Scenes From a Boat

Adventures Revisited

The great thing about not processing photos from a big trip all at once, is that you get to go back later and revisit your adventure.

Take this photo. Whilst in New Zealand last year, we took a cruise around the Milford Sound area. Went all the way to the edge of where the ocean begins. (It started to get a little rough out there – I was WAY happy when we turned around!). These boats take you up to waterfalls, right along the shore in places… and you get to see areas you’d NEVER see otherwise.

You also see kayakers, other boats showing people around (like the one in the photo), dolphins who swim in right in front of the boat – surfing the water that the boat pushes aside as it motors along. It’s very cool! I highly recommend it if you ever go. It also seemed like vertical shots were the only ones that really showed the scope and scale of the mountains we were surrounded by.

Two Tips

Two good things to keep in mind at  moments like this:

• If you want to show the scale of a little thing dwarfed by a big thing.. try photographing it vertical, with the little thing sitting toward the bottom of the frame.
• If you’re standing/sitting on a moving surface and are trying to keep everything steady; try shooting in Shutter Priority mode (TV on a Canon). If you start with a shutter speed of around 400 and adjust the ISO accordingly,  you stand a pretty good chance of having your shot totally in focus because you can force the shutter to move super quickly. You can use Manual mode too, but in Shutter priority there’s one less thing to think of. NOTE: I didn’t do that here. Sigh. Consequently, the boat isn’t entirely in focus, which chaps my hide. Don’t be me! hehheh.