"Must have" cruise pictures

I swear I found a pin on Pinterest with a fun list of "must have" cruise pictures to take. Does anybody have something like this?

Thanks. :)

My must-have photo is of a tender boat approaching an extraterrestrial craft to establish first contact with an alien race.

I guess I'll just have to keep cruising again and again until I get it!

:)

On a serious note, I travel to find places to photograph and "what I find" is far less stressful a goal than "what I must have". Besides, in hunting for things on a "must have" list, you may pass up a lot of "should have seen that" opportunities.

Click on the image in my signature to see what my camera and I have found using this open-ended philosophy.

Dave

I'm not a serious photographer. I just like to have a variety of pictures and I forget to take pictures of some basic things, and later wish I would have. Not stressful for me. :) It's fun! I'll keep hunting for my list. Ship leaves tomorrow. I need to hurry up! LOL

I'm not a serious photographer just a picture taker but my only "must have" cruise photo is of our ship, either in port or at anchor.

I swear I found a pin on Pinterest with a fun list of "must have" cruise pictures to take. Does anybody have something like this?

 

Thanks. :)

The MUST HAVE picture is the one that pops up in front of you and you are lucky enough to grab.

I can't consider any food, or ship interior or exterior photo of the ship to be a must have.

Here is a must have from AK:

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Usually the only "must have pictures" for me are of the whole vacation, the trip to the cruise ship, the cruise itself (ship and ports), and the trip home. With the digital camera, I can delete what I don't want later on.

I will admit to a "must have" that I've wanted for years. I've seen so many beautiful pictures of cruise ships all lit up at night posted by many others here on CC in picture reviews and have wanted one of my own. I had an opportunity in May 2013 when sailing out of San Juan on Carnival Valor since the ships don't leave until 10PM. We weren't able to get the pictures that time because it ended up pouring down rain. We love the southern itinerary out of San Juan and decided to do it again, but this time it was Carnival Liberty that was doing the itinerary out of San Juan. I still wanted cruise ship at night pictures and was hopeful, but had the expectations that it would rain again, making it impossible. Luck was on our side this time and it didn't rain and we were able to get our pictures.

Great pictures. I'm useless with a camera. Even with it in my hands, I get so caught up in the moment that I forget to use it, so I leave that to my wife. I did manage to capture a few with my phone what I was pretty happy with on our most recent trip to Alaska, last summer, though.

Radiance of the Seas anchored at Icy Strait Point.

Denali (Mt McKinley), the white mountain in the background. One must be patient to capture it, as it is often cloud covered, as it was moments before this was taken. And was again a few moments later.

Like others, I want a picture of the ship docked. I got a wonderful night shot on our last cruise.

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some things I like to capture:

My stateroom

Dining room

a particularly good meal

In-port and/or at-anchor shots like those above

rear facing shot of the wake while underway with open ocean - usually from the promenade deck

similar shot of the bow

Luck was on our side this time and it didn't rain and we were able to get our pictures.

 

 

 

"Luck" can be a wonderful thing - great shots!

"Luck" can be a wonderful thing - great shots!

With location, weather, light, movement and all the other possible variables, the word "luck" is probably associated with 99.9% of the great shots ever made outside of a rigidly controlled studio environment.

:)

Dave

Luck is about 5% of the formula. The other 95% is made up of preparation, planning, thinking, learning etc. Stanley Forman of the old Boston Herald won two Pultizer Prizes for spot news photography and after the second one he was asked out he did it. His answer, "F8 and be there". Being there is the luck part, the F8 is the knowledge, the planning, the experience and more all coming together to kick in in a split second. Always be aware, great pictures are everywhere, we just have to find them, see them and make them

Luck is about 5% of the formula. The other 95% is made up of preparation, planning, thinking, learning etc. Stanley Forman of the old Boston Herald won two Pultizer Prizes for spot news photography and after the second one he was asked out he did it. His answer, "F8 and be there". Being there is the luck part, the F8 is the knowledge, the planning, the experience and more all coming together to kick in in a split second. Always be aware, great pictures are everywhere, we just have to find them, see them and make them

Pulitzer Prize winning photos account for about .00000001% of the great photos (subjective, of course) taken by well-prepared photographers who despite all the weather, lighting, physical location or even equipment anomalies that can ruin a photo, managed to get the shot. Once you have the shot, you need to add in all the life choices and happenstance that led you to meet the right people and make the right connections to get the photo in front of someone who may or may not have had an argument with his wife over an event beyond his control that will color his appraisal of it worthiness for purchase display, sale....yada, yada. Obviously, to get the shot, you need knowledge of your equipment, be aware of your surroundings, be somewhere with actual surroundings you would want to photograph and to have remembered to bring said equipment with you...that's your part. The moment when the subject is in perfect photographic harmony still has to squeeze through a 99.9% sieve made up of the chaos and natural entropy struggling to keep it from happening.

But then, some people are just lucky! :)

Happy shooting!

Dave

Dave, there is always some luck involved, always...it all started for me in 1966 when I had the bad luck to get hit by car on an icy road...learned about photography while recovering and turned into a satisfying career. Bad luck became good luck but it still took some work on my part....I just used Stan Forman's back to back Pulitzers as an example of how we have to make our own luck for the most part.

Dave, there is always some luck involved, always...it all started for me in 1966 when I had the bad luck to get hit by car on an icy road...learned about photography while recovering and turned into a satisfying career. Bad luck became good luck but it still took some work on my part....I just used Stan Forman's back to back Pulitzers as an example of how we have to make our own luck for the most part.

I really don't disagree with your comments about preparation and awareness, I'm just pointing out (with tongue slightly in cheek) that as Robert Burns said, "The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry". You can prep all you want and have 30 years experience on top of that arts degree but if it's overcast, you ain't gettin' that eclipse shot! On the other hand if you are in the right place at the right time to catch history in the making (or a nice docked-ship-at-sunset portrait) and you don't have your camera...same result.

Preparation and luck go hand in hand. Not just with photography, come to think of it. :)

Dave

"Luck" can be a wonderful thing - great shots!

Thank you and I agree that luck can be a wonderful thing. :) I've seen the other following discussions about luck and I have to confess...in my case, for these pictures, it WAS luck. The first of these three pictures (top one) was with a DSLR where I played with settings on the camera to get it. The bottom two were taken with the camera on my phone so I could text pictures of "our home for the week" to family members before we sailed out of San Juan. I was very surprised at the quality and they even looked nice at full size on the computer at home. I took some with the DSLR, at the same angle and they came out, but the colors aren't as vivid as those with the phone. ???

Sherilyn70...I love the picture you got of your ship at night! Was this in San Juan too?

pierces...I have enjoyed your pictures for quite some time now

Thank you and I agree that luck can be a wonderful thing. :) I've seen the other following discussions about luck and I have to confess...in my case, for these pictures, it WAS luck. The first of these three pictures (top one) was with a DSLR where I played with settings on the camera to get it. The bottom two were taken with the camera on my phone so I could text pictures of "our home for the week" to family members before we sailed out of San Juan. I was very surprised at the quality and they even looked nice at full size on the computer at home. I took some with the DSLR, at the same angle and they came out, but the colors aren't as vivid as those with the phone. ???

 

Sherilyn70...I love the picture you got of your ship at night! Was this in San Juan too?

 

pierces...I have enjoyed your pictures for quite some time now

Glad you like the photos! I have a great deal of fun taking them.

In reference to the bold text above:

Most DSLR's offer a wide range of adjustments for in-camera processing and tend to have standard settings that aren't super-saturated like they are on a phone (this keeps vivid colors like bright reds and purples from being blown out). You can either pop the saturation when you work with them on the computer or dive into you menu to find the settings needed to increase saturation when the shot is taken. There may also be a "Vivid" style mode available that has the saturation, sharpening and contrast set more like it is on your phone.

Dave

"The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry". You can prep all you want and have 30 years experience on top of that arts degree but if it's overcast, you ain't gettin' that eclipse shot!

Whatchyou talkin' 'bout Willis? :D:D:D

Sherilyn70...I love the picture you got of your ship at night! Was this in San Juan too?

Yes, that was in San Juan. It was a beautiful night. I actually took it with my cell phone and not my dslr.

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Glad you like the photos! I have a great deal of fun taking them.

 

In reference to the bold text above:

 

Most DSLR's offer a wide range of adjustments for in-camera processing and tend to have standard settings that aren't super-saturated like they are on a phone (this keeps vivid colors like bright reds and purples from being blown out). You can either pop the saturation when you work with them on the computer or dive into you menu to find the settings needed to increase saturation when the shot is taken. There may also be a "Vivid" style mode available that has the saturation, sharpening and contrast set more like it is on your phone.

 

 

Dave

I have always enjoyed taking pictures too. I was hesitant about digital at first but I LOVE it for the fact that I can take as many as I want, can view them right away, and delete the bad ones. Our first cruise was in 1992 on our honeymoon and I had a film camera, so not much in the way of pictures. This was on a southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan, one of the most scenic. We've recently done two southern itineraries out of San Juan and have made up for my lack of pictures the first time.

I got my DSLR in 2010 and am still getting familiar with it and really appreciate your tips. We do have an editing feature on our computer (still hoping to get Photoshop one of these days), but I really don't do a lot of editing except for a little cropping or straightening. Thank you for mentioning the saturation. I have seen the saturation feature on the program on our computer, so I'm definitely going to check that out, and also the settings for saturation in my camera's menu. That was always my biggest gripe about the DSLR, the pictures came out clear but rather dull. Now that you've told me about the saturation, I actually compared the settings by viewing "properties" of the pictures of our ship at night thinking there may have been a difference in ISO or F stop, and was surprised to find that the settings were almost the same. As I had said, the pictures came out, it was just the vividness of the colors...saturation. Again, thank you...and looking forward to more of your beautiful pictures. :)

Yes, that was in San Juan. It was a beautiful night. I actually took it with my cell phone and not my dslr.

 

 

 

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I thought I recognized the yellow/gold building on the pier in San Juan. :) Your picture is beautiful and love how the ship still had the lights strung across the top. Carnival Liberty, the ship we were on and the one in my pictures, used to have them but no longer does. With the cell phone, I was very happy with the quality of the pictures.

I thought I recognized the yellow/gold building on the pier in San Juan. :) Your picture is beautiful and love how the ship still had the lights strung across the top. Carnival Liberty, the ship we were on and the one in my pictures, used to have them but no longer does. With the cell phone, I was very happy with the quality of the pictures.

I have to say, Holland America ships do look rather classy. :) I love their more classic style over other lines. That was the Westerdam in November.

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Dave, If I had a dime for every time I planned and god laughed, I could have retired years ago... my worst one was spending an entire baseball game looking for just the right spot to get the perfect image of the then famous closer reacting.....I ended up with a perfect view of the first base coach's backside because he moved at the last minute....That was almost as good as flying 3 hours to try and get another then famous closer in the game...but the game was a blow out, I had to leave in the 8th inning to catch my return light and while standing on line to check in for that flight, said closer was 5 people in front of me......Yes, the best laid plans......

Signs.

I try to take pictures of signs, such as restaurants, landmarks etc. so that the picture remembers, whereas, I forget 5 minutes after leaving the place.