Eight tips for photographers on a cruise vacation

I’m writing the first draft of this post at sea, on the way back to Los Angeles after a week’s cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

Cruising wouldn’t be my first choice of holiday, but family obligation dictated we go, so I brought along my camera stuff, and thought I’d share with you what I learned from my experience – some tips and advice for the keen photographer on a cruise.

1: Bring all your gear

Unlike the holidays I normally take, once you get to the ship, you’re not going to have to lug your bags anywhere. So pack as much camera stuff as you can, so you’ll have everything you might need.

In my case that was a Canon 5D, an EF 24-105mm f/4L, an EF 17-40 f/4L, an EF 50mm f/1.8 II, and an EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. I also brought a laptop, an external drive with my Aperture library on it, a second drive for backing up the vault, and even a mouse for easier computing.

2: Go long

As we were sailing away from San Pedro habour, I realised that with all my gear, I’d made a mistake. I should have brought a longer lens as well – which in my case would be my 70-200mm f/4L.

There’ll be a lot of times when taking pictures of things from the ship that a longer lens would really help. There’s a chance you’ll see some wildlife (whales, interesting birds . . . ), or want to get tight on something on shore as you come into port, so if you’ve got a big lad with you, so much the better.

In my case, when my daughter played with dolphins at an adventure centre in Puerto Vallarta, cameras were restricted to an area a long way away from the pool (at least partly so the centre could make tons of money from the (not very good photos) they shot. If I’d had the 70-200mm with me, I’d have done well.

3: Go stealth

Face it, even if you think you blend in while you’re ashore, you’re still probably recognisable as one of those folks who just got off the big boat anchored in the bay.

So it’s only prudent to make sure you keep your expensive camera gear out of sight most of the time. My Lowe Pro Slingshot bag is great, but you don’t need a lot of knowledge to spot it as a big camera repository. Instead, pack a regular small backpack, and stick the camera and maybe one other lens in there, when you want to be more unobtrusive.

It’s the same advice I’d give wandering around any American or European city too, lest people think I’m singling out Mexico.

4: Avoid the organized tours

To take photos, you have to be walking around. And you can’t do that on an air-conditioned tour bus (although the people in front of me on one coach were having fun taking pictures of the Sams’ Club and Home Depot stores we passed). Unless you’re heading to a particularly photogenic spot, skip the organised tour of the town and head off on your own.

You’ll need to make sure you printed out a good map before you leave home, as the ones from the cruise lines just tell you where the shopping is. In Mazatlan for example, we had to use some precious onboard internet minutes to download a good map of the old town (which I copied onto my iPhone for bringing with us).

Walking will let you get a real sense of the place you’re in – even if you’re only there for a couple of hours.

5: People not landmarks

In my shots from Mazatlan, the most successful ones included some of the locals going about their business – like the school party heading round the corner used above, or the guy below getting his shoes shined.

Shots that are just buildings only really tell part of the story.

6) Watch the ship’s photographers at work

They might be seen as hacks by more snooty shooters, but ship’s photographers work their asses off. Studio portraits aren’t really my thing, but it was instructive watching them work through a range of poses with a family or a couple, keeping everything light and friendly while knocking out a bunch of respectable shots in no time.

When things are quieter, they’ll often be happy to chat – especially if they see you’ve got a decent camera yourself. They crank out a lot of work with no chance of overnighting a replacement lens or light, so ask them what gear they rate and rely on

7: Not just for trips ashore

It might seem there’s not much scope for taking good photos on board the ship, but that’s not necessarily true. Bring a fast prime with you to formal nights and get some nice shots of your party looking good.

It’s hard to capture the scale of these ships while you’re on them, but the atrium and the long sight lines of the promenade decks might be good places to start.

8: Catch up on some keywording and organizing

Chances are your access to the Internet will be limited (and expensive) while you’re on board ship, but if you’ve got your laptop with you, it’s the perfect opportunity to catch up on some of the admin work photographers hate.

I sorted through a bunch of recent (and not so recent) images while I was away – rating all of them, and captioning and keywording those I was going to upload to stock houses or my own site. I tidied up the project I use as my Inbox in Aperture, and put the images in the right place.

It’s not very exciting work, but if you’ve got a bit of time it can be a very useful thing to get done.

Final thoughts

Like I said, it’s not my first choice of vacation, and from a photography point of view going on a cruise has some drawbacks compared to a land-based holiday.

For example, you’ll seldom be in the ports you visit at sunrise or sunset, so you’ll miss the best light. And unless the whales come calling, sea days might might be a bit dull.

But there are also some good opportunities to take some good shots and try things out in a new environment.

Slideshow

Here are my picks from the trip: