Shooting Yachts from a boat - A little advice please!

Hi there

I suppose this is directed at Nicloas, but also anyone who has experience of shooting boats from another boat. Its the round the Island race on Saturday 23rd and there are some 1750 boats entered, so i am off to try and get some shots. There is a pleasure cruise boat doing a 2 hour voyage from the needles so i am hoping to get shots from the sea rather than the cliffs above.

So any tips on methods to be used, main query i have is metering, when i shoot my birds and aircraft i am in manual mode having taken a meter reading of the grass as a midtone. What should i meter off in the boat.. The sea or will that be too dark, or should i get a grey card and meter off that.

Would you also set the white balance manually or use Auto. The lenses i have are IS so that should help, and should i put the camera inside a plastic bag to keep any spray off it or maybe just have a towel draped over it.

Any advice greatly appreciated

John

Phew! that could need a book !-)

Ill try to be simple and post about MY experience, other's could of course be different:

I always leave the camera do the metering (well 80% of time) as it (the 1DS MKII) makes a good decision between white or grey sails, white or black hulls and generally dark sea.

With long lens (200mm and above) even with IS I give priority to shutter, the longer, the faster.

If I don't want a special bokeh or DOF, I set the aperture to ƒ8 to 11 (depending of shutter speed).

Forget the manual things and keep concentrate on the framing while trying to guess what will happen within the next seconds!

To get wider range of settings, I usually shoot (at day) at 200 ISO, more if needed, better a little noise than blurred.

Auto white balance and correct when developing raws. You won't have time to use a grey card or manually set WB.

Stand on your 2 legs, don't rely on any part of the boat, get the strap around your neck, and balance the movements with your legs, whith the knees slightly bent.

I always wear a (heavy if cold or light if it is hot) jacket, when I don't shoot, if they are water sprays, I have the cam inside the Jacket, ready to shoot.

No plastic bag but a long roll of kitchen wipping paper to dry the UV filter in front of your lens.
Water drops on your front lens will ruin your pics if you don't get rid of them.

Have a good bag for the rest of your gear. Try to have someone to care about it.

If you have to change of lens:
Turn your back to the wind and sprays, shut the camera off, have the camera facing down, don't lose time! and... think twice before deciding to switch lens!


Enjoy!

Any other questions, do not hesitate!

Thanks for the advice

Hi Nicolas

Thank you for the advice i will bear all the points you mentioned in mind in my effort to get some decent yacht pictures. Just hope the weather holds out and it stops raining.

I will post my efforts on Sunday.

Sorry for not replying to you sooner only i have been away for work

John

Good luck!

I can imaging, that it is not so easy to get good shots from a moving boat on a moving boat....

Nicolas, did you ever see the photos of the yachtphotographers Beken?
look here

BTW: Aren't you heading for Valencia, next week? It's getting interesting, now.

Any kiwi-mates here in the forum ;-)