Hey folks,
As I’m sure you are all well aware boaters seem to be all budding amateur photographers, all you have to do is log onto facebook after a wet weekend and see some pretty pro results.
So I dropped my mate Ryan a line who is a Scottish based ( I know he will hate being called) Pro Photographer and solid boater a line to see if he was interested in giving me and those who check in on this blog a few tips that might help us get better results.
Ryan himself
I suppose this is where I should just be quiet for once and let Ryan take the drivers seat…
Righto Mr Shanahahahan,
Top Tips for what NOT to do and perhaps what is good to do when you’re taking and editing your boating pics…at the most basic level.
Rule of thirds – Does every photograph you take have the main subject in the centre? Boring huh! Rule of thirds concentrates on composition…i.e. where you point your camera and what’s in the frame. You can Google the definition and think about how you want to composition a photograph. All I’m saying is don’t keep everything central, it’s boring.
Composition – There’s a famous quote that says if it’s not good enough, you’re not close enough. As much as I would never say get as close as you can. I would 100% advise that before you push the button, if there’s sky, trees, rock etc that doesn’t need to be in the frame…zoom in further or get closer.
Shutter speed – Unless you’re trying to get a specific effect I’ simply recommend get your shutter speed as fast as you can. 500th of a second is great, 300th of a second can still be a bit slow but hey, this ain’t Africa, you have to work with the conditions you’re in.
Aperture – If you don’t know what this is, Google it. In short it refers to how much light your camera lets in which also effects what is known as ‘depth of field’…again, Google it. If you’re photographing the boat & person and not the scenery then a general rule you’ll simply want as much light in as possible, only when you want the boat, person and the scenery all in focus will you have to start letting less light in for a greater depth of field….which coincidentally means a slower shutter speed, which of course doesn’t suit this sport in countries with crappy weather….magic answer, there isn’t one; practice and learn more.
For kayaking – The above have all been pretty general that can be used in many type of photography as well as kayaking. The following works specifically for kayaking.
Tripod & Monopod – Tripod’s take up space and time, a monopod will help for those low light, slow shutter speed moments. When you start to get arty though a tripod is a must. Boats, trees, rocks can all come in handy though so use your imagination.
Focusing – Ok, I once asked a Canon sponsored, award winning, very rich and successful photographer what the most important thing he’s learned how to do in photography over the years…he answered “Focus his lens” and he meant it. Moving water is damn hard to do….but the rock, tree or whatever is right next to the water isn’t….so focus on that instead! Turn off your auto-focus and aim for where the boat will appear and wait. There is nothing I can tell you that will make you perfect at focussing….if you find any ways of getting it right all the time every time please let me know.
Communication – Do you boat with strangers, are you being a paparazzi, are you hiding from those coming downstream? NO! So talk to those you’re going to photograph, tell them where to be, the move to perform, not to pull a stupid face and most of all get the bloody paddle away from their faces!!!! But that last one might have to be part your skill and luck…very few paddle strokes help though!
The final and most important top tip that comes from the award winning photographers out there; get some kind of photo-editing software. You can’t be expected to take the world’s best photograph, first time, under pressure, in less than perfect conditions, of your mates ugly mug….but you can resurrect many of what would be terrible shots! YouTube is by far the best way to learn how to do this…the word ‘tutorial’ is a good place to start.
In summary, when you’re on the river just remember:
Focus – make it sharp;if you can’t focus on the water focus on something the same distance away.
Off Centre – Centre is ok…but not every shot chaps & chicks
Shutter Speed – fast fast fast
Talk – your friends will forgive you when they get a great shot of themselves.
Edit Edit Edit– There’s no reason not to.
Ryan
I’d like to thank Ryan for taking the time to do this for me I know I am defiantly going to try put it into practice, you can check out his Company website Liquid Impact.
I would also like to add a little note of two other Irish Paddlers who are skilled photographers one being Chris Tierney who you can check out HERE. Also I’m sure allot of folks know Kyle Tunney check out his Facebook, Website , Blog who’s images constantly amaze and inspire me to want to be better behind the camera.
Adrian
Ryan uses way too much ‘make my photo better filter’ (Shadow and Highlights). Tell him that there are other techniques for bringing out shadow detail and combining the subtle effects of several techniques can give a natural look. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to emulate the ‘look’ of the photos in this post. Tom
Hi Tom, if you have some tips you would love to share I be happy to publish them.
Hi Tom, cheers for your honest comments. Can’t please everyone huh.
With regard to my over use of the shaddow and highlight tool, I do of course refer that straight to the photograph of the chap holding a boat on his head. This of course does not look real.
However, with all of my ‘non-commercial’ photographs I edit them to please my eye. Not others.
If you also like my iamges, then great. Thank you!
If not please refer to the first paragraph and check out the last paragraph of Adrian’s blog post; some lovely images!
Cheers Adrian!
Ryan
Ryan,
Thanks for the tips. Any tips for us waterproof point and shoot camera users i.e. Olympus Stylus 8000, Canon D-10? Appreciate your ideas and pics!.
Thanks,
Jay
G’day Jay (didn’t mean to rhyme I promise),
To be honest I’d be lying if I said yes without spending a day on the river trying to work with one and part of an evening editing what I capture.
The things you do still have control over however, are: communication with your subject, composition of your image and editing ability.
With that in mind and a little experience of them; I’d say get close, pre-focus, tell your kayaking mates where to be and what to do…..and you’re half way there.
Hope that helps initially dude!
When taking photos of my girlfriend , can you recomend any good angles to capture the action …. the ones where I shoot her from behind are often dogged by camera judder and dont really capture her best side , I really want to show my mates her in action …… playboating of course !!!
Ohhh, thanks for the shout-out Adrian, I’m going red here!!
I’ll add one tip to the discussion as well- bring lots of memory and shoot like there’s no tomorrow…. most cameras have a burst mode (continuous shooting)- use it! Your best shot may not happen at the moment you decide to release the shutter; it might be a quarter of a second later, and although it sounds crude it’s pretty much always best to shoot bursts of shots around the crunch moments on the river. That said, it is sometimes better to time the very first shot for a precise moment (such as the very split second someone makes a landing), but keep your finger down!
On a related note, if you are shooting with an SLR and have a good quality long lens (I mostly shoot with a Canon 70-200L) then servo focusing and the ability to follow your subject precisely are extremely useful- if you can track a subject moving towards you and take multiple sharp shots as they do their thing then you again increase the chances of getting that photo.
I have a Canon D10 as well- it has a nifty burst mode, so again that’s a recommendation, and there is also a very useable manual focus mode, so don’t be afraid to drop into that mode and prefocus on a bit of the river you need to be sharp
That, and make sure other basic things are set such as your white balance etc.
Yep Tierney nailed the one, most important tip I missed.
Some might pass judgement on just keeping the finger on the button…they’re the same ones who are displeased by photoshop….
Most expensive software and most expensive cameras….the shot very fast bursts and edit photographs to LOOK great for a reason.
Bi Marko, do you have any photos of your girlfriend?….I won’t be able to help until we’ve all seen her…if she’s anything like the Irish girls I’ve known behind is best!…..playboating of course
p