In general, questions and answers here favor photographing from a kayak or in transporting photo gear by kayak. Other advice can be found in the blog, and a gear list for backpacking can be found in Tools.
If you don’t find an answer here or have additional questions, send me an e-mail at: gluhm@garyluhm.net . I’ll answer any reasonable questions, especially as they pertain to on-the-water photography.
Last update: 2024/01/11
What camera do you use?
What lenses?
How do you manage your digital workflow?
Isn’t Lightroom slow and hard to learn?
Why don’t you use a waterproof camera?
What about a smart-phone camera for use on the water?
How do you keep your camera equipment dry?
Your pictures look so crystal clear. How do you achieve that?
How do you get sharp pictures?
What kayak do you use? Any advice on kayak choice?
Any suggestions for wildlife photography?
What would you choose for a wildlife lens?
Anything more to say about bigger lenses, like a 500mm or 600mm?
Any other advice?
Since August, 2023, I’m shooting with the Sony A6700. Because the camera works so well for bird photography (1.5 crop factor turns my 400mm into the equivalent of a 600mm lens), I sold my Sony A7 IV. I am now for the first time since 1979 without a 35mm body, or what we call now a full-frame camera. I don’t think this will have much effect on my landscape photography, which in any case has been largely idle, but the crop-frame A6700 is a capable landscape camera, and along with some outstanding APS-C lenses halves the photo-gear carried-weight for backpacking.
What lenses do you use, while kayaking or backpacking?
My bird photography go-to is the Sony A6700 with the Sony 100-400mm GM f4.5-5.6, whether by land or by kayak. For backpacking, the A6700 with two light-weight lenses, usually the Sony 18-135mm (27-202mm equiv.) and the newish Sony 15mm f1.4 (22.5mm equiv.), w/tripod and accessories weighs in about 5 lbs., not much of a burden for treks into the backcountry.
On-the-water, I keep the camera gear in a Sagebrush dry bag(s) in the cockpit, usually with the Sony 100-400mm f5.6 mounted on the A6700. If I also carry the Sony A6300, it holds the Sony 18-135 or the kit 16-50. Keeping the Sony A6300 with wide-angle zoom handy takes up hardly any space.
My old Canon 500mm f4 is useful (with Metabones adaptor) both on and off the water when I need the reach. For long kayak trips, the 500mm probably stays at home.
For on-the-water photography, image-stabilized lenses are a godsend. In a kayak cockpit especially, space is limited. There no longer is a need for shoulder stocks, mono-pods, or string-pods, which are difficult to use in a kayak anyway—and none work in ocean swell, where steady-shot performs superbly. A tripod is out of the question in a kayak, unless maybe you’re paddling one of those fat plastic rec boats, or a canoe. But then you’re limited in both the sea you can safely paddle in, and the roughness of the water that you can effectively shoot.
Additionally, I have several other small, APS-C lenses, a Rokinon 12mm f/2, a Sony 15mm f1.4, a Sigma 30mm f1.4 and a Sigma 60mm f2.8. All are sharp, small and light.
How do you manage your digital workflow? (edited 2024/01/11)
This is a great question. I started using Adobe Lightroom in 2007, and now use Lightroom Classic CC. At the start, I did a lot of head scratching to come up with a workflow that works; I now consider this solved. After image capture, I import, sort, discard and process images with Lightroom, my exclusive organizing tool. When a customer calls, I’m into Lightroom immediately to assemble a collection and submit photos. I use Lightroom web galleries as a quick way to show client images. With a custom web template that has the FTP address for upload built in, all I need do after creating a collection of images is bring them into the web module, change the title and destination folder, click on Upload, and then send a client the link. It’s fast and easy, taking advantage of Lightroom’s well-designed search, collection and simple web features.
![]Lightroom library module showing thumbnails in content area, left and right panels and film strip.](http://garyluhm.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/lightroom.jpg)
Lightroom is a metadata-driven image editor and catalog—an archive and a darkroom. It’s a database—not a file browser like Breezebrowser, or Canon’s ZoomBrowser. You have to import your images into it (actually just the locations of the images, so you don’t have to disrupt your existing file system). Once in the catalog, RAW files especially can be manipulated non-destructively, with results saved in metadata as a “recipe” that takes just a few bits of hard drive. These “recipes” can then be applied to a whole shoot: optimize one image, then press Ctrl A (Windows) and Sync, and you’ve optimized the whole lot. Recent Lightroom Develop features I particularly like are Masking to automatically select Background or Subject because they are almost-every-image useful and time-saving, and the new Enhance Denoise, which like Topaz uses AI to smartly clean up noisy files. Lightroom Classic CC doesn’t replace Photoshop because for much individual pixel work, especially when layers are needed, Photoshop still fills a need. But Lightroom keeps adding features. HDR and Panorama erode that need for Photoshop. If only Lightroom would allow layers (sigh).
Lightroom contains seven task-oriented modules, each with content-appropriate options. Most work is done in Library and Develop, but for specific outputs, there are some basic Book, SlideShow, Map, Print and Web modules. It isn’t a one-stop shop, but it’s close.
Importantly, I’ve cut the size of my image library in half since moving to Lightroom. I’ve thrown away countless TIF files, usually because I’ve created a better RAW “recipe” to replace them. My RAW files, saved from my 26 MP Sony A6700 average 28 MP, including the embedded recipe; TIF’s would be thrice that, and if it was a layered PSD file it could be six or eight times more. Of course, some PSD files I still need, but with Lightroom′s adjustment brush and other new features, most images don’t require creating a TIF or PSD that balloons the size just to allow destruction-free work in Photoshop.
Briefly, after a shoot I put the SD (SDXC) card into the reader slot on my computer. I’ve set up Lightroom preferences to detect the card, and the images show up automatically, in an import dialog box. Within a keyword box I add general words applicable for the shoot, and select a custom processing preset. I shoot only RAW images, and the processing preset is a great time-saver that adds a recipe of enhancements—stuff like vibrance, fill light, chromatic aberration removal, etc.—so the rendered jpg looks “improved” as it enters the Lightroom Library and often needs little work. An automatic Metadata preset enters IPTC copyright information. When I hit the import button, the images are copied to a folder named with the date (year-month-day).
I don’t do a backup on import, like many folks advocate, because I prefer to purge the junk first. After throwing away 50-90% of the imported images (which takes two or three passes), I do a group rename, add more specific keywords, rate a few of them (1-5 stars), and backup the new folder to an external drive. In the past I also burned a DVD backup but I stopped that in favor of a third hard drive that I back-up less frequently. Lastly, I put the SD card back in the camera and reformat. This all goes quickly unless I have lots of similar images of good quality and I feel the need to pare them down. Important to note, the higher performance SDXC cards write fast enough for 4k 120 fps video recordings of the Sony A6700.
On import, the new images go into a year folder inside my Pictures folder, organized by the year-month-day labeled folders. That way each new folder follows the last one at the end of the list, making backups easier. I use the year folders to reduce the number of folders shown in the Lightroom Library by keeping all but the year folder I’m using un-expanded. As an example, my date folder label is 2009-02-15, for a Feb. 15th, 2009 shoot, and it goes into Pictures/2009/. I don’t much care if the morning shoot was birds in Seattle, and that evening was historic buildings in Sitka, AK. The images are text (keyword), star rating and/or date searchable using the Library Filter. I’ve completely gotten away from grouping images by location, or trip, or subject, like in the film days. Digital is a different animal. If putting your images in date-only folders is too scary, tack a custom label on the end of the folder name so when you’re looking at the folder column you’ll have an indicator of the content. And for same date shoots, one could be, say, 2008-05-20_Seattle and another 2008-05-20_Sitka.
For individual file names, I select all images in the folder, and then do a group re-name with a custom preset that again starts with the date. I only have to add a short custom name that’s part of the preset. The preset automatically adds a three-digit sequential number. In the past I included my last name, but that was only because a client required it. For example, if I’m shooting at the Seattle Arboretum, a file name may look like this: 20090110_arb_001.
However you design your workflow, it’s important to be consistent, so you don’t, for example, get out in the field and discover you have a card full of images, and then wonder if you’ve backed them up. Too, Lightroom isn’t for everyone, though it does work on both Mac and PC. If you only work on select images to optimize for printing or for web publishing, rarely do submissions, or perhaps you only shoot jpg’s, you may have little reason to go the Lightroom route.
Isn’t Lightroom slow and hard to learn?
Some people think Lightroom is slow, a reason to reject it. Yeah, if you shoot 4,000 images a day and need to sort them quickly, possibly Breezebrowser or PhotoMechanic is better for that, but then what? How do you organize? How do you find your images? How do you develop them all? How do you efficiently collect images for submissions, article ideas, club slide shows? Many pros import into Lightroom after a PhotoMechanic or BreezeBrowser sort. I do confess I’ve had to upgrade my computer a few times shortly after a Lightroom upgrade because the old computer couldn’t match the demands of new software, but this is increasingly a non-issue. Video editing is what drives computer upgrades today, from software other than Lightroom. Still, Lightroom, like Photoshop CC, is demanding, but unlike Photoshop, Lightroom isn’t difficult to learn. Free on-line tutorials by gurus like Julianne Kost will get you up and running, without having to attend workshops or delve into books.
What about a smart-phone camera for use on the water?
I now often carry my Samsung S10 smart phone in the same waterproof bag as my Sony gear. The Samsung is supposed to be waterproof, so I’m not concerned about operating it with wet hands. I don’t use it for picture taking. It can’t match the quality of a much-bigger-sensor dedicated camera, and, with no view-finder or grip, I find framing difficult. The reason it’s I the bag at all is firstly for safety, and secondly for personal calls.
How do you keep your camera equipment dry?
In almost all paddling situations, my camera sits in a dry bag that’s located between my legs and under my spray skirt when not in use. I pop the skirt and open up a dry bag to use it. My pick for dry bags is Sagebrush Dry. Sagebrush bags have a tough urethane skin, all-welded seams and a reliable waterproof TIZIP Masterseal zipper —not a roll-up closure that will leak if submerged. Their larger camera bag is big enough for a 35mm camera body with 28-135mm zoom and lens hood mounted for action. A pro camera body with a motor drive takes some effort to squeeze in, but if that’s your need Sagebrush will make a custom bag to your specifications. I have a lot of confidence in them. Water can of course get in if you open the bag to shoot – from splash, wet hands or from the lip of the zipper if the bag itself is wet. In that it’s comparable to a dry box, but with less bulk even with padding. In addition, you don’t have a rigid dry box lid to lift up that then gets in the way.
I have enough confidence in the Sagebrush bags that I use a custom bag from them to stow my 500mm f/4 and dSLR (or mirror-less). The bag sits between my legs in my Necky Manitou or Necky Elias, but I’ve even used it in a Necky Elisa – not a big cockpit kayak. To use the big lens, I pop the skirt, un-zipped the bag – pull out six grand worth of camera – and fire away. If you want something similar, I suggest contacting Sagebrush and perhaps get their “Plain Jane Duffle”, or the large “Twin-center”, sized for your needs.
Extra lenses, filters, and film are kept in a hard plastic waterproof (Pelican) case that I only open on shore. I also carry silica gel, a desiccant that I keep in double zip-locked bags. If moisture gets on the camera or in the dry bag, I open the ziplocks and let the desiccant dry things out. The drying power of the silica gel can be renewed by putting it in an oven at low temperature for a hour. It can also be rejuvenated with a camp stove if you really need it in the field. When the gel turns color from pink to blue it’s good to go again. I’ve tried using a microwave to rejuvenate gel, but it drives the water out so fast it explodes the gel granules, so I only do that in a pinch.
A big problem for me is keeping my hands dry. I do a lot of open ocean paddling, where waves and ocean swell mean your hands frequently enter the water. Often they end up looking like prunes. If you grip the paddle with your hands close together to keep them out of the water, it can result in injury. One solution is to wear latex (dish washing) gloves. I just remove them to take a picture. I also keep a cotton bandanna under my hat, and another one in the camera bag. I use them to dry my hands, and to wipe off the camera. If the bandana in the camera bag gets damp, I put it below deck, and rinse and dry it out when in camp. On windy days or in really rough seas, I usually stop photographing, and concentrate on paddling.
I’m always looking for new solutions to these problems. If you’d like to share yours, send me an email at: gluhm@garyluhm.net.
Your pictures look so crystal clear. How do you achieve that?
Aside from camera and lens choice, I always shoot with a lens hood. This accomplishes three things. First, the lens hood protects the front lens element probably better than a lens cap, so I can leave the cap off. Second, the hood keeps water spray from striking the lens. Now I don’t have to clean the lens as much, and I’m less likely to need a filter for lens protection. Third—and most important—the hood prevents stray light from the sun or bright sky from bouncing around in the glass, causing lens flare and reducing contrast. Outdoors, we have only limited control over light and its direction. So I always shoot with a lens hood.
How do you get sharp pictures?
When I’m photographing I try to face forward while seated in the cockpit. I hunch over – push my elbows into my PFD. If it’s calm I lean my elbows on the coaming, or get lower by placing the (telephoto) lens on a deck bag. A bad way to photograph is to turn your body sideways to the kayak before snapping the shutter. This is an unstable position and the result will be fuzzy images and crooked horizons.
What kayak do you use? Any advice on kayak choice?
I’m paddling all Necky kayaks, with three in the fleet (four with my wife’s Looksha IV). I’ve sold my beloved Mariner Coaster, my big trip Mariner Max and my fast, skinny Necky Tahsis. Mostly they’re gone for business reasons. The Broze brothers (Mariner Kayaks) closed their doors a few years ago. I’ve also had a business relationship with Necky ever since we traded my wife’s grey Necky Looksha IV, which she loves, for a brighter-colored, yellow-deck Looksha (same model). Photos of kayaking are the biggest part of my income, and it makes sense for me to paddle relatively new, brightly-colored boats.
My go to kayak now is a Necky Elias, only 15’ 6” in length. I’ve found it’s fast enough, though, and has plenty of volume for week-long or longer trips (see Photographer Kayak: Necky Elias). The short length may seem like a handicap, but shorter boats turn better and weigh less, and I can keep pace with almost any group I might paddle with. I’m still very fond of my Necky Eliza, a boat marketed to women but which is an excellent choice for small- to medium-sized guys or gals looking for a utility kayak that shines in surf and current play, has the capacity for a multi-day trip, paddles easily at a 3.5-knot pace and is so light I can pick it up with one arm (See my photo tip: Packing a small sea kayak).
In spring, 2009, I added a Necky Manitou 14, now (almost) a dedicated bird photography kayak. I couldn’t find a better kayak for photographing birds with a 500mm f/4. It has bomber stability for hand-holding the 500mm f/4 with confidence. The water line is long enough to quickly get you to photo ops, and it has enough gear stowage for an over-night (See my photo tip: Bird Photographer Kayak). It also has a skeg, which I prefer, not a rudder. I like dropping the skeg to keep me faced forward while photographing, and I like the firm footrests. At a weight of 44 lbs, it’s not super-light compared to other smallish kayaks, a consideration of women and older photographers who don’t want to deal with car-topping and carrying solo a 44 lb kayak when on day trips (Note: Most single kayaks weight more, some a lot more, but in its class there are a few lighter alternatives, especially in light-weight carbon-fiber and in shorter kayaks without bulkheads, rudders or skegs).
In general—considering multi-day, touring kayaks—a medium-volume kayak is probably the best choice for most photographers. A big volume kayak can be a lot to handle, so paddling skills are even more important. Most folks should probably opt for something smaller than a 17’ Looksha Elite or Mariner Max, boats I used to paddle. Photographers especially should seek to shrink the volume of stuff that they carry. My advice is to get your gear into a boat that fits you for size and is easy to handle. For example, I used my 21” beam Necky Tahsis, for a two-week trip to Bella Bella in July, 2005. I took my big gun 500mm f/4, and all my usual photo gear. I loved paddling that kayak, loaded, or not loaded, with gear. The Tahsis is fast and tippy and I wouldn’t recommend it for photography, but with an excellent secondary I never worried about capsize while photographing from the cockpit. I kept the 500mm in a Sagebrush bag. Even though I got everything to fit, I could have done better. For instance, I took three pairs of shoes: paddling shoes, sandals, and a pair of light-weight hiking boots. It was a wet trip, and the hiking boots got damp from the get-go and were pretty useless. A good option for footwear is to pick up a pair of quick-draining paddling shoes that you can also hike in, and use calf-high gortex socks in camp so it doesn’t matter if the shoes are wet.
For overnights I love paddling my Necky Eliza, which loaded or not has such low windage it’s a joy to paddle when storms roll in. The Necky Eliza is a kayak any small to medium-sized paddler should consider, although the cockpit is way too small for photographers with big telephoto primes.
If you really feel you need for a big volume bulk carrier (as big or bigger than the Mariner Max), two other kayaks I would recommend for photographers are the Prijon Kodiak and the Azul Aspen.
Any suggestions for wildlife photography?
Yes. Learn natural history. Get excited about animals. Get out every day, even if it’s only for 20 minutes to look at birds in a city park. Be patient. Carry waterproof binoculars and use them to study subjects at a distance. Especially, shoot locally. It’s better for the planet, and has gratifying rewards. Target a local species and keep after it season after season. Dig in and persist and you’ll become a local wildlife guru.
As well, the emphasis for wildlife photographers has always been to get close, use the biggest telephoto in your arsenal and show the bird or mammal large in the frame with a bokeh background. Work to be different, perhaps by putting the animal small in the frame and using a wide-angle lens triggered by your smartphone, now easy to do. Show more of the environment where the animal lives, or place it as a part of the big scenic. These types of shots take some thought and often time to set up.
Whatever you do, don’t feed them. A wild animal that associates food with people often ends up a pest, or dead, or results in the closure of a wild area to people. The (summer, 2000) mauling of a sea kayaker on Vargas Island, BC, by a wild wolf is a case in point. It was reported that this wolf had been fed previously by people, became habituated, and was probably looking for a handout.
Oh, and did I say, learn natural history?
What would you choose for a wildlife lens?
Anything more to say about bigger lenses, like a 500mm or 600mm?
Regarding kayaking, I love my Canon 500mm f/4, but I’ve often carried it (or its predecessor, the Canon 500mm f/4.5L) for weeks on kayak trips and it didn’t get used. It’s too big to use from the cockpit of most kayaks, or for use in rough water. To stop and set up for shots takes extra effort, so you want to have a good situation. Of course, the results are often worth it. For car camping I store the 500mm in a waterproof case, a Tundra 716, but for kayak trips I now stow it in a Sagebrush Dry Twin Center Bag which then fits into the rear oval hatch (see photographer kayak. On calm water bird photo outings, I can stow the 500mm in the cockpit if I choose, but I usually use the Sony 100-400mm for its convenience and versatility.
While I envy many a photo taken with a 600mm f/4, a lens that expensive has to be a workhorse. It’s rather impractical to carry a 600mm f/4 by kayak, where on the water or off near camp I get much of my photography. A 500mm f/4 is easier to carry, and more hand-holdable. As well, if your walking the beach or need to hike in a mile to a good shooting location, you’ll appreciate the difference. The 600mm f/4, of course, shines for stand-on-the-shore photography of subjects like surfing or sailing, or bears, or distant birds. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of finding situations closer to the action, of which there are many, where the 500mm or 100-400mm f/4 can compete.
Always reset your camera to the same settings after a shoot, set to your familiar, go-to settings. An hour later, the next day, or whenever you pull your camera out again you need to know that your set-up is the same. If you only have seconds to shoot, and you’ve got yesterday’s exposure compensation dialed in or yesterday’s f-stop or worse you’re in 2-second time delay – whatever it is – you’ve just lost the shot.
I leave my camera in Manual Mode, aperture set wide open, ISO 800. I always want to control aperture, and ISO 800 is a reasonable ISO so I only need a quick shutter-speed change to get the exposure right. I prefer Manual exposure mode because when a bird or other subject moves between dark and light backgrounds the exposure for the subject doesn’t change.
I would like to purchase one of your deep forest Olympic shots with the bridge (very green) – how much do you charge for a 24×34 or 36 – water proof – on metal?
Thank you,
Charlotte Twardus
dropngo@yahoo.com