Pentax Optio – paddling with a camera

Horizontal or/and Vertical Format in Kayak Photography

This article was originally posted in May of 2009. Horizontal pictures usually work better on websites and on most of social media. There are exceptions, like Instagram where is better to post square or vertical images. Well, if you are shooting for a magazine cover is a different story.

There are a lot of books on composition in photography and the art of seeing. My favorites include books by Michael Freeman, Art Wolfe and Freeman Patterson.

Like most paddlers I have a tendency to shoot pictures in a horizontal (landscape) format. It is more tricky to shoot in a vertical format from my tippy kayaks, especially, when I have to use a paddle to stabilize my camera.

Some subjects simply require the vertical (portrait) format. Sometimes the choice is not so obvious. Of course, the best solution is to shoot several pictures in both formats.

I posted below a few couples of pictures shot from the same spot in both vertical and horizontal formats. In all situations the traditional horizontal format work pretty well. However, the vertical framing allows me to show better an interesting sky or something dramatic in a foreground. Older pictures (2007) were shot with Pentax Optio W10, while newer (2009) with Optio W30 camera.

Horizontal or vertical? Which image version do you prefer in each case?

Sunset over the South Platte River at Wildcat Mound
below confluence with the St Vrain Creek. June 2007.

Sunset over the Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins shot from Thunderbolt-x kayak. June 2007.

Calm evening with Sea Wind canoe on the Lonetree Reservoir near Loveland. May 2009.

The same location as above, but shot blind from over my head. I would prefer to place a horizon lower or higher in the vertical picture. The horizon exactly in the middle of the frame may work better in a more static horizontal composition. May 2009.

Jeremy Rodgers in a wildwater racing kayak below the Plumb Ditch Dam on the South Platte River. March 2009.

Posts and links related to composition in photography

Where to Place a Horizon in Your Paddling Pictures?
6 Sunset Pictures from 10 Minutes of Paddling on the Boyd Lake, Colorado
10 Tips How to Avoid Blurry Pictures when Shooting on Water
Photography composition books at Amazon.com
Shooting Paddlers – Photographic Adventures with Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters – review
How to get started in photography – Learning path at CreativeLive.com

October 15, 2019

10 Tips How to Avoid Blurry Pictures when Shooting from a Kayak

Compact waterproof digital cameras like Pentax (Ricoh) Optio WG-series or Olympus Tough series are popular among paddlers. They may not offer the highest image quality among point-and-shoot cameras, but they still produce decent pictures. Most importantly, you can photograph in conditions where other cameras are better kept in a dry case or box.

However, new camera owners are often getting pretty bad, blurry pictures and are really disappointed with a purchase. Shooting on water from a kayak or canoe requires some extra efforts and practice from a paddling photographer. Here are a few tips which may help. This is an update of my old post written 5 years ago. Cameras are getting better, but, I believe, the tips below are still valid. I have been using Pentax Optio waterproof cameras starting from the original model WP, then W10, W30, and, currently, WG2 is attached to my life jacket.

1. Use the automatic mode

I do not have any special settings for my camera. On water I use exclusively the P (program) mode. Of course, in addition to the P mode I use the movie mode and interval drive mode quite often.

You can program the green button to do useful adjustments without a need to go through a setup menu. I am using two functions assigned to the green button: exposure correction and, much less often, white balance setups. Typically, I underexpose my shots to avoid overexposed areas with wash out details. Coincidentally, it shortens the exposure time which helps to avoid blurry pictures, but this is not a main purpose of this adjustment.

2. Keep the camera steady

This is the most important tip. However, it is not so easy when paddling, especially, when water is not calm. Ideally, you should hold the camera in both hands. In addition, it is quite easy to shake the light and small camera just by pressing a shutter button.

3. Use a paddle shaft to stabilize the camera

Here is a short video clip demonstrating how I am doing it.

This technique really helped me when I was starting to paddle a tippy Sisson Nucleus kayak. You can achieve two goals: to stabilize the camera and to stabilize your kayak. You have your paddle ready for bracing. This technique does not work with strong, gusty winds.

You can go further with this idea and attach or mount your the camera more permanently to your paddle – see a camera cradle by Mark Sanders.

4. Use a self timer

The 2 second selftimer available in Pentax Optio is very useful to avoid shaking the camera when pressing the shutter button. I recommend it, especially, when you are holding the camera with one hand (shooting on an extended arm or from some unusual angles).

5. Keep your lens clean of condensation, water drops, water residue

I keep my camera in a small neoprene pouch attached to my life jacket and usually do not have problems with water or dirt on my lens. The camera is always on a tether. Shooting with a camera mounted on a deck and exposed to splashes is another story.

6. Pay attention to light and sun position

Try to shade you camera lens from a direct sunlight to avoid a lens flare. Do not shoot against the sun.

It is possible, at least for Pentax, to glue (epoxy) some step-up rings and to attach lens hood to your camera. I am using much simpler solution: an improvised lens hood attached with an electric tape to the camera.

You can expect the best “sweet” light for shooting when the sun is low, so after the sunrise and before sunset. Do not expect too much from this camera in low light conditions, but do not give up with shooting as soon as the sun is down. Consider shooting some silhouettes or water reflections then.

7. Use flash

Sometimes, I use flash to add light to objects in my fore plan. Usually, a soft flash option works better for a kayak deck. Be aware of any reflective tape on your kayak or gear.

8. Shoot multiple frames

Don’t limit yourself to a single shot for a given scene. Repeat the shot. Try different angles, horizontal and vertical format. You will increase your chances to get that great shot. Digital memory is cheap. You can always erase unsuccessful pictures later.

9. Photoshop …

Downloading pictures from the camera to your computer is not the end of your work as a photographer.
Use Photoshop or other image editing software to post process your pictures. Most often, I rotate my pictures to make horizon horizontal, adjust the exposure with levels, crop and resize them, and, finally, apply some sharpening. You cannot save completely blurred pictures in Photoshop, but you can improve most of them.

10. Practise

There are no reasons not to take and use the camera wherever you go. It is small and waterproof. Experiment and have fun.

Time to to time it is useful to browse through the camera manual. You may find something new and exciting in a jungle of all these options and settings.

More tips?

Could you share tips from your experience with a kayak or canoe photography? Are your on water pictures worse than these shot on land?

March 27, 2013

Paddling Photography in April (2005-2008)

I am trying to return back to my older articles through “Paddling Photography a Year Ago” series. However, I am running this blog for over 5 years. So, today, I offer a look at selected April posts over the recent 4 years. I am writing a similar post in my Fitness Paddling blog as well.

Big Thompson River below Loveland

2005

Paddling and Exploring the Big Thompson River below Loveland, Colorado
Big Thompson River from I-25 to Hillsboro Dam
Paddling Upstream Can Be Faster than Downstream – Hail Storm on the Big Thompson
First Impressions of New Waterproof Camera – Pentax Optio WP
Big Thompson River with a New Pentax Optio WP Camera

North Platte River above Seminoe Reservoir in Wyoming

2006

No Viewfinder? 10 Tips on Shooting Pictures without Viewfinder
North Platte River in Wyoming above Seminoe Reservoir

Dear skull on the shore of Horsetooth Reservoir

2007

Ez-Vee Roof Racks from Kayak Pro – Review
Anybody Remembers C1 Canoe Racing on the South Platte River near Greeley?
Launching Thunderbolt Kayak on Horsetooth Reservoir from Lory State Park
20 Paddling and Photography Destinations – Wayfarer Trip Index
Paddling the Skeleton Coast
10 Tips How to Avoid Blurry Pictures when Shooting on Water
Blue Paddle from New Belgium through a Pinhole
Racing Kayaker and a Paddle Stroke – 4 Pictures by Björn Olin

Quarry Cove of the Horsetooth Reservoir

2008

Springtime Paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir
Paddling the Horsetooth Reservoir and Looking for the Past

April 11, 2009

Paddling in Fog on the Lower Suwannee River

Fog on a river may be really photogenic. Well, if it is not too dense. I rarely have occasion to paddle in fog in a dry Colorado and when it happens it is usually too cold to enjoy it.

I just returned back to my pictures shot im March of 2006 during the WaterTribe Ultimate Florida Challenge. I didn’t complete that race around Florida. However, after quitting the official race and some rest I paddled across Florida from Fort Clinch to Cedar Key.

My last two nights on the Suwannee River were really cold. I believe the air temperature was dropping down to 30s. A dense fog was forming over the river making night paddling somewhat challenging. However, mornings with rising sun were beautiful and provided me with many photographic opportunities.

The above pictures were shot with Pentax Optio WP in a fully automatic mode but usually with some adjustments of exposure time. I have assigned EV compensation to the “green button”. Right now, the exposure compensation in my Pentax is at the first position available by one click to the green button. I am often underexposing when shooting in the harsh light of the middle of day as well as during sunset or dusk shooting. You can see that the image quality at low light was pretty poor from my Pentax Optio WP, but that compact and waterproof camera was easily accessible all time.

SandyBottom aka Dawn Stewart described the foggy nights on the Suwannee at the 6th position of her Scariest Moments during the Challenge.

6 – The fog (and dark and cold) on the Suwannee River, 3 nights in a row. There are often trees down and branches overhanging on the banks of the River creating what could be a very dangerous situation. There was also no moon the nights we were on the Rivers, it was very dark. Three nights in a row, on the Suwannee, in the pitch dark, the fog was so thick, that we often couldn’t even see the outline of the tree line. Even more frightening because there were constant turns on the River, sometimes as often as every 50 yds. These nights were also some of the coldest, with lows in the 30s. One night the fog was so bad, that DrKayak, RiverJohn, and I had to raft up and float, knowing we were going in the right direction because of the current, but worried if we hit a bank, we needed to be together, in case there was trouble.

I don’t remember those nights as scary, however, I experienced fog at the lower more open river than SandyBottom’s group. I had also a reference to my paddling in 2003 Texas Water Safari.

There was a dense fog at night over Guadelupe River between Dupont and Salt Water Barrier. I could see only tree tops and nothing on the water surface. I was really scared that hitting something would result in capsizing my tippy safari canoe in a gator territory. Fortunately, I didn’t hit anything in the fog. Later that night when the fog cleared, I hit a submerged log in the middle of the river below Tivoli but I didn’t capsized.

By comparison, I felt pretty safe on the Suwannee River in my stable Sea Wind canoe. I suppose I am more a river paddler than sea kayaker. I was much less comfortable when entering the Gordon Pass during night with some choppy water condition.

Related posts in fitness paddling blog:

December 24, 2008

My Collection of Pentax Optio Waterproof Cameras

see Pentax Optio W60 at Amazon

My collection of waterproof Pentax Optio cameras for paddling and outdoor photography includes three models:

Pentax Optio WP

April, 2005.
I had been thinking for a longer while about taking a camera for Texas Water Safari, 260 mile non stop race down the San Marcos and Guadelupe Rivers. My first digital camera, Canon PowerShot S40 in its waterproof case was just too heavy to carry it through all portages and logjams of the race. So, I bought Pentax Optio WP, the first waterproof compact digital camera, as soon as it was available.

I started with placing the camera in a glass of water … You can check my first impressions from paddling and shooting with Optio WP. The camera worked pretty for all training and, eventually, the Safari, though I shot fewer pictures than I hoped to. One of the pictures from the start line up was published in Adventure Sports Magazine.

I shot over 1000 pictures with the Optio WP in March 2006 during the WaterTribe Ultimate Florida Challenge.

Pentax Optio W10

May, 2006.
A year later, the camera still worked fine, but, occasionally, used to freeze and the only cure was to disconnect a battery. I decided to upgrade to the Pentax Optio W10. The main motivation for the upgrade were better video capabilities. I carried the W10 for all my paddling, training, and racing. It was used to cover 2006 and 2007 Missouri River 340 races and 2007 Glenwood Canyon race. I shot numerous video clips and pictures from a deck mounted camera.

Pentax Optio W30

December 2007.
I realized that the Optio W10 camera may, finally, die after my intense use and abuse, and that I need a backup camera. I considered for a while GoPro Digital Hero camera for its video capabilities, but decided for another Pentax Optio W10 since still pictures were more important for me than video.

Then, I found that I could buy the newest model Optio W30 cheaper than the W10 (less than $200 including mail rebate at Amazon). So, I ended up with the Optio W30.

I paddled the entire winter shooting with Optio W30 from my Thunderbolt kayak on the South Platte River, shot animation from the Wyoming Outback Challnege and many pictures during 2008 Missouri River 340 Race.

I still need to experiment with installing a filter mount on one of my Optio cameras.

Pentax Optio W60

May 2008.
Pentax is releasing Optio W60 … No, I didn’t buy W60. Optio W30 is working just fine for my paddling needs, and I am rather saving money for some investments in DSLR cameras. It may take a longer while since Canon EOS 5D Mark II with video capabilities is on my wish list.

December 16, 2008

That Damn Noise in Video Recording from a Digital Camera

hi…we bought the olympus SW 1030..but we have some problems with regards to the audio of the video… there’s this thudding sound that comes once in a while in every video that we take. we went to a service center and they insist that it’s normal…but we really doubt that cause it really disrupts the beauty of every video that we take…..it’s just so damn loud and disturbing…

… Pentax Optio W60 is making a ratcheting type sound while taking videos.

It didn’t make the noise when I first got the camera and took videos of a family event. I thought it might have something to do with the boat but then the same noise is in the other video clips.

I am often getting this kind of comments or questions. It seems that more people is starting to shoot movies with their Pentax Optio, Olympus Stylus and other point and shoot digital cameras.

Good news: Your camera is not broken!

Bad News: It is normal, unfortunately. These little cameras are very good in recording noise from lens mechanism/motor when zooming or autofocusing.

So, the only solution is to avoid using zoom or autofocus when shooting video or just accept the noise.
The zoom noise is usually worse.

This is not a new problem. I discussed it in my post written a couple of years ago:
Audio Recording with Pentax Optio W10 and Other Compact Digital Cameras.

I wonder if or how bad the zoom noise is recorded in compact camcorders like waterproof Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1 or VPC-E2.

November 28, 2008

Paddling Photography a Year Ago – October 2007

A lot of paddling on my local waters in northern Colorado including Beaver Pond, Horsetoorh Reservoir and Boyd lake. Starting paddling season on the South Platte River with a close encounter of a young eagle. I was paddling Thunderbolt-X kayak and shooting with Pentax Optio W10. The spectacular sunset below was shot after paddling the Boyd Lake.

sticky pod – suction cup camera mount on the bow of Thunderbolt-X kayak
reviews … applications
order

October 17, 2008

Tag: Pentax Optio

Posts and links related to composition in photography