Just pictures

Baggywrinkle

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6 Mar 2010
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Ammersee, Bavaria / Adriatic & Free to roam Europe
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What I do ....

Exposure:

Ensure a correct exposure .... once the highlights are blown out, there is no recovering the detail - the shadows are a bit more forgiving. If the dynamic range of the camera isn't enough, better to underexpose than overexpose.

Composition:

Frame the shot carefully .... just take a few seconds and maybe even re-position the camera, zoom in/out to cut out junk protruding from the perimeter and avoid stuff that distracts attention from the natural focal point of the shot (that which caused you to take it in the first place)
Ensure the horizon is straight (although I have sailing shots where a slanting horizon has added a dynamic to the shot).
The "rule of thirds" can be used for a pleasing vanilla composition for most shots but try different compositions and angles, digital is free, experiment.
Try and avoid putting the focal point (Face, Horizon or whatever smack in the centre of the frame.)

Equipment:

Once exposure is sorted, learn what a difference ISO, Shutter speed and Aperture make to the image, e.g. lower ISO helps eliminate noise and improves saturation, shutter speed enhances or removes motion blur, aperture controls depth of field and even the number of leaves in the aperture of the lens can have interesting effects on night shots.
Learn the strong and weak points of your equipment and use them to your advantage.

Post Process:

Post process .... learning to post process shots is something well worth investing in - especially nowadays with such powerful graphical editing and developing tools.
I can usually always improve on what comes out of the camera by running it through Lightroom or Photoshop.
This is perhaps only for the die-hard hobbyists though.

Learn:

Watch lots of YouTube videos from photographers and cinematographers for ideas and inspiration.

Practice:

Take lots and lots of photos.

I've just added a drone to my equipment, some examples here ...

Drone Footage

... can't wait to get out on the boat with it.

PS: Sorry, just realised this is the East Coast Forum ... ooops ?
 

Concerto

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16 Jul 2014
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5,992
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Chatham Maritime Marina
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A few photos from my collection.

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Sailing up the Medway July 2017 as I returned from a singlehanded 3 week holiday to the Isles of Scilly. The start burst was not engineered but just happened.

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Queenborough August 2018

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Folly Point and fort September 2014

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Sunset from Stangate Creek before the Kingsnorth Power Station was demolished June 2016

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The Orwell Bridge June 2016
 

johnalison

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14 Feb 2007
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Essex
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That is my last boat with the windfarm in the background!

Having been avidly watching the progress of that thunderstorm I dropped the sails just before it arrived and was still making reasonable progress under bare poles.
I took two or three pictures at the time because there was a strange atmospheric effect making your sail appear a clear blue colour, which didn't fully show up in the photos.
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