Improved photo's by a tripod? In my opinion absolutely not. Only when you get exposures longer than 1/80. I really can't see any reason you are getting more creativity by using a tripod. You can't put your tripod everywhere so you could miss the spot where you want to take the picture exactly.
Please explain me why a tripod will improve your photo's? I am curious. With a tripod you almost can't take spontaneous pictures.
A tripod by it's nature will force you to slow down and think about the photo. Sure, it is not for everyone, but I use it for all my landscape photos, even if the light is good enough to handhold. I find I can fine tune compositions much better with a tripod.

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