• two lightweight tripods on a table
    Articles,  Equipment,  Photography

    Tripods for Canoeing and Kayaking

    The author, a professional photographer who also teaches photography, evaluates three tripods ranging from 1 to 3 pounds. They discuss the pros and cons of each, focusing on factors like weight, stability, and height. The author recommends using Kirk L Brackets for better camera support and shares purchase links for the tripods.

  • waterproof camera cases
    Articles,  Equipment,  Photography,  Technique

    How to Pack Camera Gear For Kayaking and Canoeing

    For issue 28 of Ocean Paddler, I wrote an article about my approach to kayak expedition photography. In it I touched on the subject of how to pack camera gear for kayaking. I use a similar approach for canoeing. Essentially, my approach is based on the idea that if you can’t get to the camera, you can’t take the picture. There’s no ideal solution for every situation, but you have plenty of choices for waterproof camera cases. In the above picture (staring left and going clockwise): Pelican 1020 case, SealLine Baja 5 HD, Pelican 1400 case, Aquapac SLR case, Aquapac Mini Camera with Hard Lens case. Cameras are a Canon…

  • Kayaking in the surf.
    Articles,  Photography

    8 Canoe and Kayak Photography Composition Tips

    Using good compositional techniques can turn a boring picture into an interesting one. These photography tips will help give your canoe and kayak images pop. Next time you go paddling try these and see the difference they make. They will make your kayak expedition photography or canoe expedition photography pop. Canoe and Kayak Expedition Photography Composition The following eight tips are just a few of many. Think of them as techniques that you can use to accomplish a goal similarly to how different paddle strokes move your canoe or kayak in different ways. Use a tip when it works, but discard it when it does in favor of something that…

  • Photography

    Public Domain Canoe and Kayak Images

    I always enjoy looking through old canoeing and kayaking images. They remind me that people have been paddling for a long time–what we do isn’t new, because it’s been around for thousands of years. It reminds me that our recreational activity links us to all those back through time that have enjoyed it. They enjoyed adventure as much as we do. It also reminds me how much better we look doing it now; look at some of the goofy outfits worn by paddlers of the past. My two favorite locations are on Flickr’s The Commons, which has a small but interesting collection, and Minnesota Historical Society’s Visual Resource Database. Every…

  • A canoe pointing to sunrise over a calm lake
    Photography

    Taking Great Canoe and Sunset Pictures

    A canoe, glassy water, and a sunset go together like bananas, ice cream, and whipped cream. But unlike the quickly fading delight of savoring a banana split, capturing a sunset in a picture allows for sharing and enjoyment for years. Sunset pictures are tricky. Typically, like in the pictures below, you can capture either the detail and color in the sky and have the canoe go dark and black or your can make the canoe light and visible, but lose the color in the sky. Using a Graduated Neutral Density filter, you can capture both a colorful sky and a detailed foreground and end up with a picture like the…

  • Northern lights in the Boundary Waters (BWCA)
    Photography

    How to Photograph Northern Lights

    It’s two in the morning, the northern lights are dancing across the sky and having to remember how to set a camera to record the blazing greens and reds is made easier with a simple cheat sheet. Clip this article, laminate it and stick it in your camera bag, so it’ll be handy next time the Aurora Borealis are lighting up the sky. Digital photography makes capturing pictures of the northern lights effortless. You’ll need a digital camera that can take long exposures and has noise reduction. A tripod is a must and a remote release or self-timer is helpful. Follow these steps and you’re sure to come away with…

  • Articles,  Photography,  Tutorial

    The Lomo and Canoes

    One hand holding the 4 pounds of my fully auto focus frame advancing Nikon SLR camera with attached 35-70 mm lens and the other using a paddle thrust into the mud of the rivers bottom to hold the canoe steady, I eased myself into position to shoot a bow in the center of the frame shot that I love. The morning light glowed. I snapped. Snapped again, and once again. I put the camera into a dry bag and pulled the paddle out of the mud. I love photography, but sometimes wish for an easier method of capturing those great moments in time. In this age of mega-pixels, digital, 5…

  • Articles,  Photography,  Tutorial

    A Thousand Words For One Image

    “Lastingly successful art triggers audience responses that are ready to happen in the culture as a whole. Regardless of how perfectly a photographer’s work rends a subject, it is bound to fail unless it strikes that chord that elicits a common emotional and visual response.” From Galen Rowell’s Inner Game of Outdoor Photography, Galen Rowell, 2001 The sunrise broke over the distant mountains. It broke across hilltops that swam in a deep white fog on a fall morning in the Smoky Mountains. The morning was cold and I stood with my small hand-me-down 35mm camera and shot a few pictures while shivering and try to hold my camera steady. Next…

  • Articles,  Photography

    Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness VR Tour

    This page is down until further notice. [ptviewer parameters imagewidth=”1700″ imageheight=”850″ horizon=”425″ hfov=”360″ href=”https://www.paddlinglight.com/pl/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/bwca5.jpg” /] Click and move the mouse to pan and tilt. The “˜< >“˜ keys zoom. About the BWCA The Boundary Waters Canoe Area preserves as wilderness almost 200 miles of lakes and forestland running along the border of the U.S. and Canada. It reaches from Crane Lake in the Voyageurs National Park to the Pigeon River, which empties to Lake Superior. With over one million acres, over 1000 lakes, 2000 campsites it ranks as the second largest area within the United States’ National Wilderness Preservation system. It is one of two nationally designated canoe wilderness areas…

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