Category Archives: Cruise Ships

Long(er) cruise exposures

December 30, 2018Cruise Ships, Techniquelandscape, long exposure, shipEd Rosack

I thought you might be interested in a photo technique that I used on our recent cruise. Here’s an example image:

Journey’s End. (eq. FOV: 26mm, f/4.5, .8 sec @ ISO 1250)

In low light situations, I wanted the ship sharp in the foreground, and nearby water showing motion blur. I also wanted features on the horizon to be sharp (with no motion blur).

You can see the settings I used in the captions. The secret is to use a wide-angle lens, and keep your shutter speed fast enough so that the ship’s motion doesn’t result in blurred features on the horizon, but long enough so that the close by water shows some motion blur. For this image, a little less than a second worked out. Here’s another example (that was in last week’s blog too):

Approaching the Cayman Islands. (eq. FOV: 26mm, f/4, 2 sec @ ISO 200)

Here are the steps to try this yourself:

Go on a cruise!
Choose an aperture that gives you the depth of field you want (e.g. sharp focus from foreground to horizon). My Olympus 12-100 f/4 lens is sharp and has sufficient depth of field used wide open.
Choose an ISO value that results in the shutter speed you want (between 1/2 and 2 seconds). With my micro 4/3 cameras, I’m conservative with ISO, but I’ll use up to 3200 if pressed – even for landscape shots.
Use your camera’s built-in image stabilization (or mount your camera on a tripod) to stabilize it on the ship. Since my setup has the Olympus dual-IS capability, I didn’t use a tripod. Instead, I braced myself against the ship and hand-held these.
Make several exposures and check for sharpness. Since the ship is moving relative to the horizon, this setup is different from a normal dry-land photo. To keep the horizon sharp, you’ll have to either time the ship’s motion and expose when it’s minimized (difficult), or make multiple frames and pick ones where the horizon features are sharp (easier). I was able to get sharp images with exposures as long as 2 seconds, but I made multiple frames for insurance.

Here’s one more photo. The light was brighter in this one, so I couldn’t get much blur in the water:

Dusk at sea. (eq. FOV: 24mm, f/4, 1/40sec @ ISO 200)

So that’s it. A fun technique that will give you some nice “cruisey” images. If you try this, let me know how it works for you.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Caribbean Voyage

December 22, 2018Cruise ShipsBahamas, Cozumel, Cuba, Grand Cayman, Holland America, Jamaica, Masked Booby, OosterdamEd Rosack

Lynn and I returned a week ago from a Caribbean cruise on the Holland America MS Oosterdam where we met up with her brother Art and his wife Michele. Since we’ve been back we’ve had Mike, Sara, Calvin, and Avon in town for the holidays (and MaryKate – yay family!!!). Anyway, I don’t have a lot of spare time for writing this week, so I think you’ll just have to make do with some photos and captions from our cruise. I hope you enjoy them!

Inviting! – This scene is from the beach on Half Moon Cay (Holland America’s private island). Lynn and I both enjoyed the sun, some swimming and conversations with Art and Michelle.

Make it a double. – There were other things to do on the island too!

Clouds over Cuba – We haven’t ever been to Cuba and this is as close as we got on this cruise. This photo is from six miles east of the Punta Maisi Lighthouse. I wish it had been clearer and closer!

Clouds in the valley – I spotted this low cloud bank as we arrived in Montego Bay Jamaica and rushed to make several images.

Masked Booby in flight – Different people on (and off) the ship saw a variety of wildlife. I enjoyed photographing the Masked and Brown Boobies that followed us for a while.

Approaching the Cayman Islands – We were scheduled to stop in Grand Cayman, but the seas were too rough for the tenders to operate. The captain ended up skipping that port call and moving on early to the next one.

Cozumel at night. – I had hoped to get many more images in Cozumel, but the photography tour we’d signed up for was canceled (due to lack of interest!). I like this photo of the city after dark.

It was an enjoyable, relaxing trip. You can see a few more photos in this album on Flikr. And you can read other cruising blog posts at this link.

We’re having a wonderful time with family visits for the holidays – I hope you are too!.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Remember to make some family portraits while you have a chance! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Santa sighting!

December 23, 2017Cruise Ships, VARIOUSChristmas, holiday, people, santaEd Rosack

While on our cruise a couple of weeks ago, we spotted Santa testing out some alternate transportation. I really like the color scheme, but I’m worried he’ll get tired pedaling this all around the world. Hopefully the elves can talk him into using his sleigh and reindeer.

Santa Sighting!!

I hope all of you have a joyous and happy holiday season and a wonderful new year! I really appreciate you following my blog again this year.

Thanks for stopping by. Now – go enjoy spending time with family and friends. And make some photos!

A day in Nassau

December 10, 2017Cruise Shipsastronomy, birds, black and white, landscape, reviews, sunrise, sunset, travelEd Rosack

Lynn and I took a short cruise on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam starting last weekend. One highlight was a full day spent in Nassau.

This is an image heavy post, so I apologize if you’re on a slow connection. I’ll let the photos and captions tell the story.

Sunrise arrival: Docking at 8am made for a nice view as we pulled in.

The Dec. 4th super moon was still around the next morning.

Lynn booked us on the Bites of Nassau Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour. (please click on their link for details).

We met the tour a short distance from the ship, outside Christ Church Anglican Cathedral. It’s a lovely place – I liked the light and reflections in the polished floor.

Bahamian Cookin’ Restaurant & Bar – It was our second visit to this 3 generation, family owned business. This time we had conch fritters and a delicious light lunch.

Our guide Captain Ron, at the Talking Stick Bar in the Towne Hotel: Max the Macaw likes to steal straws and sample your drink!

Street art – there’s a lot of color in Nassau

News stand

Graycliff Hotel Dinning Room. According to Captain Ron, all the famous folks visiting Nassau stay here. Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) was there the week before we were.

Graycliff Cigar Factory – they roll their own and also sell Cuban cigars (for $75 and up – each!)

Street colors

Looking up from the Drawbridge Patisserie & Gelateria courtyard

Sunset view

Night departure – this is a high res image made from the deck after dark. Ships tied up at the dock can be a remarkably stable platform for long exposures.

Although I don’t have any more images to show you (thank goodness, right?), we also visited the Athena Cafe & Bar and the Tortuga Gift Shop & Rum Cake Bakery.

You might not consider Nassau a “Central Florida Photo Op”, but I do. It’s one of many places that are very accessible via cruise ports in our area. We left from Fort Lauderdale, but Tampa, Port Canaveral, Miami and other places offer cruises to many destinations. If you haven’t tried one, check it out.

We’ve been to Nassau several times and wouldn’t normally think of it as our favorite port. But this time we had a wonderful visit and got to see (and taste) a lot of new things. Highly recommended! I’ve embedded links to most of the places above. Please click on them for more info. And you can see more Bahamas images in this folder on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Followed by Rain Clouds

February 19, 2017Cruise Ships, OUTSIDE FLORIDAlandscape, rainbowEd Rosack

The weather was poor at times on our eastern Caribbean cruise late last year. We had strong winds and high seas on two days that kept us from doing things we wanted. And it seemed like clouds and rain followed us everywhere.

I didn’t mind. I’ve written before about the benefits of clouds in landscape photography – clear blue skies can be boring! And so I looked for interesting clouds and lighting:

Saba Island – Near the British Virgin Islands. 9 frame stitched panorama.

And started noticing rainbows too. You can’t have rainbows without rain clouds!

Double Rainbow at Saba Island – 4 frame, iPhone, RAW, stitched panorama.

We were in Road Town Harbor as squalls moved through, and saw this rainbow develop across from the ship. I looked for but didn’t see a pot of gold (or leprechaun) in the water at either end!

Rainbow in Road Town Harbor – 3 frame, iPhone, RAW, stitched panorama.

On another day in San Juan harbor we saw this:

Rainbows over the cruise ship, San Juan, Puerto Rico – single frame, iPhone, RAW

Cloudy skies add interest, and chasing rainbows is fun photography. I really didn’t mind being followed by rain clouds. You shouldn’t either – look for all the opportunities it creates.

You can see more photos from the trip in this album on Flickr.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go make some cloudy sky photos!

Cruising Wildlife

December 31, 2016Cameras and Photography, Cruise Shipsbirds, Brown Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird, Masked Booby, travel, vacation, wildlifeEd Rosack

Lynn and I were fortunate to be able to cruise the Caribbean once again earlier this month. I love watching birds and wildlife and trying to make photographs of their behavior. On this trip we both saw something for the first time.

On more than one occasion, birds followed our ship and dove for fish right along side.

Brown Booby

There were mostly Brown Boobies with a few Masked Boobies mixed in.

Masked Booby

Flying Fish were also plentiful along our route and the ship’s wake seemed to scare them up as we passed.

Flying Fish

A closer look at the Flying Fish

Photographing the birds catching fish wasn’t easy. You have to track a bird (at high magnification) as it moves just above the water and focus / shoot continuously – then hope you catch the right moment before your camera buffer runs out. I managed to get a few frames although the quality is not high. This is probably the best one.

Just before the catch

I was using a new camera (Olympus E-M1 II) for the bird / fish photos. The frame rate and continuous focus capabilities really helped. There’s a new “Pro Capture” mode on this that I couldn’t use (didn’t have the right lens). It captures frames with the shutter button pressed half way and saves them with a final frame when fully pressed. It would have made this use case easier. I’m looking forward to seeing how the camera works in other situations.

We also saw Magnificent Frigatebirds. They seem pretty common in the Caribbean – mostly in the harbors. I’ve only seen a few here in Florida, along both coasts

Female Magnificent Frigatebird

Cruise directors plan interesting things for passengers to do while at sea but these may not appeal to everyone. It’s good to have an alternative activity available like wildlife observation and photography when you’re looking for something fun to do.

I’m collecting other photos from the trip in this album on Flickr. And I have several other blog posts that feature photography from cruise ships. If you’re interested, see this link: https://edrosack.com/category/photo-ops-categorized-by-place/cruise-ships/

By the way (no.1): I realize that some spam filters may reject the email for this post due to the names of the birds. If it happens to you, sorry. You can always read the latest content on the web at https://edrosack.com

By the way (no. 2): I think the search problem on the blog is resolved. If anyone still has issues, please let me know.

By the way (no. 3): Happy new year! I hope all of you have a great holiday and prosperous and delightful 2017!

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Panama Canal

January 3, 2016Cruise Ships, OUTSIDE FLORIDAboat, colon, landscape, night, panama, panama canal, panorama, ship, sunrise, travelEd Rosack

Our visit to the Panama Canal and passage through the Gatun Locks was the main feature of our recent cruise. As an engineer, I’ve long been intrigued by the canal and it lived up to my expectations. It’s amazing that something built over 100 years ago in such difficult conditions is still operating and remains an import part of global commerce.

The ship’s Captain planned well. We arrived near the entrance just in time to view the day’s sunrise.

Panamanian Sunrise – a pilot-boat paces us as we head toward the canal entrance

The crew opened up normally closed areas at the bow for viewing and many folks crowded there to watch the activity.

Entering the Panama Canal

At the evening meal the night before we arrived, Nino (the maître d’) promised us the “best seat in the house” if we came to breakfast at 7:30 that morning. We thought we had a nice view up on the bow, but decided to follow his recommendation and go down to breakfast. It was surprising how few people were in the dining room. He fulfilled his promise and we sat at a table at the very stern of the ship right next to the large windows on deck 2 – and it did have the best view!! Watching the locks filling and the canal walls go by from that vantage point was captivating. It took longer than normal for us to finish our meal!

In the Panama Canal Gatun Locks – view from the Main dining room on deck 2

The MS Zuiderdam is 106 feet wide and the canal is only 110 feet, so there’s very little clearance.

View from our balcony on the 6th deck – 2 foot clearance!

The operation, control, and precision while in the canal is very skilful. The photo above shows the 2 foot clearance between the ship and the canal. One of the “mules” (center left) is helping to position us and move us safely through.

Once past the locks, we anchored in Gatun Lake so people taking excursions could disembark. Then we sailed back out through the canal and tied up for a port visit in Colon Harbor, where the excursions re-joined us that night.

Colon Harbor at night

Colon wasn’t our favorite stop, although I was able to buy a genuine Panama Hat there. Interesting fact: Panama Hats are made in Ecuador!

I’ve posted a short video that we made in the canal here on YouTube. It shows our entrance followed by a time-lapse as we descend into the Gatun Locks on our return. Take a look if you get a chance.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Cruising Wildlife

December 27, 2015Cruise Shipsbirds, Bonaire, Costa Rica, cruise ship, flamingo, howler monkey, Masked Booby, monkey, sloth, Tortuguero canal, travel, vacation, wildlifeEd Rosack

Lynn and I returned last week from a wonderful visit with her brother Arthur, and his wife Michele. We cruised together around the Caribbean on Holland America’s MS Zuiderdam. I’ll post more about the rest of our adventures later, but this time I’d like to write about wildlife photography from cruise ships. Here’s one earlier post about this (North to Alaska, Ch. 1: Intro and Wildlife) but it’s a subject worth discussing again.

Our route went by the Bahamas, Aruba, Bonaire, Panama, and Costa Rica. Many of the animals in these places are only inside zoos in the US. It’s wonderful to see them wild in their natural habitats.

Sleepy Sloth – A wild, two-toed sloth napping In the rain forest, along the Tortuguero Canal, near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. They seem to be common there. We saw three on our tour – although they were hidden in trees and hard to find.

If you’re on vacation with your family, the main reason for going isn’t wildlife photography, so you’ll have to improvise and stay alert for wildlife photo ops. Since Lynn and I hadn’t ever been to these places, we took advantage of several “highlight” excursions offered by the cruise line. The one to the Tortuguero Canal in Costa Rica was especially nice and we enjoyed seeing a variety of flora and fauna.

Masked Booby in flight – These birds were feeding on fish (flying fish, and others) that were stirred up by the ship’s wake

The morning before we arrived in Aruba, we noticed “sea gulls” flying near the ship. After breakfast I spent a while watching what turned out to be scores of Masked Boobies catching fish stirred up by the ship’s wake. It was fun to watch (and photograph!).

A wild American / Caribbean Flamingo – Bonaire is famous for its flamingo populations and has one of only four nesting grounds for flamingos in the Caribbean.

On excursions, it’s helpful to have a good guide. Our Costa Rican guide (Porfilio) was exceptional at seeing and pointing out the wildlife in the canal. You could tell he liked his job, and we enjoyed our time with him immensely.

Howler Monkey – A wild monkey In the rain forest, along the Tortuguero Canal, near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

Here are a few pointers if you go on a similar adventure:

Do your research ahead of time. Look into the wildlife that lives in each place.
Search for reviews and critiques of the excursions offered and pick ones that give the best photography opportunities.
If possible, schedule your excursions for early in the day. Animals are more active then, and it’s cooler. I found the Masked Boobies at breakfast and we left for the Tortuguero Canal at 6:30am.
Question the guides. They’re very helpful and can let you know the best place to sit, etc.
Have your camera out and ready to go, not in your backpack. Many times the sightings will be brief, so pay attention and be ready to shoot instantly.
The animals will likely be far away and you’ll have to hand hold your shots, so you’ll definitely want a long lens with stabilization. I used an Olympus E-M1 M4/3 camera and a 200 – 600mm equivalent lens for the photos in this post.

Hard core wildlife photographers will want to spend much longer in places like Costa Rica, but if you’re on a cruise don’t overlook the opportunities. A few hours in a new place can lead to wonderful memories and unique images.

I’m collecting photos from the cruise in this folder on Flickr. Please check back as I finish processing and add more.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Cruise Ship Photo Experiments

December 7, 2014Cruise Ships, Techniquecruise ship, landscape, lighthouse, panorama, travel, vacationEd Rosack

We went on a family cruise to the Bahamas during Thanksgiving week aboard the MS Carnival Liberty, out of Port Canaveral. It was a large group with Lynn and I, Mary, Mike and Sara, Julie, and Nancy and Howard all along for a wonderful vacation. Except for wind and current on the day we were supposed to visit Half Moon Cay, the weather was nice. And the food was delicious and plentiful and the company was delightful too! We had a great time!

It was a family vacation, but of course I brought along a camera (or two, or three) and I made some photos on the trip. I’ve written about cruise ship photography before (see Cruise Ship Photography Ops and Christmas Time Cruising). In this new post, I’d like to tell you about some techniques I tried on this cruise. It’s fun to experiment and I thought you might be interested in how they turned out. Here are three photos and some background on how I made them.

1. Long exposure photography from a moving ship

I’ve wanted to try something like this on earlier cruises, but never have. Long exposures can add interest to a photo and make it look very different from most tourist snapshots. But usually, you lock your camera down on a stable tripod and only some things in the scene (e.g. water, clouds) are moving. On a ship, I was worried that everything is moving. If I tried to use my tripod for a sunrise for instance, the sun might be unacceptably blurred due to the motion. But I made it work for this photo by composing with the ship as the subject and using it to fill the foreground. Since the ship doesn’t move relative to my camera, it’s very sharp. The horizon and the other ship are far enough away so that any motion blur isn’t a problem. And with a four-second exposure, the water and clouds take on a dreamy look that I like.

The view aft, before dawn. (21mm eq. field of view, f/8, 4 seconds at ISO 200)

2. Stitched panoramas from a moving ship:

Panoramas are also problematic from a moving ship. The change in the camera’s position between frames can lead to issues when stitching frames together, especially if you use automatic stitching software. For this photo, I made two frames. Instead of using automatic stitching, I loaded the frames into layers in Photoshop and selected Edit -> Auto Align Layers. Then I manually blended them using layer masks and was able to use the natural seam along the right hand side of the breakwater as the line between the images. Since not much overlaps there except water, I could hide any perspective shift stitching errors.

Nassau Light – Leaving port late in the day. (f/2.8, 1/100 second at ISO 125. 70mm eq. focal length, two vertical frames, stitched panorama, hand-held)

3. Low light photos without a tripod

And finally, here is another stitched panorama. In this one, the ship was moving very slowly, so I probably could have used a tripod. But – I didn’t have it with me! Bad Ed! So instead, I upped my ISO, and opened my aperture so that I could shoot hand-held. Even though the pre-dawn light was dim, I was still able to make a super wide image consisting of 9 vertical frames showing our arrival back at Port Canaveral.

Pre-dawn arrival in Port Canaveral. (f/1.8, 1/50 second at ISO 1000. 24mm eq. focal length, nine vertical frames, hand-held, stitched panorama)

So that’s how I got these three shots. Photography is an interesting pursuit. Creativity helps – and not just with subject, composition, etc., but also with technique. Now I know these descriptions aren’t very detailed, but maybe they’ll give you an idea or two to try for yourself. If you want more information, please feel free to ask in the comments. I’d be happy to answer questions.

You can find larger versions of these photos on Flickr (just click the image). And more photos from this cruise are in this set:

Viera Wetlands update, 5/18/13

May 19, 2013Cocoa, Cruise Ships, INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera Wetlandsbirds, black and white, Black Crowned Night Heron, bridge, cruise ship, long exposure, sunriseEd Rosack

I went over to the coast yesterday with Kevin M., Kevin K., Lutfi E.

Sunrise sure is happening really early again! We started out on the 520 Causeway near Port Canaveral – Kevin M. wanted to make a sunrise photo with a lit up cruise ship in the scene. Here’s how my version turned out:

Disney cruise ship at dawn – Port Canaveral, Florida

We also moved around looking for other compositions and I think each of us also made an image of this:

Beneath the Bridge – 520 Causeway looking east

After sunrise we moved down A1A to explore Lori Wilson Park and the boardwalk there. It’s very nice and located right on the beach. Migratory birds have been reported there, but we didn’t find any on Saturday.

Our last stop was Viera Wetlands. We wanted to check on it because we hadn’t been by since February. We saw a few of the common wading birds, some juvenile Anhingas, Ospreys, Coots, Glossy Ibis (that we hoped were White Faced Ibis – but weren’t), lots of Grackles, and a few other species. We also took a turn around the Click Ponds where we found a relatively uncommon Black Crowned Night Heron. Kevin M. managed a good photo when it came out of the reeds for a few seconds.

Black Crowned Night Heron (Photo by Kevin McKinney, used with permission)

This wasn’t our most productive or exciting trip ever, but we did have a good time. The activity was slow – I think we’re starting to get into the summer birding slow down here in Central Florida. We may need to look for a few different photo ops for the next few months.

You can read other Central Florida Photo Ops blog posts about Viera Wetlands from this link. And I’ve collected other photos from there in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!