Photo and text by Matthew Brown
Captured on the bow of Epsilon while cruising the Broadwater, these ladies were on a Hens day out party. I was taking photos for the owner of the charter vessel, who requested a range of images showing his clients enjoying the boat’s space.
On this day, I took plenty of shots with my two full frame Nikons with various lenses, and being on a sailing boat was looking for other interesting angles. This particular photo, I was standing directly on the bow of the vessel, using a GoPro Hero 3 Black on an extension pole, which swiveled. By using the GoPro app on the phone, I was able to make the composition from above. I like how the photo has symmetry and is a combination of posed and un-posed from the ladies. I remember framing the shot as they were chatting, then requested the ladies to just give a little look up for me.
The most difficult aspect of taking the photo was probably the composition. Although I had the GoPro app showing the subjects on screen, I wanted to include as much of the boat as possible, while keeping the guests in main frame. I made sure the image was as symmetrical as possible, rather than try for a rule-of-thirds approach.
The main challenge when taking photos out at sea is setting the right exposure for the weather conditions. To ensure photos are interesting, capturing depth in the images is the trick. Keeping objects in either the foreground or background of the subject matter is also difficult to accomplish, as you are limited in space when moving around a deck to finding interesting angles.
Another challenge with nautical photography is retaining the correct colour balance when editing. And obviously, keeping the salt out of the high-end gear that offers no protection, is also problematic.
One important tip is frame to capture as much in the shot as possible, and as quickly as possible, so as not to have the ‘too staged’ look on the talents faces. These wide shots can be cropped in your editing software at a later date.
The post-edit of the image proved difficult, as a GoPro image file do not store anywhere near the detail and colour data as a raw DSLR file. I was conscious to keep the natural colour of the water, while emphasising the white of the boat in frame.
About the Boat:
The owner takes care of his vessel, more like his personal boat rather than a charter boat. Epsilon is a Vadbestadt 38 built in 1999 and owned by Michael Tromp of Champagne Sailing Cruises. Epsilon has a rich history, having won the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in 2001 (IMSC division) and has competed three other times. (champagnesailingcruises.com.au)
About the photographer:
Matthew Brown owns Blask Photography and VideoDriven Productions. He is self-taught on a Nikon d80 in 2007, while working as a deckhand on Superyachts in Italy, Croatia, France, and Monaco, and all through the Caribbean, from Fort Lauderdale to Barbados. Matthew discovered his drive for photography making slideshows for the guests onboard, at the completion of their charters. Upon his return to Australia, Matthew studied Commercial Arts. (blaskphotography.com.au)
Interview by Andy Kancachian
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THROUGH THE PORTHOLE is a regular photo exhibition by Boat Gold Coast contributors that provide a snapshot of Gold Coast life on the water.
You can submit your photos to editor@boatgoldcoast.com.au with a detailed description of camera used, location, and some interesting facts.
