Fishing boats entering harbour in a rough sea

[Geoff F]

About this time of the year some of my friends who are still fishing commercially start asking about photos for their Christmas Cards and it becomes a challenge to get some different action shots each year.

And as we have had a few questions recently about the Sigma 150-500 lens, here are a few examples, mostly shot at 500 mm using a tripod. Shot from the shore, so they were reasonably distant.

Sarah C



Davrik - with a difficult angle that was a bit too close to the sun which was low in the afternoon sky.



Salcombe Lass - and another 'wrong angle'



And the same boat entering harbour with a better light angle.



Considering the distance and lens size they won't be perfect but it may give some indication of what can be achieved with this 'relatively cheap' large zoom.

ps. they do print a bit sharper than they look on screen.

[Bobobird]

Nice action shots. I like the last one best - the water sweeper make it I think.

[Geoff F]

Yes, I think it looks as though he is desperately paddling to get out of the way.

[Dave Humphries]

Considering the distance and lens size they won't be perfect but it may give some indication of what can be achieved with this 'relatively cheap' large zoom.

ps. they do print a bit sharper than they look on screen.

Hi Geoff,

I do like 'the pedestrian' in this one

Hadn't seen this thread until you linked from the newer one about the lens.

If I said these looked swell (groan), you'll probably not talk to me again

For me, I'd like to see more ship/boat, but I guess to the people that work them, they know what they look like (intimately) and would rather see them in their context.

They look sharp enough to me after downsizing.

All the best,

[arith]

#2 looks like it is sinking, got Jesus in #3, and I like #1 the best. All are good though.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the comments.

Tonight, I have to present these, plus a few different scenes from around the Fish Quay, so our local fishing organisation can decide which one they want on their Christmas Cards this year.

[Harpo]

The rocks in the background of #4 helps alot. Alot of times, you see a blah sky in the background and it pushes the whole thing towards blah.

[Markvetnz]

Nice sharp photos. 2 and 3 could benefit from a levels and curves adjustment to give you a little more contrast.

[elfbob]

SLR Gear.com reader reviews has very good things to say about this Sigma 150-500mm lens. Have you ever used this lens on a monopod or a shoulder stock set up? At 4.2 lbs it might be a bit heavy when coupled to eos 50D for handheld use. Shooting moving objects from a limited position usually makes for challenging composition & longer zoom ranges further compresses that vista. I like image 1 for it's "classic" post card appearance while image 4 has more unique appeal, especially with the nearby paddle board person adding to its interest.

[Geoff F]

Robert. I have found the OS stabilisation on this lens to be surprisingly good and have taken quite acceptable hand held shots at 500 mm. But I wouldn't trust it below 1/500. Sometimes I do close up the legs of my tripod, when in confined spaces, so it virtually becomes a monopod.

Mark, The trouble with images 2 & 3 is that they were shot a little too close to the sun angle, which was all I could do, and were rather 'washed out'. They have had quite a bit of adjustment, first with Raw conversion then several adjustment layers (with edited masks).

At the current level of adjustment, they are just beginning to get a bit noisy so I have stopped at this point. Further editing seemed to be getting counter productive and was starting to appear harsh and unnatural.

In an ideal world, I would have been able to shoot at a different angle, like the other two shots.

[Myk]

That is too bad about 2 and 3, I feel these do the best of showing the scale of the seas. The second with the boat riding up the back of a swell, and the third with the swell just in front of the boat. I like number 1 for classic appeal, the whitecaps in the background maintain the "rough" sea appearance without the drama from 2 and 3. 4 is a good shot, I like the pedestrian, and had to do a double take when I saw it .
Its good of you to take photos of these boats for the people who work on them, its kind of hard to get photo's of your boat actually working while you're working on it.

[Geoff F]

Thanks, Mike. I did notice the guy on the paddle board ahead of the boat and waited for everything to get in a suitable position before clicking my shutter. I took another shot of him just astern of the boat, but it didn't quite have the same impact.

Just out of interest, here is the original from #2



Possibly, an Adjustment Layer with Blend Mode set to Soft Light at around 30% opacity may give it a little bit of added zip as a final piece of editing; but I fear that too much 'enhancement' could easily spoil the scene.