Tips for Luxury Yacht Feature Photo Shoots

JMASTERJ · Apr 3, 2014

Hey guys! I am taking some photos for a web site I am working on for a friend who restores and details luxury yachts. Basically we need photos of shiny and luxurious details of the ship that has been worked on to show it off, so I guess you can imagine this being like a photo shoot by someone going to a boat show? Few questions are

• What time of the day is best for such photos? Its all outdoors in the boat yard, non-negotiable for location
• Are there any basic settings I can use or is auto just best? I need to go tomorrow so I would love to learn all the manual settings but just dont have time right now... so if u r experienced with such things, I would love to hear them
• I assume flash, no matter how good, wont help here?
• In the broad daylight I assume a tripod is not necesary?
• What light angles? I assume its best with the sun kinda behind me, or just to feel out the best gloss possible? Since the ship is not movable, I guess I'll just have to go with visual decisions on the spot?
• Which lens should I use, if it matters at all

This type pf photo:
http://www.charterworld.com/news/wp...acht-LILIYA-Photo-credit-Roberto-Malfatti.jpg
http://www.businessinsider.com/supe...eres-snorkel-and-fishing-gear-on-board-too-22
http://static5.businessinsider.com/...that-connects-the-yachts-different-levels.jpg
http://www.liveyachting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Teaser-image-of-Project-Nautilus-Yacht.jpg
http://www.charterworld.com/images/yachts/Luxury motor yacht Mangusta 94.jpg

ANY other advice that may help is much appreciated, since we dont have many chance on these fast moving projects, when its done, they have to let them go unfortunately, so some pressure here. The saving grace is that it is for the web, not a magazine, so we have some wiggle room for non-perfection, even though its hurts me to say that.

And for those of you who may not know me from before or whatever else, I want to say, in no way am I disrespecting the photo industry and looking for quick schemes etc... I understand this is a lifelong process of learning and adapting... unfortunately right now I have neither luxury, so trying to do the best I can with what we have.

Thanks!!!

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i
Flash: Speedlight YN560x2
Lens: EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS , Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II Telephoto

Steve5D · Apr 4, 2014

I don't really know a thing about shooting luxury yachts (is that redundant?), but I would make one suggestion: Use a circular polarizing filter. You've got a lot of nice, shiny surfaces on yachts, and that translates to a lot of nice, shiny reflections that you may not want...

JMASTERJ · Apr 5, 2014

Steve5D said:
I don't really know a thing about shooting luxury yachts (is that redundant?), but I would make one suggestion: Use a circular polarizing filter. You've got a lot of nice, shiny surfaces on yachts, and that translates to a lot of nice, shiny reflections that you may not want...

Thanks for the suggestion, but I think we want "some" shiny surfaces because the process we are specializing in promotes this shiny glasslike surface, although of course, everything in moderation. If you think I absolutely need it, I'll look into it if its not too expensive, but before that, can you take a look and see if there are more pressing issues? I feel as though some of the smooth surfaces are very grainy. I used the "P" setting and used the exposure brackets and tossed out all the bad ones... I think I set the brackets too wide apart so basically only one was usable in most cases.

I was also a bit confused in that I manually held down the shutter for 3 shots every time, but are you supposed to do that for the bracket to work or... what happens if u hold it down for like 5, 10 shots?

I also used a tripod for most of these (no remote, but real gentle trigger finger) and it as all taken from 17:45-19:45 in South Florida.

BOAT PHOTOS - RUN #1

Thank you.

tirediron · Apr 5, 2014

I will second Steve's recommendation of a CPOL being essential for this type of work; I've never shots yachts, but I have done a LOT of work on/around ships and water and the reflections can be horrible to deal with. Thoughts in general on the images. Shoot with the sun to the side, NOT behind, wait 'til the sun is lower down in the sky (within 90 minutes of sunrise/sunset), keep the camera level and square to the subject, and watch the scene for distracting details; the first one of 'Cloud Nine' with the hose, coil of rope and junk on the jetty is especially problematic.

vintagesnaps · Apr 5, 2014

Besides reflections you'd need to notice the pattern of shadows and how that works into the composition. I'd think about the framing - posts etc. sticking up in the pictures and where you cut off objects. And you'd need to be aware of the backgrounds. I'd think this is rather specialized and would take a lot of learning and practice to get good at, so might be better for your friend to look into finding a photographer that has done this before.

andylucian · Apr 5, 2014

Just my 2 cents:
Most of the samples were shot with a wide angle lens which adds to the dramatic sweep of the hull. I don't think 18mm will cut it if you're looking for the same effect. Depending on your budget and how often you need to shoot, it costs £20-£30 or $30-$40 to rent a wide angle lens for the weekend or about 10 times that to buy second hand. Again it depends on how often you shoot versus budget.
If the location is limited, I would look at the background and surroundings to make sure I got a clean shot, I presume these boats will look stunning from all angles, but only if there's nothing pulling to eye away lie a cluttered background.
Hope this helps, please post you results so we can all enjoy the pretty things.

JMASTERJ · Apr 6, 2014

Thanks guys.... my results were already posted in my last post, let me know, thanks.

EOV · Apr 6, 2014

I agree with Vintagesnaps, watch your background. I think most of your shots would have looked better away for that marina where there are so many other things to clutter the background. It would be nice to shoot the yacht with open water/views behind it to give a feeling of openness and freedom that comes with having a yacht.

JMASTERJ · Apr 6, 2014

EOV said:
I agree with Vintagesnaps, watch your background. I think most of your shots would have looked better away for that marina where there are so many other things to clutter the background. It would be nice to shoot the yacht with open water/views behind it to give a feeling of openness and freedom that comes with having a yacht.

Yes I know all about that, but first, I only posted a few of my 100+ angles and shots, and also these boats are docked and I have limited time to shoot them, background is not something I can control, but can easily edit in post. I needed more advice on actual techniques of my camera and settings I should be trying for better per image quality since I know the actual look of the photos I need, if that makes sense.

If this helps, these were the settings for most of the shots I posted:

f/22
1/4000 (1/1250 only for last one)
ISO-6400 (ya, definitely need to pay more attention to this, I'm embarrassed by this setting, even I know this :| )
Exp bias: From -0.3 to -4.3 step (+0.3 only for last one)
18mm FL (30mm only for last one)
Metering: Pattern
No Flash

I need more advice on the specific settings... for example, maybe next time just set on Av and vary just one attribute at a time, etc... something like that, so I dont have to go crazy fine tuning every manual setting. So if I can choose the lowest f-stop at f/4, then with partly to mostly sunny skies in the last 2 hours of the setting sun, can I use like ISO 200-400 and then let the camera shoot the shutter speed, set it on tripod+self-timer, and let it do its thing? Or am I oversimplifying it and will still get amateur results from this?