Gear up tripod

It’s crucial that you have a rock-steady tripod during long exposures – a lightweight travel tripod might be too flimsy for this sort of job. I use the heavy-duty Series 3 Gitzo 3542XLS carbon fibre tripod. The legs will extend to two metres so I can manoeuvre it into the most difficult positions and achieve higher viewpoints than is possible most tripods. In windy conditions, I can hang my backpack from the tripod to give more stability – that’s worth looking for in a tripod. All this and it weighs only 3.1 kilograms.