Day one of the 2009 Rolex Big Boat Series

What a day it was out on the water yesterday! Sunny, warm, and winds of ~ 10-20 kts, made for perfect sailing conditions for the Rolex Big Boat Series competitors.  A  beautiful fog bank blanketed the Golden Gate Bridge for much of the day, providing a great backdrop for the boats as they made their way upwind.  With relatively light air and flat water, there wasn’t much in the way of the crashing and burning that we photographers find so compelling, but none-the-less, I think I shot a few compelling images.  Many thanks to John Siegel for the ride on his Protector!

The day’s galleries are online now at Rockskipper Photography.

Pre-race at the St. Francis yacht Club dock.

Ragtime and the TP 52s.

Dan Woolery's Soozal at the windward mark.

John Siegel's Scorpio ducks James Bishop's Gold Phoenix.

2009 Melges 32 North American Championship

Only seven boats were on hand for this year’s Melges 32 North American Championship in San Francisco Bay, but with near-perfect conditions, the competition was close.  After three days of racing, Don Jesberg’s Viva claimed the championship – the only completely corinthian team on the race course.  Congratulations Don!

Hosted by the Sausalito Yacht Club, the regatta was run by Regatta Pro’s Jeff Zarwell with race committee volunteers from San Francisco Yacht Club and an additional mark-set boat from St. Francis Yacht Club.  Racer Steve Pugh kindly provided his Protector to the event for use as a media boat for the class association. Thanks Steve, and congratulations on your 2nd place finish!

More photos at Rockskipper Photography.

Don Jesberg's VIVA leads at the windward mark.

Steve Pugh's Taboo nears the windward mark.

Q and Rougarou round the windward mark.

2009 Jazz Cup

I’m always looking for different vantage points when shooting sailboats, and my perch on the pier just north of Crockett proved to provide some terrific angles of the boats as they raced to Benicia through the Carquinez Straits.  More photos at Rockskipper Photography.

By the Light of the Corn Moon

September fourth’s full moon (known as the Harvest or Corn Moon) provided a great opportunity for photography of San Francisco Bay and a few recognizable icons.   The sun was setting as the moon was rising,  providing dramatic lighting on the Berkeley hills,  Alcatrez, the San Francisco city-front, and the Golden Gate Bridge.    All images, Nikon D700, Nikkor 200-400 f/4.

Moonrise over the Berkeley Hills.

San Francisco Twilight.

San Francisco Bay Ferry in the Moonlight.

Moonlight over Alcatrez.

Fog over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Great Schooner Race on San Francisco Bay – August 29, 2009

Sixteen schooners participated in San Francisco Yacht Club’s Great Schooner Race,  which benefited the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center.  Thanks to Bill Moore, I was out on the Express 27, Shenanigans to watch the parade through Raccoon Straights.  With temperatures on land reaching 95+ degrees, the Bay was definitely the place to be for the day.  Thanks Bill!

The gaff-rigged schooner Stardust.

The Marconi-rigged schooner Seaward.

The gaff-rigged schooner Yankee sails past Angel Island.

While black and white seemed most appropriate for many of these high contrast images, one schooner in particular called for color.

Aldebaran sails into Raccoon Straights.

More images can be found on Rockskipper.com.

More Kiteboarding!

The second day of the Kiteboard Course Racing World Championship in San Francisco was windier than the first, with gusts over 20 kts.  It was also a more typical summer day in San Francisco with a blanket of fog that moved in mid-afternoon.  The race course was still far enough off shore so that close up action shots weren’t possible from my vantage points on shore, but there was great action at the colorful starts.  More images can be viewed on Rockskipper.com.

The StFYC committee boat and racers at the start.

Racers sail upwind.

The weather mark.

“First Ever” Kiteboard Course Racing World Championship

Tuesday marked the first day of racing at the inaugural Kiteboard Course Racing World Championship hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, California.  It was a very colorful scene at the beach at Crissy Field where nearly 70 racers prepared themselves and their kites for the preliminary races on Tuesday, August 4th.

Kiteboarders prepare their kites for competition on the beach at Crissy Field.

Typically kiteboarding is a more solitary sport, but this event is more like a sailing regatta with multiple boarders lining up on a starting line and then sailing a windward / leeward course around inflatable marks.  What makes this special as a photographer is the chance to get images of multiple kiteboards / kites in the same frame.   However, photographing kiteboarders poses some  unique challenges — for example,  how do you fit both the kiteboarder and the kite into the frame, and how do you track the focus of a single boarder when they can be flying along at 20 knots?

Racers start at the StFYC committee boat.

The racers fly past Alcatrez on their way to the first upwind mark.

Kiteboarders are dwarfed by an incoming tanker.

More photos at Rockskipper.com.

Abbott’s Lagoon at Point Reyes National Seashore

After a hearty breakfast at The Station House in Pt. Reyes Station, we headed to Abbott’s Lagoon for a hike. By the end of the day John had counted more than 40 species of birds – mostly unphotographable -  but here are a few images from the day.  My lens of the day — the Nikkor 70-300mm zoom — lightweight for hiking, but fast and sharp for birds.  Although it wasn’t the most productive of photographic days, I was rewarded with a few good opportunities.

Birdwatching at Abbott's Lagoon in July.

A quail standing guard.

Heerman's gulls on the beach.

The endangered snowy plover.

Tule Elk.

A coyote by the roadside.

Arethusa wins the NYYC Swan 42 U.S. National Championship!

The 2009 Swan 42 U.S. National Championship, hosted by the New York Yacht Club,  came down to the wire on the fourth and final day of racing, with Andy Fisher’s Bandit, seemingly unstoppable,  in first place by eleven points (including four bullets).  But in the end, determination and consistency paid off as Phil & Wendy Lotz’s Arethusa sailed to victory – with no bullets, but the only boat with all single-digit finishes.   Photo galleries are on the Rockskipper Photography website.  Results are on the NYYC website.

The start of race 8 of the Swan 42 NAs

Arethusa and Bandit on the first beat of the 8th race.

Swan 42s approach the first windward mark.

Close racing for the Swan 42s.

Celeritas and Mustang hoist at the windward offset mark.

Day 4- Arethusa at the windward mark.

I was fortunate to be following the race in the Lotz’s support boat, Alpheus.  But after eight windward/leeward races, with four legs each, the Swan 42s, with their predominantly white hulls and white sails all started to look alike.  Happily, on Saturday and Sunday the big boats of the Newport Bucket regatta (parade?) sailed by and through the fleet adding some much wished for color.

Hanuman sails past the Swan 42s

Wild Horses and the Swan 42s.

Sailing Photography – Not just another pretty boat picture!

As a professional photographer I am constantly reminded of how digital photography has changed the business of photography. How many people don’t have a digital camera of some sort? Cell phones? With so many photographers out there, it’s not surprising that fewer and fewer people see the value in purchasing the work of professionals when they can take their own shots and exchange them for free with friends and family simply by attaching an image to an email or posting it to Facebook.

So here are a few pointers to assist in a more critical evaluation of sailing (and other) images:

Basic composition – Is the image balanced to your eye? Is the horizon straight?  This is one of the most common issues with on-the-water photography since the photographer is typically bouncing around when shooting.  What is the perspective of the photo – i.e. is it shot from in front of the boat, straight on from the side, or from astern? Which perspective appears more insteresting?  Hint: side-on shots tend to look flat, unless you’re going for a portrait of crew on the rail.  Also consider the foreground and background – do they convey a sense of action (such as waves in the foreground) and/or location (such as recognizable land features) without being distracting?

Exposure – Is the image over- or under-exposed?  White sails, blue sky, and dark water can present a challenge to a camera’s automatic exposure system.  Is the white of the sails blown out or the shadows so dark that you can’t see enough detail?  Experienced photographers will often use a combination of exposure compensation with carefully selected shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings to obtain the optimal exposure and depth of field.

The upper image illustrates many issues - a crooked horizon, poor focus and exposure, and a distracting background. The lower image is much better, and in fact was on the cover of a sailing magazine.

Focus – Is the main subject of the image in focus or is there motion blur?  Is the point of focus on the bow of the boat or on the face of the person hiking on the rail?  Today’s digital cameras use sophisticated auto-focus systems, but can be challenged when presented with a moving platform and a moving subject.  Higher-end digital SLR cameras provide a photographer with the ability to place the point of focus where it will have the most impact rather than allowing the camera to determine the point of focus – frequently the closest object to the photographer, not the object of interest.

White balance / color correction – in simple terms, this is a measure of the fidelity of the colors in an image.  Shooting on-the-water presents a challenge for color correction since there is typically a strong blue tint on an image shot with auto white balance.   It can be difficult to assess this aspect of an image unless your computer display has been calibrated, but beware of images that have a strong overall blue tint or have been over-corrected yielding unrealistic colors.

An illustration of how cameras can skew the white balance of a marine scene, making it too blue.

The same image with appropriate color correction applied.

Post-processing – Very few photos come out of a digital camera ready for publication on the web or in print.  Almost every image requires color correction and subtle adjustments to exposure and contrast.  Too much post-processing can make colors look fake and too little can leave image looking flat and fuzzy.

The professional photographer has spent many hours mastering these creative and technical issues.  They have also invested in professional level cameras, lenses and accessories that enable them to create high quality images. Still, there can be a large variability in the quality of images from different pros.  So with these criteria in mind, compare the work of various photographers and decide whose style you like best, and don’t hesitate to pay a fair price for their efforts.

For more sailing images please visit Rockskipper.com.