Fun Ship Photography: Unleashing Your Inner Artsy-Fartsy

There’s nothing like a hot-orange sunset or palm-lined seashore to transform a photo frame into a sweet cruise memory.
 
As fabulous as outdoor shots can be, there’s plenty indoors too to woo the lens. And with digital photography so cheap, it can unleash the creativity in just about anyone.
 

Zooming in on the Constellation's
Chihuly chandelier

Every ship is photogenic. You just need to know where to look. And you’ve got hours and hours at sea—take advantage and explore the nooks and crannies of the ship. Take photos from inside and out. Up and then down. This way and that. Find your inner artsy-fartsy. You’ll be amazed at the really neat things you’ll end up with:

Be practical. Documenting the room, the food and public areas will jog your memory should you plan another trip on the same ship. Amid the chaos of Disembarkation Day, we’ve snuck into some empty rooms categories above our own and taken photos for future reference. And appreciated it later.

Be experimental. Shoot the artwork from different angles, use it as a backdrop. Do super close-ups, use interesting grid work for framing. Even some of the murals make great shots.
 
Be goofy. Photograph you and your companions looking in a mirror or glass for a different kind of selfie. You’ll find your reflections in all sorts of places, like elevators and shops. And if you’re on an Oasis class ship, be sure to check out the Boardwalk funhouse mirrors to see what you’d look like if you took a world cruise.
 


On the ball in Allure of the Sea's Central Park

For some funky examples from our trips, follow this Dropbox link.
 
And if you need some ideas on what to do with all those photos now captive in your camera, see this posting: What To Do With Those Cruise Ship Photos.
 
Musing’s Top Tip: While your smart phone or tablet can take photos indoors, they’re pretty limited. They don’t do well in low light, you can’t zoom much and it’s hard to keep them steady. A better choice is a subcompact with a large sensor, like the Sony RX100 iii. It’s better in low light, it has a viewfinder and the camera is so small that it fits in a pocket or purse. Which is great for taking those surreptitious photos (but you didn’t hear me say that).

What to Do With Those Cruise Trip Photos

Given the choice, most people wouldn’t want to give up their digital cameras and go back to film. Yet, part of me looks back wistfully at the days when I didn’t come home from a trip with 2,000 photos to go through.

On a recent cruise, upon seeing that my spouse and I were about to go into a port with five cameras between us, a woman said to us, “We don’t take photos any more. What do you do with them?”

 
Good question.
 
To give purpose to the drudgery of going through digital trip photos, a few years ago I scouted around for ideas and have since put (some of them) into action. Below are the ones I’ve come up with. If you’ve got others, do share!
 
Calendar—I’ve been creating one every year from Costco’s photo online service, but there are many places that do it—Shutterfly, CVS, Walgreen’s—to name a few. Calendars are cheap to produce and you get to relive your trip all year round

 

Digital picture frame—We’ve got a bunch of these now at home and work, each with different photos. They’re easy to use and you can swap out individual photos or whole SD cards when you get tired of the same images. For me, the mother of all digital frames is the Nix 15” X15B. The resolution makes pictures pop and the screen is big enough to really bring the Caribbean to life right there on your desk
 
Photo books—Someone I know has created many of these—hard-bound, coffee table-worthy books of travel shots from digital pictures. They’re really an updated version of the old photo album but much better. She did them through Shutterfly and they’re reasonably priced
 
Computer and cell phone wallpapers—Take your best photos and turn them into wallpaper or a screen saver for your computer and cell phone. Much better than downloading someone else’s
 
Other stuff—Then there’s Christmas cards, prints for the wall, mugs, mouse pads, magnets, key chains…And photo contests. Or, you could do what I did—start a blog!

Alas, you’ll still have to go through your 2,000 photos when you get home. But, at least you’ll have something to do with them!

P.S. You can even get started while you’re still onboard—Holland America and Celebrity both offer digital photo workshops (availability may vary by ship).