Ever had a hot dog on a stick? How about a popsicle? That’s on a stick. You like popsicles, right? Sticks make everything taste better. But what does it do to a photograph?

Taken using natural light with a Canon 5D attached to a boom on a light stand 20 feet above the ground.

Ever had a hot dog on a stick? How about a popsicle? That’s on a stick. You like popsicles, right? Sticks make everything taste better. But what does it do to a photograph?

Screw a camera to the end of a tripod, monopod, light stand, boom pole, or duct tape it to a broom if that’s all you got. Make sure it’s not going to fall off. Great! Now you can use it to scratch that itch you couldn’t reach… that creative itch! (See how I did that there with the joke?)

Putting your digital camera on a stick, whether it’s a pocket camera or full size DSLR, gives you the power to change your point of view. Changing your point of view opens up a world of possibilities. Put your camera up high, shooting through some branches, tilting down. Get your dog to look up at it. Toss some lose feathers in front of the lens. Presto, you got fine art!

Maybe there’s a stream behind your house (lucky duck). Now with your handy, dandy stick you can get your camera just above the waterline in the middle of the stream for a powerful macro shot just as Mr. Mouse and his family drift buy on a raft made of chewing gum.

Putting the camera somewhere that people don’t normally look from can sometimes even transform normal objects into abstract shapes of pure beauty. Give it a shot.

Camera dependent advice:

• If you’re camera has a remote (wired or wireless) use it. This will simplify the process for you. You just position the camera where you want it and hit the remote trigger. Ta-da! Lower the camera, look at the image, and then decide if you need to alter anything and try again.
• If you’re camera doesn’t have a remote don’t be sad. It doesn’t make you a bad person. You can always use the self timer. Set your camera to the self timer mode, but don’t just start snapping away. There’s a hick-up. Most cameras (for some crazy reason) take the focus and exposure reading not when the self timer goes off, but when you first push the shutter button to tell the camera to start counting down. Does that mean you are doomed to a life of blurry, under/over exposed images on a stick? Heck no! But you gotta do a little planning. Figure out how far it’s going to be from your camera on a stick to where you want it to focus. Now think about how bright and dark it will look to the camera from high up on that stick. Got it? Great. Now enable the self timer, point the camera at something that is roughly the same distance as you will want the camera to focus and roughly the same level of brightness. Push the shutter button to start the timer (that locks in the focus and exposure), quickly position your camera up in the air and wait until it fires. You may not nail it the first time, but hang in there. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Sure, brining a stick to the photography party ads an element of danger. The further your precious camera is from your hand, the harder it is to control it. You could crack the lens on a tree branch. You might accidentally whack a kid in the head with it. You might even poke your eye out. So be careful.

Is a camera on a stick right for you? Well, nothing gets me out of a photo-slump like changing my point of view. If rubbing two sticks together can start a fire, imagine what a stick and a camera could start.

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