Moving day

 This blog has now moved "in-house." We figured, why not put it on our own website? You can check out future posts at: http://photo-boat.com/photo-boat-blog

Thanks for reading!

Composition Tip: The horizon job

In sailboat racing, a horizon job is when you leave everybody in the dust. You're so far ahead, you're on a different leg of the course from everybody else. Or for distance races, you're over the horizon.

In sailboat racing photography, a horizon job is what you do to thousands of photos with your photo editing software after a day on the water. It's not nearly as glamorous; it's just plain tedious. But it's absolutely necessary, unless you get the horizons right when you take the shots, of course. After nine years on the job, we've gotten pretty good at keeping them straight, which helps to minimize the time we need to spend editing.

A surprisingly large portion of the general public does not notice when horizons are unnaturally crooked in sailing photos. I've seen large, expensively framed photos on display as decor at yacht clubs with crooked horizons, for instance. I've seen major boating brands' marketing departments publish photos with crooked horizons. And if you look at iStock and search "sailing," about one-third of the photos that come up on the first page have crooked horizons. Some people think its artsy. We don't agree.

But it's hard to take photos with straight horizons. You really have to think about it while you take the photo, as it's surprisingly easy to concentrate only on the boat and end up with a 45-degree horizon in the background. Like everything, it takes practice. And until you get better at it, you'll be spending hours on the computer doing the horizon job!

Here's the image above, the way it should be:

Much better!

Creating the Right Product - A Boat Photography Basic Composition Tip

Boat Photography Composition Tip - Be on a Collision Course! Well, just for a moment. Having the boat coming directly at you often provides the best photo. This is where On-Water Strategy meets Creating the Right Product. You can't have one without the other!

Composition is the foundation of photography; every photographer or photography enthusiast has studied and has a handful of rules to follow. But just knowing the rule of thirds isn't enough when it comes to boat photography composition.
This photo was taken on our first day of photography as Photo Boat, May 3rd, 2005, just off of Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT.

We were completely self-taught at that point, and it's pleasing to look back at this photo and see that it's well-composed.

The rule of thirds is well-followed (it is important of course), and the boat is heading straight towards the camera. While there are times that a side-on or stern shot is okay, most commonly we aim to take photos with boats coming straight at us. It provides an extra element of drama, even in lighter wind conditions, and like most composition principles, it just makes the photo feel right to the viewer. Getting this right, along with a number of other elements of course, can turn a snapshot into a professional photo.

Tacking...

On the job off of Key West. Photo by Mike Noone.

It's time for a change of direction with this blog. Regatta reports are nice, but it's the photographer's perspective that's interesting. I've said it again and again in response to "ooh, what an exciting job" or "what a fun way to do what you love for work". My response is always "it certainly is interesting." It is. We have all sorts of variables to contend with: wind, lack of wind, too much wind, wind from the wrong direction, sun, too much sun, lack of sun, sun from the wrong direction, rain, current, tide, inexperienced race committee, boat maintenance, trailer maintenance, inexperienced sailors, uncooperative regatta organizers, hurricanes, tornados (no joke), etc.

I call them "variables," but they sound more like problems. The thing is- they're conditions we can't control. The more things you can't control in a business, the harder it is to make it succeed. But we've learned how to deal with them, to minimize the negative impact. As we celebrate our 10th year in business this year (in fact, next week marks the ninth anniversary of our first photos taken as PhotoBoat), perhaps it's a good time to take a look back at the lessons we've learned and the techniques we've refined over the years. And maybe it's time to share them.

These lessons and techniques fall into three categories for our ultra-niche business: being in the right place with gear properly protected (on-water strategy), taking and subsequently editing the photo (creating the right product), and figuring out how to make every opportunity you can to get that photo from hard drive to a customer's wall (facilitating sales). Of course, there are a lot more steps to get right in between, but when it comes to success in our business, these are the three we consider a matter of expertise over general photography knowledge.

We hope that mainstream photographers and sailors alike will enjoy it.