Photography While Kayaking
Bring a journal and a camera that
can withstand exposure to the marine environment.
Create a photo journal to remember your travel
adventure. Be sure to include extra camera batteries,
and extra film. The camera should be weather
and waterproof. Remember that a bad weather
is often providing interesting photographic
opportunities. Keep the camera on a leash especially
if it doesn't float. Many kayakers will tether
the camera to their pfd or carry it in a small
neoprene pouch that is attached to the pfd.
The tether should be long enough to allow shooting
with an extended arm.
While the camera might be small
enough to carry around your neck, like a necklace
it is potentially dangerous and definitely not
recommend it. When taking the photograph be
sure to stabilize the canoe or kayak. Because
of the cameras small sizes these days they can
be easily shaken when pressing the shutter button,
so pay particular care to holding the camera
steady. If you are shooting non-action pictures
it may make sense to use 2 second self timer
to hold the camera steady, especially, when
only one hand is used.
If taking digital photos be sure
to take the pictures at the highest available
resolution. This will allow you to have a good
quality image that can be later cropped or blown
up. This can become very important when taking
photographs from inside the kayak, as perfect
framing can be quite a challenge while paddling.
You will often need to rotate and crop the picture
to make a horizon line horizontal. A downside
to the cameras that have the latest LCD displays
is that they are often very difficult to read
in the bright sunlight.
If that is the case, it should
not stop you from taking photographs, just take
some extra frames to ensure that you get a good
shot. Don't be afraid to use some creative angles.
And while your focus might be the world above
the water, remember that many of these water
cameras allow for photographing underwater.
An easy trick is to put the camera under water
right next to your kayak. If the camera is digital
I would not suggest using any in-camera effects.
You can always add them later in Photoshop or
other digital photo editing software.
If you are using digital be sure
to purchase an upgraded memory card so that
you can store a large number of photos in the
cameras memory. Shooting digital is is significantly
cheaper than shooting film.
About the Author: Rob Daniels
is an avid kayaker and outdoor enthusiasts more
at Snorkeling Shop http://www.snorkeling-shop.com
and Kayak Escape http://www.kayak-escape.com
