Background control, that’s a biggie in wildlife photography. When the subject is on the ground like this Burrowing Owl, background control means getting down low. But there are times when you want to be at eyelevel shooting and times when you want to drop down. When working with critters, physically moving up and down with a shy subject can be enough to make them go away. Many photographers use their knobs on the legs to raise and lower their tripod, standing up and stooping over to make all the adjustments, madly turning the knobs to unlock and lock them again. At the same time while doing this, the photographer is also breaking the golden rule when working with wildlife, taking their eyes off the subject. There is a fast and easy way to go low while watchin the subject the whole time!
Many tripods like the Gitzo 5562SGT I use for the 800mm, you can pull out the tripod leg lock very quickly and with no visible motion as far as the critter is concerned, permitting you to kick out the leg of the tripod (left red arrow, right arrow is the owl). You can quickly while keeping your eye on the subject, kick out the leg and lower your equipment and when ready reverse the process to raise the gear. You might be wondering about the stability of the rig doing this. You can see above the photo taken with the tripod in the position. I’ve been doing this technique since the first time this simple leg lock design was incorporated into the tripod and it’s never let me down. That’s why when the owl gave its stick perch that look like, “This is my space,” I could make the click with a clean background. With this technique I can watch the subject and quickly and effortlessly go low fast!