Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Thing to do while relaxing on vacation


Photographing waves is one thing that can be done while relaxing on vacation. First, it is a challenge to stay dry while doing this. Sure it is easy to stay with a tele-zoom lens like Sigma 50-500, but where is the challenge with that?


Get your butt in the water with a 50mm prime and have the time of your life. Make sure to take precautions to keep yourself and your equipment safe. Waves are strong and sneaky little freaks of nature. But with enough time studying these little wonders, you can start to understand and even come close to predicting them, but never assume they will follow any rules, because the first rule of waves is: they are sneaky little freaks of nature.


Yes, I got wet. All the way up to my part that don't like the cold water. And just so you know, Oregon's ocean temperature hovers around 57 degrees this time of year, so it is cold. And to quote George Castanza, "I was in the pool. There's shrinkage!"


To freeze the action, you need a fast lense or bright sunlight or both. These were shot at 1/1000th of second using a 50mm at f/5.6 in hazy/cloudy conditions at ISO 400. This was enough, with my camera, to lock the action and prevent blur of the waves.


I was in ankle seep water, that could quickly become knee deep, or waist deep with splash, in a heart beat. Steep shores create near shore breaking waves that are easy to capture without too much risk, but there were times when a wave or two would come in rouge-style and send me running for dry ground. A few times I wasn't quite fast enough, hence the shrinkage comment above.


To ensure your camera's safety, you may want to consider an under water housing, but for casual and recreational photography, please remember to keep yourself and your equipment safe.


And if waves aren't your thing to shoot, you can always turn to shooting people.


In my case, I did both. Okay now back to my regularly scheduled vacation before my wife finds out I am blogging.