Summer is just around the corner, and with that comes photography excursion on oceans, lakes and rivers. I love taking boat excursions in Alaska to photograph wildlife and landscapes…a day photographing in Kenai Fjords National Park is hard to beat. But things don’t always go as planned. You are photographing from a moving platform, and if the seas get rough, your photography can suffer. Splashing waves, strong wind and engine vibration can make getting a sharp photo difficult. Worse, you could damage your gear. Below are some tips for photographing on boats. Get out and enjoy boat photography trips this summer.
Turn on your image stabilization. This one is pretty obvious. You are photographing from a moving platform; anything you can do to stabilize your camera will help.
Put your camera strap around your neck. I learned this the hard way. I was shooting a new Nikon camera for Nikon in stormy weather in Alaska. A huge wave hit the boat, and I started to fall across the deck. I had to either catch myself or my camera. I dropped my camera as I grabbed a rail on the boat. Unfortunately the camera crashed and skidded across the metal deck…let’s just say it was never the same. Remember the sailor saying…’always have one hand on a rail.’
Watch the horizon line. Large bodies of water like the ocean and lakes have an obvious horizon line. Try to keep the horizon level; if not fix it in Photoshop later.
Use a polarizer. Polarizers cut glare on the water, revealing what is below. While you may not use a polarizer all the time, have one handy to cut glare on the water. Photographing dolphins riding off the bow wake can look a lot better using a polarizer. The only drawback is you are losing some light from using the polarizer filter.
How about a monopod? Tripods generally don’t work from a boat or larger ship, there is too much vibration and movement. A monopod sometimes can help to support those large telephoto lenses. A lot will depend on boat vibration, movement from your fellow passengers and your monopod technique. Sometimes the engine can be turned off on boats which helps cut vibration.
Bring a camera rain cover. Being on a boat means being near the water. Bring a rain cover for your camera to protect from the rain, and from splashing waves on smaller boats. Photographing in light rain can be beautiful, you don’t want to miss it.
Try slow shutter speeds. Photographers often think of fast shutter speeds to freeze the action and eliminate blurry photos when shooting from a boat. But you might also like to try using a slow shutter speed to create ethereal images. Try photographing the boat wake or ship flag at slow shutter speeds and see what you get. Experimentation is key to creativity!