Monopod Paralysis

[freetoroam]

I have just purchased a monopod and I'm trying to practice using it (before I invest in a tripod). I feel totally constrained...the monopod has a ball head...that when slightly loosened, allows me to move the camera left-right-up-down...but I find it really slows me down to be constantly loosening and tightening the ball head. Question: would you ever shoot photos with the ball head just loose enough to allow moving the camera around to compose the shot? or does that defeat the purpose of using the monopod in the first place?
Example, what do you do let's say I want to shoot a sunset....and I want to spot meter to the left of the sun, then come back and recompose to shoot the scene....how do you manage the tripod or monopod in that situation? Hope I'm making sense and thank you for any suggestions on the mechanics of how you use your monopod or tripod. I feel like I don't have enough hands or fingers to manipulate this.
Hannah

[Pat]

Hi Hannah. I guess you'd have to operate the tightening mechanism with your left hand while keeping your right hand in shooting position where it would also assist in moving the camera. With monopod sunsets you're shooting at or near infinity so you could make final framing adjustments by tilting back and forth or left and right without losing prefocus (if such is the case).