If you have a mobile phone, you likely have an excellent camera built into it. But while the latest Samsung or Apple phones can take stunning photos, it is often better to have a professional DSLR camera for more complex scenarios.

However, these cameras weigh several times more than the average mobile phone, making them bulky to hold up for even short periods. The best way to get steady shots that are in focus and convey all the details is to mount them on a tripod. But these, too, can be cumbersome, making a portable tripod the best option.

In this article: Amazon Basics 60-inch Lightweight Tripod with Bag, Tycka 56-inch Travel Tripod and Bonfoto Camera Tripod for Travel

A portable tripod is excellent for steadying your on-the-go shots

A tripod is a great way to ensure your photos or video footage comes without any distracting sways or shakiness. Nothing can ruin an amazing scene faster than erratic jerking or constant movement.

While that can still happen when using a tripod, you greatly reduce the chances when you place the tripod on a flat surface or affix it to a steady object. But not every tripod is suitable for all cameras. Doing a bit of research before spending money on additional equipment is a good idea.

For example, if you want to travel with your tripod, it’s best to look for a gadget that folds up to a compact and convenient size. Professional camera tripods are great, but they often aren’t designed for quickly stashing in a backpack or satchel.

Also, consider where you’ll be doing most of your shooting. A portable tripod is best for quick photo sessions such as traveling abroad or going on a family holiday. In those cases, you aren’t always guaranteed to have a flat, steady surface.

An excellent solution for that would be to get a tripod that has flexible legs. These are specially designed so you can wrap the legs around any vertical object, such as a street lamp, a handlebar, a bridge railing or a table leg.

However, you must be mindful of the mounting screw size on the head and the maximum weight the tripod can handle. If the screw isn’t compatible with the camera, it simply won’t fit. And if the tripod isn’t strong enough to support a heavy DSLR camera, it might come crashing to the floor.

Best portable tripods for on-the-go photography

Amazon Basics 60-inch Lightweight Tripod with Bag

A basic yet solid tripod, it stands 60 inches tall when fully extended and can easily carry a weight of six pounds. It is compatible with most digital cameras and action cams that use the standard quarter-inch screw and measures a very portable 25 inches when retracted.

Sold by Amazon

Tycka 56-inch Travel Tripod

If you don’t have a lot of space in your camera equipment bag, this tripod is an excellent choice. While the standard usage is in the tripod form, you can attach the quarter-inch mounting head onto the included monopod. When folded up completely, the tripod is only 14 inches but extends to 56 inches in seconds.

Sold by Amazon

Bonfoto Camera Tripod for Travel

A robust option, especially when traveling, this portable tripod has a quarter-inch mounting screw with a 360-degree ball head and sectional interlocking legs. It stands about 69 inches tall when fully extended but easily reduces to just under 2 feet. The double telescopic shaft has a water level on top.

Sold by Amazon

Zomei 65-inch Camera Tripod

Able to safely carry a camera up to 11 pounds, this tripod stands 65 inches tall when the three legs are fully extended. However, it has three interlocking sections that reduce the size to just over a foot. It has a standard quarter-inch mounting screw and a removable panning handle.

Sold by Amazon

Vanguard Alta Pro 2+ 263AGH Aluminum Tripod

This tripod is an excellent choice if you need a bit more steadiness when taking photos or a swift hand for fast-moving objects. Below the mounting head is a pistol-like grip, making it easy to pan the camera. It stands 68 inches tall when fully extended but reduces to a portable size quickly.

Sold by Amazon

Joby GorillaPod 3K Pro Kit

Joby is known for its excellent camera accessories, and this small tripod is a great option. The legs have several bendable points, letting you securely attach the tripod to almost any vertical surface. Even though it is small, it can carry a maximum weight of 6.5 pounds, which covers just about all cameras.

Sold by Amazon

Manfrotto PIXI EVO 2-Section Mini Tripod

This is one of the smaller tripods you can buy, making it the perfect travel accessory for excellent holiday snaps. Weighing only 9.4 ounces, it has three sturdy legs that fold out from the base, and the mounting screw sits on a swivel head.

Sold by Amazon

Dolica GX650B204 Proline GX Series

The tripod is 65 inches when fully extended, but the legs easily slide into themselves to minimize its length. It has foam grips on each leg for additional handheld support and is compatible with any cameras that use the standard quarter-inch mounting screw.

Sold by Amazon

Xenvo SquidGrip Flexible Tripod

This tripod is an excellent choice as it’s small and compatible with many cameras. The legs are bendable, meaning you can easily wrap them around poles or railings to steady your camera while still getting the perfect shot.

Sold by Amazon

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When you step outside and are greeted by rainy weather, it can be tempting to turn around and head right back inside. However, if you are willing to brave those mundane conditions, you might be rewarded with worthwhile landscape images. This helpful video tutorial offers five tips to increase your chances of coming home with compelling shots. 

Coming to you from Henry Turner, this useful video tutorial discusses five bits of advice for landscape photography in inclement conditions. If you look at a lot of the most popular landscape imagery, you will probably notice it is taken during partly sunny weather, with golden rays cascading across the frame. Certainly, that can make for great photos, but just by virtue of its popularity, it can be quite difficult to make a photo that rises above the crowd. Moodier skies can help distinguish you right off the bat, and the drama they add can make for compelling and interesting images. Just be sure to take steps to protect both yourself and your gear! Check out the video above for the full rundown from Turner. 

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out “Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi.” 

CANDID photos have been revealed, showing the outfits which Pamela Anderson and Janet Jackson shocked Hollywood’s most exclusive party with.

The photos are featured in a new book by celebrity photographer Selma Fonseca, which documents her work at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in the 2000s.

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Working the red carpet and behind the scenes, Selma hobnobbed with Hollywood’s glitterati and portrayed them with their guard down in a time before camera phones were a thing. 

In the book Partying with Selma: Inside Hollywood’s Brightest Night, fans get a glimpse of A-listers such as Gwyneth Paltrow as she joked around with then-boyfriend Ben Affleck in 2000.

In another snap, Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman’s eye-popping  cleavage was on full display shortly after she gave birth to son Levon in 2002 while As Good As It Gets actress Helen Hunt and movie producer Matthew Carnahan kiss in the background.

Two of the pics that stand out, though, feature former Baywatch babe Anderson, now 55, and Escapade singer Jackson, 56, and their get ups that set tongues wagging.

Anderson showed up to the party at Mortons restaurant in West Hollywood in 2001 wearing sunglasses and dressed in a tiny denim miniskirt, a white shirt tied at the waist and a knee-high pair of black leather boots.     

She spent the night hanging out with Brit actress Elizabeth Hurley, 57, and the two were pictured with friends including photographer David LaChapelle by Selma.

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The Brazilian-born photographer recalls how Anderson’s “trashy” outfit and antics with Hurley did not go down well with Vanity Fair.    

Selma Fonseca said: “The Vanity Fair people were appalled. 

“How can you come to a black tie Oscars party dressed like that?

“I think they’re right – if there’s a dress code, follow the dress code. 

“This year from what I saw all the girls seemed to be practically naked but back then everybody was super dressed up. 

“I remember that everybody was kind of looking at Pamela Anderson like, ‘What’s going on here?’

“The skirt was so short, you could see all of her a**. Her shirt was tied up and her boobs were really popping out. 

“She was with Elizabeth Hurley and they were being very touchy feely with each other and seemed quite tipsy.” 

Then Vanity Fair editor and Oscars party supremo Graydon Carter, 73, was open about how unimpressed he was with Anderson and Hurley’s “attentions to one another” at the party.

A Los Angeles Times article from 2002 says Carter’s response to the two women’s appearance at the previous year’s party was: “They can go to a Maxim party.”

In an excerpt from his book Oscar Night, published in 2004, he went further, writing: “We’ve seen our share of spectacles we’d like to forget, such as the time Pamela Anderson, looking like she had just come from a job at the car wash, spent the evening glued at the hip to Elizabeth Hurley.”

Carter was not the only one to cattily comment on the moment, with Hollywood legend Joan Collins likening Anderson to “a hooker on holiday” in a note in her diary from that night which was published years later.

Despite earning Carter and Collins’ disapproval, Anderson was pictured at the party again in 2005 in a somewhat more modest outfit – but still rocking the sunglasses.

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In 2002, it was Jackson’s turn to be the center of attention for showing off her toned physique in a very revealing mesh bikini top and a pair of jeans. 

Selma recalled: “Janet was at the top of her game that year, you can see that her body was amazing in the pics. 

“She was working out and looked incredible. 

“But I don’t think they were expecting her to wear that outrageous outfit. 

“You can show your belly wearing a dress, you don’t need to wear pants with a bikini top like that.

“The outfit was awful. 

“She was dressed the way you would to go to a rock concert, not a Vanity Fair Oscars party.”

Jackson may have taken the criticisms to heart because when she too was pictured again at the Vanity Fair party in 2005 she wore an extremely elegant white evening gown.

Another of the book’s standout pictures shows a gum-chewing Tom Cruise giving his now ex-wife Nicole Kidman a sideways look in 2000 – the year before they split.

It also includes a pic of late Tom Sizemore partying with Brad Pitt and Hailey Bieber’s dad Stephen Baldwin in 2001.

Looking back on the times that she had at the Vanity Fair party, Selma – who has also penned a TV show about how she migrated to New York City in the 1990s – said: “It was so much fun.

“Everyone was dancing to the band, people could smoke inside and everybody got drunk.

“There were no camera phones then so people could really let their hair down.

“It was the place to be on Oscars night.”

Hardcover photo book Partying with Selma is available on Amazon.

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