best setting for yaughting shots at sea for SX 50HS

Going on a catamaran cruise, day time sunny, and any advice on a setting in the program mode

would be appreciated

I do a lot of marine (ship and boating) photos and except for a -1/3 EV setting all else is standard JPEG settings. Sometimes I will change the EV to -2/3 in very bright sun. All get a quick run through Picasa. Nothing special. I just like shooting marine traffic that passes by our house.

Great SX60 shots. Just goes to show how just much the naysayers know. ;-)

--Thankyou, nice pics, i can see that there is nothing to drastic, i will just use my instinct
Current power shot SX 50 HS
Nikon S9300
Power shot SX 270 HS
Power shot SX 110 IS
Fugi Finpix E 500

Ian Abrahamson said:

Going on a catamaran cruise, day time sunny, and any advice on a setting in the program mode

would be appreciated

Click to expand...

Hello Ian, I sail with my SX50 all the time, photographing from the boat is technically the same as photographing anywhere. That said, I have learnt a few things in my time which I will share in a none definitive manner... just stuff I try to abide by.

Most photographs from the boat are boring, I may be suffering from familiarity of course, but one photograph of the sea is much the same as another. If you expect the professional exciting images they are generally taken from fast ribs darting in among racing yachts. So you have to make the best of the tools you have.

Foreground interest is a must, try not to hang over the rail in desperation to remove the boat from the image, however tempting this might be. The image below was taken with an action cam I set up while sailing (in case something interesting happens, I'm still waiting).


Take plenty of images with the boat and crew.

Without the foreground interest, I would have a rather dull photograph of us approaching the islands, if this is your first sailing trip you will of course find it exciting and that is not what I am getting at. In a couple of years when you flick through the images you will dart past the images of islands in the distance and concentrate on photographs with the boat and/or people in shot.

The SX50's big zoom is not always your friend at sea either. On the odd occasion if you anchor in a bay yes, but at sea even the most aggressive IS wont make a difference. Forget filming at anything but wide angle, trust me on this.

I have tried to find 2 images to explain the foreground interest and have not been too successful, but I think the following two photos should show what I mean, neither taken with an SX50.


A perfectly nice picture of Beaumaris in North Wales, tells you nothing.


Not a great image, but it tells you that you were on a boat and travelling past...

It is worth investing in a polariser before you go, as you see in the first image from the action camera the reflections from the waves can be a total nightmare (or not if you like it obviously).

I recommend using manual white balance, as the boat is probably going to be glossy and there will be reflections galore from all around. Use the sails or take a grey card to obtain a good white level. In case this isn't something you are familiar with, select white balance and scroll to manual, point the camera at a flat neutral surface (best not to be glossy) and press the menu button. Do remember that you are now using manual WB and it will need to be adjusted if conditions change.

Keep wiping the lens, especially if using a polariser. The smallest dots of spray will not show up on the camera screen but will ruin your day when you get home and upload the images.

I think depending how long your trip will is, you will find you take most of your images ashore or in harbour. At sea, it really isn't that interesting and most often, when it gets interesting you don't have time to take pictures. This is why I invested in action cams so I can just leave them out and ready. I carry a remote for them so they are fully waterproof and require little effort. I tend to take more movie footage at sea and this is certainly best done at wide angle. The smallest boat roll will be so exaggerated when zoomed they are unwatchable.

I have uploaded a couple of short SX50 video files which show some short comings without editing. I am not pious about zooming in, we all do it, that's why we bought the camera. I just try to avoid it. Also note the wind, which there is hardly any of and is so loud that it pretty much ruins the video. I have some deadcats which I made for my cameras (I posted a video a while back), I forgot to fit it Doh!






Note the focus struggles while zooming, I suggest zooming and then filming if you must zoom at all.

The following videos show the zoom problem really well. Both taken with a Panasonic video camera which is far superior to the canon for video and explains what I have been saying to the point you are probably too bored to keep reading. In the first I am able to hold the camera steady with the horizon at wide angle. The second shows that even the smallest amount of zoom can ruin the shot, the camera only has 16x optical and is unusable footage, note how it even picks up the engine vibrations at high zoom. My boat does not vibrate as much as this video might make you think. All video SOOC.









I hope some of the stuff helps you on your trip and you really enjoy your time on the water. Sorry if I banged on a bit, I thought I would share some hard earned lessons, I am afraid it came over rather negative. If you have any sailing related questions or any questions please feel free to ask me, either here or by private message. EDIT>> The video links don't seem to work properly so I have added the youtube addresses to the video I refer to.

Julian

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My Gallery
Panoramic ~ scroll and zoom with mouse (canon sx50, 135 images)

Thankyou for that info



a few shots, reduced them on Infranview









As has been said, boating pics can be boring, i was more interested in views of the shore from the sea side. I was also looking for that orange sunset, but it never happened



--
Current power shot SX 50 HS
Nikon S9300
Power shot SX 270 HS
Power shot SX 110 IS
Fugi Finpix E 500

Ian Abrahamson said:

Thankyou for that info

a few shots, reduced them on Infranview





As has been said, boating pics can be boring, i was more interested in views of the shore from the sea side. I was also looking for that orange sunset, but it never happened

--
Current power shot SX 50 HS
Nikon S9300
Power shot SX 270 HS
Power shot SX 110 IS
Fugi Finpix E 500

Click to expand...

High shutter speed,small aperture, high ISO. Not a good combo. And yes a bit of foreground might help here to give it some depth. P mode, -1/3 EV and limit ISO to 100 on sunny days would help. Just a few observations.