How to Photograph Your Boat

(Even when you can’t let go of the tiller…)

Let’s talk about a dilemma all of us share: How to get decent shots when you’re almost always onboard, unable to capture photos of your own boat under sail, power, oar or paddle.

There are lots of possible solutions, but they’re not always available. We could suggest, for instance:

Get underway shots by asking your partner, or a sailing buddy, to take photos from another boat, from a dock or in some cases, from shore as you sail/motor/row by at a close enough distance. (Right here we should mention that most photos we see of readers’ boats are taken from too great a distance. If the image is supposed to communicate “here’s my boat and what it looks like,” the boat itself should ideally occupy about half of the frame, or more. If it’s that little, dark thing on the horizon, the image might be a great for other reasons, but it isn’t a useful portrait of your boat.)

Maybe have your partner or trusted boating friend operate your boat, so you can shoot your own action photos from another boat, dock or shoreline.

Hire a photographer to document everything needed of your boat. (Not an option for most of us.)

Buy a drone and learn how to use it for interesting underway images, shot from different, otherwise-unobtainable perspectives. (If you’re going to do this, please fly the thing in the middle of nowhere…not around other boaters, who as a general rule like to shoot down annoying spycraft.)

Attach small GoPro-type waterproof cameras to your boat, maybe in several locations, to capture shots of your boat under sail, and from different creative angles.

At least gather nice “still-life” images of your own boat from a dinghy while at anchor in quiet back bays.

While overviews are important and much-needed, it’s worthwhile to capture all kinds of images of your boat—if for no other reason than to have full coverage when you eventually want to sell the old thing and move to a smaller, larger or simply better model. So in addition to singular shots of your boat surging along under sail or power, it’ll be helpful to have full coverage for stories you submit to Small Craft Advisor…or for classified ads you later put together.

Beyond the challenge of how to take a greater variety of photos of your boat, let’s talk about the real challenge: How to get stronger, more compelling images of your boat…not just ordinary record shots.

Here are some things we’ve learned about photographing boats, in no special order:

LOOK FOR MAGIC LIGHT

There are two times of the day—early morning and late evening—to generally seek “magic light” photos. This image could have been shot during either period, but it happened to be just as the sun was coming up, but not quite yet shining fully on the backlit tanbark sail as our friend Andrew motored his Welsford Navigator out of a quiet back bay. So, the “magic ingredients” were quiet water for a reflection; enough light to not only illuminate the sail but also show details of the hull on the shadowy side…and simply being in the right place at the right time via dinghy, anticipating that morning light might produce a few photos as small-boat sailors left the anchorage. Marty Loken photo