A conundrum

[rpcrowe]

My daughter and son-in-law have recently purchased a neat 34 foot (~10.5 meters - give or take) boat. He is planning on using this as a platform to view the San Diego Parade of Lights ( http://www.sdparadeoflights.org/ ). My wife and I will go with them along with a another couple.

Even though I am a retired Navy photographer, I have not shot night images of moving boats from another moving platform (except for some 16mm footage of tracer rounds in a Vietnam river fire fight many years ago).

I am open to any suggestions as to how to accomplish this.

BTW: we were told from an experienced boater that you can get a better view of the Parade of Lights from the shore. Apparently, since the decorated boats travel in one circular direction, many owners decorate the shore sides of the boats...

[Bobobird]

Difficult one - photo or family.

I can visualise what you can get from solid ground and what you will get from a bobbing and moving boat.

Personally I would stay on the boat for family and just take shots according to what is there. Who knows everything bobbing and weaving including the street lights and anything else on land could make for some interesting abstracts.

[Polar01]

Richard I am going to assume two things, so I am probably wrong. The boat you will be on will either be anchored or at drift, the second is the parade will only be moving by at 2 most 3 knots just enough to make steerage. One last thing they are going to be in harbour not exactly a swift boat gun fight on a river. So it is just like being on land shooting a slow moving lite object moving at night. So just remember Scotty's equation to beam between two points moving at warp, its not the points that are moving it is space around them that is moving.

Cheers:

Allan

[rpcrowe]

I may take a beanbag and shoot some very slow shutter speed images. The results should be wild... If I was really interested in getting shots of the parade itself - I'd do it from shore.

Perhaps a portrait of my daughter with the moving and blurred lights in the background might be interesting...

[Geoff F]

My first thoughts about night shots from a boat would be to say, 'Don't' !

Having said that; I have shot fireworks from a moored boat under calm conditions, but this used a fairly fast shutter speed of around 1/60 and a Iso setting of 800 using Shutter Priority.

But I always got quite a lot of rejects.

Sufficient shutter speed is essential for any boat photography, as you will be well aware. Which then means using a wide aperture and higher Iso than I would like to have.

Whether to use image stabilisation on a lens is open to question. I have found that it can help when there is just a little movement or vibration from an engine; but I always turned it off when there was more substantial boat movement.

One other trick which I used, and you have probably done something similar, is to manually focus on the subject then press the shutter at the correct time as the boat rolls and the subject forms a suitable composition.

Then try another shot on the next roll.

Concentrating on a person in the boat or nearby craft and allowing the 'background lights' to blur a little is certainly the safest option.

[pnodrog]

I have taken or at least tried to take lots of photographs from small boats and in general trying to steady the camera against any part of the boat has been a waste of time. Wave, wake, wind and people moving on the boat make it a pretty unstable platform. Our bodies automatically flex and move to counter the boats motion so in my experience hand held at the highest shutter speed you can use is the best option. The higher you are in the boat the greater the movement so a lower deck is preferable to standing on a high flybridge even if the view is not as good. I would certainly use image stabilisation if available.

Don't run out of fuel it is really embarrassing....

[Colin Southern]

I may take a beanbag and shoot some very slow shutter speed images. The results should be wild... If I was really interested in getting shots of the parade itself - I'd do it from shore.

Perhaps a portrait of my daughter with the moving and blurred lights in the background might be interesting...

Some random thoughts ...

* Don't forget your flash, to freeze some of the motion.

* A tripod MAY help - if - you're trying to capture something else within the boat, relative to the outside (see photo below)

* Keep shutterspeeds as high as possible

* Pay attention to when the movement is least (eg as the boat reaches one extreme - pauses - then rolls the other way.

* Shoot multiple shots (spaghetti against wall approach)

* Use IS modes to your advantage.

Good luck!

[chauncey]

Shoot multiple shots (spaghetti against wall approach)

Not relevant to conversation, but that comment is more delicate than "spray and pray"

[Andrew1]

Try not to brace your camera on or against the boat if the motor is running even though you are not moving. You may not feel the tiny vibrations but they will show up in your results. Better to turn the motor right off but if that's not possible then brace a soft part of your body against the boat. (shoulder, hip, butt) No resting on elbows because bones transfer the vibration just as well.

It also might be an idea to practice ahead of time to familiarize yourself and be prepared for the approximate settings you will need. Go find a house decorated for Christmas and see what you can do at the time of day you plan on being on the water. F-stop, range, speed, etc you'll need to get the most suitable quality on your evening on the boat. Unless there is something in the background that is of particular interest, keep your aperture open and your speed at it's highest.