Just walked with camera pressed to your chest, no gimbal needed.

Wait, your buddy thinks clip-path is cheating? A pumpkin is literally a flat orange shape in real life, so using one polygon to make that shape is just smart. Hand-placing 47 nested divs with borders for ridges sounds like a fun challenge, but calling it the only "real" way is like saying you have to knit your own socks instead of buying them. Tools exist to make things easier, and if a 20 minute clip-path pumpkin looks cleaner and doesn't crash your browser, what's the downside? The line should be "does it look good and run smooth," not "did I suffer enough making it.

Did you ever try just feeling it with your palm first before going at it with paper? I had a silver blend on a quarter panel that kept showing a ring no matter how I sprayed it. What finally worked was knocking the edge down by hand with 2000 grit wrapped around a little rubber block, then hitting it light with the DA on low speed. The block gave me the feel without digging a groove like a fingertip can. Took me two tries but the blend disappeared under the blend coat after that. Taping and spraying every time sounds safe until you get a hard tape line you have to chase anyway.