Photography for Cruisers - Basics and Concepts !

[DeepFrz]

To make the sea look like it is in real life shoot from inside the cabin, out past the stern of the boat. Frame the sides with the edge of the hatch. Keep the camera still and the movement of the boat will accentuate the sea state.

In the same way, mount the camera in the cockpit and shoot over the bow of the boat, or to the sides. So long as you keep the camera pointing to the same spot on the boat (frame) the motion of the boat will show the real sea state.

A little practice will soon have you taking great shots of those stormy seas.

[Knowazark]

Zee, the classic way to capture lightening bolts on film is to set up your camera on a tripod pointed toward the storm with a reasonably small aperture and hold the shutter open on bulb (assuming at night). Hopefully you'll get a zap of lightening in your shot. It's a bit hit and miss, and I have no idea if you can even do that with your cybershot.

[zeehag]

ok so the low lightsetting and patience patience patience.......y'all willbe first to see if i can do this one.....

[DeepFrz]

Zee, here is an interesting link.

How to Photograph Lightning

[storyinframes]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

Great stuff, thanks.

I have one major queation though...


Some queations.


2. How do you library all your photos and videos? Do you use a database provramme? Adobe somethng or other? I have so many video clips that sorting them is impossible. Is there an industry methodology for tagging and naming a file or record of a video/photo to allow you to search it for use later?

Lots of questions....

hi Foolishsailor,
to be honest i never had so many video footage that i needed to archive them somewhere. Earlier, I did used to use AVID editing software and I would store all the raw files on a separate hard drive for my film school projects. couple of years down the line, I prefer dumping all the footage with a studio which has a good fast machine loaded with either FCP or AVID and can output my work at highres, with all colour grading done online.

you can try this link it might help -

Ant Movie Catalog - CNET Download.com

I also would like to know what editing software you use?
try FCP (there is an amateur version ) doesnt cost much. you can load it on your mac and edit while sailing. the best part is that it is easy to use and has some fantastic features for a professional looking edit. good titling and colour grading tools too.

hope it helps.

[storyinframes]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

To make the sea look like it is in real life shoot from inside the cabin, out past the stern of the boat. Frame the sides with the edge of the hatch. Keep the camera still and the movement of the boat will accentuate the sea state.

In the same way, mount the camera in the cockpit and shoot over the bow of the boat, or to the sides. So long as you keep the camera pointing to the same spot on the boat (frame) the motion of the boat will show the real sea state.

A little practice will soon have you taking great shots of those stormy seas.

...how can you make the sea state in the video/picture look as big in the picture as it did in person? Always looks smaller

DeepFrz has a point. I will take it a little further.

1. FRAME. first question you should ask yourself is what am I framing. Seas and Deserts often pose major problems for composition because they are OPEN frames. i.e. when you frame a vast body of water like a sea or an infinite stretch of sand in a desert, the human has a tendency to wander beyond the frame and believe there is water/sand beyond it. there has to be some relief to arrest the wandering eye to a particular part of your frame.

now the major problem is in the middle of atlantic crossing how do you provide a relief object or a reference object. e.g. monstrous waves crashing on a lighthouse will make a superb picture of the character of the sea because your eye can judge with the reference of the lighthouse. in the middle of the sea you can photograph/videograph another boat/ship some distance away and prove or capture the fury of a gale.
without a relief or a reference those huge rolling waves pass by and the human eye and brain struggle to deduce the nature of the sea - just a swell or really bad sea.

Therefore you have no option but to shoot from within the vessel and that is toughest. you must take references in the foreground, eg. bowsprit, wire stays, portholes etc.
if the seas a are really rough you should use a very good wide angle lens 14mm for DSLRs.
Also, you can use a tighter lens e.g. frame the helmsman in a medium shot (belly - head) and the heaving seas behind will look high.

2. CONTRAST the character of a stormy seas are best accentuated with a contrasty look. I have yet to see a bright Hawaii day wedding look to be used for storms. so contrast is the key. you can do that in post but try to achieve as much as possible in-camera.

3. MOTION shoot slow-motion. the movement of 20 feet high waves isnt the same as 5 ft high waves. Slow motion gives you that 'heaving' look - large, bulky volume of water about to crash. You can try that in post too but unlike contrast this needs to be majorly done in-camera.

hope it helps. please do ask any more questions you have i will be happy to answer as I am between projects and have some free time

cheers and regards

[storyinframes]

Originally Posted by zeehag

ok so the low lightsetting and patience patience patience.......y'all willbe first to see if i can do this one.....

hi zee
check out this master piece from Idan Presser



btw 1x.com - In Pursuit of the Sublime is a great inspirational site for photographers.

some of the most beautiful photography is on wide angles :-)

cheers

[storyinframes]

a wide angle lens is a must for any cruiser who is travelling to exotic destinations.
this is one of the must have
NIKKOR 20mm f/2.8 from Nikon

its a 20 mm 2.8 opening lens. slightly slower to my taste but its good. you can find one with 1.4 opening as well. you can literally shoot in a candle lights.

[storyinframes]

For those who are not very much into professional level of photography while cruising, here is another alternative to take good stunning images/videos with less hassles
Rangefinder!!!

yes, a rangefinder. I would suggest a "FUJIFILM X-Pro1".
it is compact and light, and can fit in your pockets easily.
you can take some cool images while you are discovering a new port/island without drawing attention to yourself in areas where you would hesitate to take out your big cameras.

FinePix X-Pro1 Digital Camera - Fujifilm India

the best part is it can take videos with film simulation effects - like the colour tones of old Fuji negatives - Velvia, provia, etc.

try it

[storyinframes]

Hi there

I am sure there are many of you cruising far and away to exotic destinations. And am sure you are also interested in chronicling your adventures in a visual format. Low end handicams often come with digital artefacts and very high end digital cameras whose result could impress you many times over, would probably cost you more than your boat. (no seriously, not kidding. Arri alexa is 75,000$ just the body)
There is a good compromise in digital format camera with a smaller sensor size(16mm equivalent) - ACam dll
It has a very small and light body for ease of handling.

A-Cam dII | Products | Ikonoskop
Footage | Ikonoskop

Those who are looking from archival point of view, try super 8 also. yes, it sounds funny but it did cut my smile when I saw the footage of Super 8 cut in with regular 35mm motion picture negative on the film ARGO and that too on an IMAX screen.

PS: I have no commercial affiliation with any of the products described above. Just the desire to share with all of you, what I know.

regards

[storyinframes]

this new pocket version of blackmagic camera costs around 1000USD. nice for logging your cruising life.

https://vimeo.com/67562461

[jleeenders]

I enjoyed the review! I, too, have been taking photos for quite some time. I had some schooling but mostly learned on my own since I was 8 with my first Brownie.....54 years ago. It was a great Christmas gift from Santa!
JLee

[MarkJ]

Yep the Blackmagic camera could be good for video... but a review says

and at 2.08 megapixels I doubt it would deliver generally useful stills.

$995 Plus lens? Doesnt really say but doesnt mention including a lens.

[Sailor_Hutch]

Jleeenders:

Brownie!! That was my first camera too! I remember that good old 126/B&W kodak film - it was less than a dollar per roll at the local downtown pharmacy. Still have the pics, but the camera is long gone, having disappeared in late sixties. Wish I hadn't misplaced it along the way!

Mark: My first digital was 300 kilopixels. Sounds ridiculous now, but it wasn't even that long ago! I could get some great shots with it, but had to carefully craft the composition and placing, and then apply very bright lighting to the subject. It was only really useful in staged setups.

I recently watched a youtube video of a cruise ship in distress. I marveled at how the water didn't seem to be so menacing really - until I counted the number of decks up to the point where the waves reached into them (40+ feet). It's all a matter of frame context, as the OP said.