box store.\u00a0 Those nice, high quality, expensive tripods would have been heavier to carry and would not have survived my usage.<\/strong><\/p>\n Take for example my first tripod.\u00a0 I left it sitting in the driveway while I went inside to unload the photographs on the memory card into my computer.\u00a0 I forgot to go back outside and put the tripod up before any vehicles drove into the driveway. <\/strong><\/p>\n Thank goodness I had to take the camera off of the tripod to get to the memory card.\u00a0 My camera was sitting there on my desk when my tripod was run over by the truck that backed down the drive.\u00a0 Running over even an expensive tripod with a pick-up truck is going to cause unrepairable damage.<\/strong><\/p>\n Traveling with my second tripod was also a disaster.\u00a0 Loaded flat onto the bed of a pick-up put the tripod in a position to have heavy items stacked on top.\u00a0 Another unrepairable damage issue on tripod Number Two.<\/strong><\/p>\n That brings us to today\u2019s featured image and Tripod Number Three.\u00a0 Without this new inexpensive tripod the images that I captured this week of hummingbirds would not have been clear or acceptable to post.\u00a0 I took many photographs, processed several and even used the three that I posted online to make a photo collage which is also posted on my site.<\/strong><\/p>\n