Over the summer, I went on a trip to Kauai to photograph the stunning Napali Coast. This was mostly a honeymoon dinner cruise on a yacht, but I was allowed a few moments to photograph the coastline during it which I am very grateful for! The result was one of the most challenging, exciting, and exotic landscape photography experiences I have ever had. While eating world-class food in an iconic location on a beautiful yacht there is little to complain about, but there were several things I did note about the added challenges of photographing the landscape while there.
High shutter speed
I prefer to shoot most of my images from a tripod which gives me control over everything from composition to shutter speed and the ability to slow down my approach to landscape photography. However, the nature of photographing things from a boat in a choppy ocean throws all of that out the door. Given how much motion there is side to side and up and down it forces the shutter speed through the roof to keep things sharp. I was at right around 1/1000s and there were still images that had some motion in them. I also left VC/image stabilization on even though I am not sure it did anything or was the right choice in this environment.
Naturally, with the higher shutter speed comes the need of raising the ISO and/or opening up the aperture. I ended up leaving the aperture at f/4-5.6 for slightly better sharpness and the ISO remained at 200-800 depending on cloud cover and the angle of the sun. Closer to sunset it became essentially impossible to capture anything worthwhile because of the movement and lack of light though.
Lack of composition control
The extreme amount of motion makes it pointless trying to use my favorite compositional tool of a tripod. So, it reverted me back to what I remembered from my days shooting sports and composing things on the fly. Taking tons of images on burst mode and waiting for those times where the boat was a bit calmer was key. The truth is that with all the variables it drives the keeper rate way down. I took around 300 images (which was definitely too few) and was only happy with the sharpness, composition, and lighting on a handful of them. Compose things through the viewfinder and shoot constantly when things look right or risk getting nothing!
Distance from subject
I had zero control over where the boat was going to end up during the evening. This meant that if I wanted to be closer or further away it could only be done through zooming in or out on the lens. This doesn’t work perfectly for obvious reasons! The best choice is to have multiple lenses and bodies to swap out for the shots you are looking for. I was exclusively interested in abstracts of the cliffs, so the longer lens was perfect for me. I will say that I could have gone for a slightly longer reach than the 70-200 ended up giving me.
Another issue with the distance to the subject is if there is any atmospheric effects taking place. If there is any mist or fog it can make it difficult to see the subject and even when lighter the image can start to lack contrast and detail. I noticed that in my images there were some with a significant amount of spray and some rain causing detail loss with softer resulting images and an overall lack in contrast on flatter scenes. The higher contrast scenes also were impacted with the shadows looking ugly due to the haze.
A small boat with lots of motion
Like I mentioned earlier, the smaller the boat and the more you will be moved by the ocean. I was on a decent sized Catamaran with capacity right around 50 people. The waves were relatively large though and if you were on the front of the yacht it would certainly buck you around! Standing near the back of the boat meant less motion, but still staying aware of your surroundings and what the boat and ocean are doing is key to keeping yourself and your gear safe. The idea is to stay on the boat while shooting and avoid getting smacked in the head by a mast or whatever else is happening onboard.
Staying dry
When I was in Boy Scouts at summer camp there was a swimming test with three levels of passing. The easiest test let you be in the shallow end of the pool, and the only way to fail was to not get wet when getting in the pool! Water is wet and you are surrounded by it! Unless you could keep yourself and your gear dry when splashed or dunked in the Ocean then I recommend trying to avoid these scenarios. Staying at the back of a boat as I mentioned earlier as well as watching to see where other splashes/waves are coming through is helpful! Also, stay conscious of what the crew is recommending you do at various times. Staying in the middle of the boat, going barefoot, holding onto rails, moving to a side of the boat, or anything else to avoid a soaking!
Exposure to weather
You will likely never feel more exposed to the environment you are in than when on a boat in the ocean. I have been on mountaintops with an approaching storm and felt more in control! The waves, rain, wind, sun, and anything else that mother nature can throw at you. There is little hiding you can do from any one of these variables let alone all of them! Getting inside the cabin when things take a turn for the worst helps, but you can still see the spray coming through and the motion of the ocean churning everything inside. Be ready for anything to happen or stay on-shore if you don’t feel comfortable with these sorts of conditions.
Time of day and light
There isn’t much control you are going to have over the time of day or light that is happening on a boat tour or dinner cruises. While they typically welcome photography and try to get you lined up for some decent images the schedule isn’t tied to the best light for the location. Luckily, what I was looking for the light was just about perfect! Shooting abstracts with a long lens as the clouds and light danced around the landscape within 2 hours of sunset worked phenomenally.
The closer you get to sunset, the less light you will have and the more you’ll have to raise the shutter speed anyways. Raising the ISO and lowering the quality of images isn’t ideal! So, unless the sea is especially calm then I would recommend alternatives of a helicopter or shooting from shore is likely a better option than the boat. Also, know that the closer you get to nightfall the more hazardous staying on the water can be which many boat operators are going to want to minimize!