Wide field from a cruise?

Just did a quick search, and surprisingly, couldn't find anything in the forums ... I'm lucky enough to be going on a cruise in a few weeks, in asia for a week, and thought the middle of the ocean could have some dark skies which could be ideal for wide field pics, with no annoying trees, hills or buildings in the way, however, I assume trying to shoot from a cruising ship won't be ideal.

So wondering if anyone has any experience or tips for trying to shoot wide field astro photos from a cruise liner?

I won't be taking my astro setup, just regular camera gear and tripod, think I'll get anything decent? Or could be keen to try 'moving star trails' if worse comes to worse???

- Daniel

legoman_iac wrote in post #15622497
Just did a quick search, and surprisingly, couldn't find anything in the forums ... I'm lucky enough to be going on a cruise in a few weeks, in asia for a week, and thought the middle of the ocean could have some dark skies which could be ideal for wide field pics, with no annoying trees, hills or buildings in the way, however, I assume trying to shoot from a cruising ship won't be ideal.

So wondering if anyone has any experience or tips for trying to shoot wide field astro photos from a cruise liner?

I won't be taking my astro setup, just regular camera gear and tripod, think I'll get anything decent? Or could be keen to try 'moving star trails' if worse comes to worse???

- Daniel

I've wondered about this, if nothing else should be great for visual observing, maybe bring your binoculars if you have any.

Like you say it will be hard, small vibrations on a tripod are bad enough when on dry land but on a ship regardless of what size will be very difficult. Id still give it a bash if you are taking your gear with you anyway but i wouldn't hope for much.

You might do OK with some wide stuff. There's only one way to find out.
I'd definitely take some form of star atlas (iPad or something) and a pair of binoculars. Ask the crew for a dark place, sit back in a deck chair and get dark adapted. Should be great.
We've arranged for a few comets for you too.

All inclusive cruise

Haha, thanks guys ... good idea about the binos and atlas. Have android app and the pocket atlas. Was thinking I might try and strap my finder scope to my camera too. Yeh, won't expect too much except dark skies, and if I take too much gear it will cloud over.

Didn't realise no one has really tried, could be a good reason, will let you know how I go.

- Daniel

P.s. Thanks for the comets, partly the reason I thought about this silly idea.

It is very hard to get a steady platform on a moving ship. The silly ocean just does not like to stand still. Also, you will have light pollution problems. Cruise ships are usually lit up at night. Your wide angle lens will still be very useful when you visit sites on land. Things here in Asia are often very close together and crowded. Good luck.

I started my career on ships and the night skies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is great! However ships are not so good for night photography.

Haha, yeah I'm not expecting a stable platform, but am curious to how it will work. I'm off in a few weeks, so will let you all know how I go.

Thanks again.

Try capturing the ship as foreground element, the ocean horizon, and the sky all at rules of 1/3, wide open, with fastest shutter speed you can to expose the sky w/o overexposutre the ship.
Or, take each at its proper exposure and then stack later at home.

Have fun, heck a nightime bikini shot might be "proper" considering your location, of course with the milky way as background, and some light paint onto the lady model......

You may be okay with your astro set-up. I know I experimented with this last year when I was on a cruise. However, since the ship is still moving, the stars I did capture were pretty much a blur. Although your astro set-up may negate that. It's certainly worth a try. But if you're just using your camera mounted on a tripod, you may get the same results I got.

Nice idea about composing the ship/elements into the shots ... will try those ideas.

Hey nburwell, will only be taking camera and tripod, just going for a week. Do you have any cruise shots I can check out, keen to see how this looks.

Hey guys, just got back ... worked better than expected, though not great. Tried a few things, though anything longer than 10 sec subs from 17-85mm started to get trails. Overall the ship was fairly stable, found it worked better shooting perpendicular than in the heading we were going.

Ship was generating more light pollution than all of australia put together, also, most nights while clear were hazy from sea mist or something.

Will post pics when I've gone through them, also managed a timelapse of singapore during earth hour, though lights on the casino didn't dim too much.

legoman_iac wrote in post #15751555
Hey guys, just got back ... worked better than expected, though not great. Tried a few things, though anything longer than 10 sec subs from 17-85mm started to get trails. Overall the ship was fairly stable, found it worked better shooting perpendicular than in the heading we were going.

Ship was generating more light pollution than all of australia put together, also, most nights while clear were hazy from sea mist or something.

Will post pics when I've gone through them, also managed a timelapse of singapore during earth hour, though lights on the casino didn't dim too much.

I recall the first cruise I was on I was looking forward to seeing the stars.Like you said the ship produces much more light pollution than I imagined. I didn't get to see much. Looking forward to seeing your pics.

me too, when do you think u will have time to process and upload ur pics?