It might seem crazy, but one of the most common mistakes by people with cameras is how they hold a camera.

There are many ways of holding them, sure, but there is one way to hold a camera often cited as “the way to hold a camera” that provides stability, control, and is less likely to result your hands ever dropping that expensive toy.

The hold is simple and works like this:

You should now be able to curl up your fingers to grip the lens while the rest of your hand supports the weight of the camera. Now you can bring in your right hand to grip the right side and press the shutter.

Congratulations, you are now holding your camera right.

We hold it like this for a few reasons.

One is that it’s a hell of a lot harder to drop the camera when the bottom is being supported by your hand.

Another reason is that it’s far easier and quicker to change focus or zoom with the thumb and forefinger while you’re looking through the viewfinder instead of pulling the camera away, looking at the lens, changing the zoom, and then bringing it back to your eye to recompose.

This way of holding a camera can be applied to pretty much any camera you come across, too. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s a cheap point & shoot that your Mum bought for you last Christmas or your uncle’s expensive digital SLR. With the exception of a medium- or large-format film camera, you’ll find this method of holding a camera will work with almost any camera anywhere.