new tripod ruining my groove

for the last 6 months i've been shooting on a tripod thats rusting and taped together so the leg doesn't fall off. i finally decided it was time to get a new one.
unfortunately, i guess it takes time to get to know new equipment. almost all my shots were blurred from the camera sliding around... a weird problem.

but that being said, it doesn't give me much excuse for the kind of weird composition of this image.
c&c welcome, i'm not loving the rocks ending in the middle and blocking the city, but i do love the overall colours in the image. thoughts?

cit by abbye dahl , on Flickr

Love the softness of the water and the rocks look cool even if they block the city.

Maybe it's the angle/vantage point, the rocks do seem to overpower the skyline. Still, not a bad photo by any means, your photos are good enough that even your worst would probably still be a pretty good photo. Seems like you're experimenting and challenging yourself to try something different once in awhile.

What tripod setup are you using?

Scotty wrote: What tripod setup are you using?

manfrotto midi ball head on one of their smaller aluminum bodies.

i just did a bit of experimenting and thing maybe the ball head was slipping under the weight of the camera?
or possibly the plate that screws into my camera was not as tight as could be?

the biggest problem was while shooting vertical, the camera was slowing slipping down.

also, thank you icepics

afoto wrote:

Scotty wrote: What tripod setup are you using?

manfrotto midi ball head on one of their smaller aluminum bodies.

i just did a bit of experimenting and thing maybe the ball head was slipping under the weight of the camera?
or possibly the plate that screws into my camera was not as tight as could be?

the biggest problem was while shooting vertical, the camera was slowing slipping down.

also, thank you icepics

ball head creep. Buy a better/more high end ball head. What camera are you using?

ball head creep. Buy a better/more high end ball head. What camera are you using?[/quote]

nikon d700 with a 16-35mm and multiple lee filters. its a pretty heavy setup to be shooting vertical with i guess

Scotty is correct, don't go cheap on a tripod/head. Also, get an "L" bracket and Acra-Swiss type mounting for that set up. You can then leave the Ball head in vertical position, won't be fighting the sag all the time. You'll wonder how you ever did landscape without it.....

On the image: May be see if you could raise your vantage point so the rocks fall lower than the skyline of the city. The colours work great as do the blur.

On the tripod: Do you need the ballhead? If not, try a three way head. I've tried a ballhead (and own one), but I found that the ball didn't hold the camera that good in vertical direction, so I switched back to my 3-way head. The 3-way I use is the Giottos MH-5001. It got a sturdy feel and it holds the camera better in vertical position then the ball head I used. The ballhead I used was a Redged RNB-1 that hold a gear-weight up to 6 kg, the same as the 3-way head, but the 3-way head holds the weight better.

My setup is mostly this:
Nikon D800 with MB-D12
Tamron SP 28-75mm f2.8
Giottos MH-5001 3 way head
Redged RTA-428 tripod
when it comes to filters I use a modular system by Formatt Hitech with the same brand filters in the 85 Series which is the same size as Cokin P.

So my advise for you is to try out some gear and see what fits you. If you don't do much macro/close-up, and don't mind the little extra weight, go for a 3-way head that hold at least 6 kg of weight. There's also geared heads to choose that hold the gear even better, but at the cost of more weight to the tripod. And use your time to pick a good set of legs. Remember, a tripod is for life, not for christmas.

I've also got a blogpost at my blog about my thoughts and experience searching for my tripod, check it out if you will. You will find my blog at Studio Toffa Photography and the blogpost is titled: The Tripod Search, it easiest to find under the topic Gear. Sorry I couldn't just give you the link, but the URL just get all weird and useless when I try to write it.

Love the shot. Tough shot to compose.