Jim Larson Photography

Some dear friends of ours took us sailing on their Catalina 22. Their boat is very well equipped, including a sail called a “spinnaker” which is a very large sail generally used for going down wind very fast. It was a perfect day for flying this sail and we did just that.

I made my way up on the bow of the boat with my camera which was equipped with a wide angle lens. I laid on the deck so I could get a good shot at the sail with the nice blue summer sky in the background.

Alle’s August 2009 calendar shot.  She loves to go sailing!

What is CdA as shown in the title? Well, that is the abbreviation for Coeur d’Alene which is the name of a town and lake in northern Idaho.

While at the wooden boat show we got to see this magnificent sailboat owned by a very rich individual who lives in the area. It is 60 feet in length and the hull is all wood.

I like this shot because it is framed between the two pilings and the rope railing.  The sun reflection off of the sails gives a nice contrast between the sail and the mountain behind.

Today we were treated to a viewing of the mega yacht “Kaori” as it left port in Port Townsend, Washington.  This evening I did a little research on the yacht and discovered the following specifications:

Length: 125 feet

Beam: 28 feet

Weight: 380,000 pounds

This yacht is wider than our boat is long.  It was an absolutely beautiful site as it maneuvered to leave port.

When most people think of contrast in photography, they think of the variance between the light and the dark part of the image.  Here is an example of another form of contrast, that being between the water of the pool and the water of the river.  Same subject (water), but presented in two totally different ways.

I spotted this example while walking along the river in Portland.  Since the air was very calm and no one was hanging around the pool the surface of the water was just like glass.  I positioned myself to get the pool in the foreground and the river in the background.

It would have been nice had the pool been in the sun, like the rest of the picture, but sometimes you take what you can get.

Sometimes when I am looking at boats, I look up. On this one I had to look way up. This is a mast on a sailing yacht and it made of carbon fiber. Think of carbon fiber as fiberglass, but instead of being made of glass fibers and resin, it is made up of carbon fibers and resin. It is very rigid, but very light in weight.

What does that have to do with photography? Not much, but it is kind of interesting. When you take a photo of something interesting, learn more about it. It makes for good conversation.

The highest point in the San Juan Islands is called Mount Constitution on Orcas Island which reaches to 2,409 feet above the sea. The last time we visited, the sky was very clear and we just sat and watched the world below us go by. Looking down, I saw this sailboat all by itself heading to its next anchorage.

To compose the shot, I put the sailboat at the bottom left at the 1/3 point from that corner. This gives the boat room to travel in the viewer’s mind as they project where it is going.

Keep this in mind for any moving subject. You don’t want your subject to immediately hit the edge of the image as it travels in your mind.

Another composition element that is in play here is what is called “negative space.” It might be a baseball player alone in a large expanse of grass, a small image of a skier in a large amount of snow, or in this case, a small image of a boat in a large body of water. The idea is to either make the subject (the boat in this case) look small, or the rest of the photo (the water) to look large.

One night while staying in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, I grabbed the tripod and camera so that I could do some night photography. The scene of the lighted marina was very nice and I wanted to capture it.

Keep in mind that the sun does not have to be shining to take some pretty nice photos. You will need a tripod, or at least a fence post or other stable object to steady the camera. In order to for the camera to capture enough light for the film or image sensor you need to expose it for a longer period of time. In this particular image, that was 8 seconds. In addition to a tripod, I set the camera in the “self timer” mode so that my hands were totally off the camera as it took the photo.

You may have to try different “white balance” settings, either in your camera or later in your photo editing software to get the look you desire. Different types of lights cast a totally different color of light. Our eyes and brain tend to ignore some of these color casts, but when you look at a photograph in regular light, you will see what the camera captured.

Next time you have a free evening, head downtown or other artificially lit location and see what you can photograph.

Canon 20D, Canon 17-40 f4 L at 17mm, 8 seconds at f5.6, ISO 100

During our last sailing adventure in the San Juan Islands we were blessed with some fairly clear skies. This particular evening we were sitting at anchor in Echo Bay on an island named Sucia. As the last rays of sun left the peak of Mt. Baker a large sailing yacht entered the bay to join the rest of the of the boats anchored there.

I used my telephoto lens zoomed at its maximum focal length to frame the image of the mountain and the boat. Several shots were taken, but this one was my favorite of the evening.

Canon 20D, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS at 200mm, 1/640 at f4, ISO 100

The image for today was taken on a very calm morning at Stewart Island in the San Juan Islands. Our sailing yacht was resting at anchor and the surface of the water in the harbor was like glass.

I converted this image to black and white and I liked the results.

Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8 L at 34mm, 1/125 at f5.6, ISO 100