Photographing Your Cruise

The key to taking photographs on a cruise is that you have to be prepared to work in a lot of different lighting situations: on deck in very bright sunlight, indoors by dim available light, and in both good and bad weather. One of the nice things about shooting digital on a cruise is that most cruise ships have a computer lab or cyber café where you can download and print your images and email them home (via satellite connection) or burn them on to a CD.

One of the blessings of cruising is that you can bring a ton of gear and it's as near as your cabin. If you are a DSLR shooter, bring a pair of zooms (a wide-angle-to-normal and a telephoto zoom) and an accessory flash. If you're making an inland passage or are cruising in an island group like the Bahamas, you'll have many opportunities to photograph scenery from on deck. Coming into port is an especially exciting time, but it happens quickly and often at dawn, so be up early and bring everything you need.

Work from the upper decks and use a wide lens to include the bow or side of the ship for scale and perspective. On breezy days there will be a windward (windy) and leeward (calm) side to the ship; if the scenery is equally nice, shoot from the latter. Most ships publish a daily calendar that is slipped under your door each night by seagoing elves; it lists the next day's events and helps you plan your day's shooting. On a ship, you don't have to worry about not being included in pictures; the ship's photographers will capture your group's every waking moment and post the photos for sale each evening.

Source: Fodors

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Elaine's suggestions:

1. Have at least 8GB of card storage (at 10 megapixels, it will hold nearly 2000 photos)

2. Bring two rechargeable batteries or a handful of disposable ones.

3. Don't forget the battery charger, if you use rechargeable batteries.

4. Although the article above speaks about being able to download photos at a cyber cafe, the computer use charges on ships are horrendous, so don't plan on using the services of the ship.

5. If you have a video camera, considering adding it to your equipment.  Again, bring storage media, battery charger, etc.

6. Have some sort of carrying case which protects your equipment but is not bulky.

7. If you use an SLR camera, bring your telephoto and wide angle lenses.

8. Take many many photos and delete the ones that aren't so good as you go.

9. If you have an iPad or other small laptop, you can use it to download your photos daily, making a second copy just in case your photo card gets corrupted or your camera falls overboard!!!

10. If you don't use your camera much, practice with your camera before the trip so you can quickly snap that photo; get the best photo in bright sun or low light; use the close up and distance settings;  generally understand all the settings of the camera.