We’ve all been there: that situation where you’re just about to take a nice picture, all you need is your tripod, and—it’s not there. Did you leave it at home on purpose? Sigh. What now? Improvise. In an emergency, you can create a simple and reliable tripod out of something easily available—for example, a beanbag.

We recently offered some advice on how to choose a camera bag. This time, we’ll tell you what ought to be in it besides just a camera. We’ll start from the basics, but we have some surprises for you at the end.