How to get great picture of your boat while sailing!

Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
View attachment 162341 View attachment 162342
Speaking of lighting, notice the sun is in front of the camera in Jackdaw’s example. I photographed my H23 on the trailer and another guy chastised me for not having the sun behind me “so the picture will look good.” I took the picture just to appease him. Which do y’all prefer?
Everything. Digital media makes it very easy to try everything
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
Memories. I look back at them, and many are poorly composed etc, but are memories that need to be saved.
This.

I take a lot of photos with our iPhone and a Cannon DSLR. I only delete duplicates. The rest I keep for memories or a chroniclogical history of projects, both home and boat.
 
Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
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Speaking of lighting, notice the sun is in front of the camera in Jackdaw’s example. I photographed my H23 on the trailer and another guy chastised me for not having the sun behind me “so the picture will look good.” I took the picture just to appease him. Which do y’all prefer?
If the intent was a solid picture of the boat. I would have pulled it forward out of the shade of the tree and still used that angle. You can do that when you have control of the subject matter.
 

Kermit

.
Jul 31, 2010
5,657
AquaCat 12.5 17342 Wateree Lake, SC
If the intent was a solid picture of the boat. I would have pulled it forward out of the shade of the tree and still used that angle. You can do that when you have control of the subject matter.
Maybe, but being a portrait guy I like indirect light. I’ll have to keep that in mind next time. Thanks for the other point of view.
 
Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
Maybe, but being a portrait guy I like indirect light. I’ll have to keep that in mind next time. Thanks for the other point of view.
Nice place you have there. The only "trees" that big around here are telephone poles.
 
Jan 22, 2008
763
Hunter 340 Baytown TX
Sometimes you get lucky, in 2018 I managed to “collect” some great photos of our boat. I found several great quality photos online a few weeks after a race, this is my favorite.
C1764581-184C-4569-882C-5CE918B98BA2.jpeg


In another late afternoon race, I shouted to a friend in his boat in front of us to snap a photo. He just had a point and shoot, but a pro couldn’t have framed it better or set up the lighting better.
7FEFC0F4-5941-4A15-8646-951F017AF26F.jpeg

In both photos the boat just happened to be clean and you can make out the crew.
There’s probably not enough photo enthusiasts to set up a local “Photo Op” group on Facebook or some other idea to find out when others with cameras are out and can trade snapshots, even on a busy sailing location like Galveston Bay. Or it would just get lost in the Facebook mess/maze.
 
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Jan 25, 2011
2,391
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
What model is Syndi-cat? The sail looks like it has a Catalina logo. I've never seen an inset outboard like that. I don't get out much.
Catalina 27. Wasn’t to long after this when things piped up and that OB jumped off its mount and went overboard hanging by a line. Photo boat turned rescue boat. They tore it down that night and were back out racing next day.
 
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TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Neither of these boats are mine as I took this shot. During our annual Tulip regatta.View attachment 162349
Good eye there. There are some good shots of boats here but this one has the added interest of another boat crossing it's bow, and another boat under under spinnaker, plus a background pulled in as subject.

None of this would happen in a wide angle lens. A long focal length compresses the distances into a tight group.

But a zoom lens results in a narrow angle of field.

That's where Mark's eye came in: He waited for the interest of the crossing boats, maybe he waited for the spinnaker, too. The background is industrial but from this distance it's interesting subject.



If you don't take the background into consideration, the best you get is a boat on the water. With a long focal length (zoom) and distance from the boat you are shooting, you can make a far shoreline part of the photo.

The photographer here might have scooted around in his shoot boat until he got the light he liked, and waited until the background had the interest of a close and far hill on the horizon. It gives the photo depth, location (North). Was it luck he got the name on the stern? No telling.

Why Cruising World didn't pick the shot for the December page, is a mystery.

CW calendar2.jpg
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Amazing how a telephoto lens compresses distance. Almost looks like a crash. The faces, not so much.
Rhodes Astro Vixen Concordia 2.jpg

And it doesn't take a lot of focal length to compress things. This shot taken from my moored boat, about 300 yards distant, looks a little risky at 135mm.

But had I taken the shot from a closer distance, with my zoom set at 28mm, you would see acres of space between the boats. Plus the background would have been half sky, low trees.

Both lens's fool the eye.
 
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Jan 25, 2011
2,391
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
The best places for shooting races are at the marks. Place the photo boat depending on background, lens used, wind, and what you envision the image to be..
 
Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
So key to a great photo is to have a good eye for composition.
And learning to have such an eye comes from taking bad photos, and getting critical feed back.
No real room for a “safe space”.
Go out and do it. It is ok.
Especially these days when "film" costs nothing!