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Dean
06-03-2018 / BOARDS
how to take a great photo out on your paddle board
Become a pro in no time!
Let’s get snappy!
Taking a great photo from your SUP is probably one of the hardest things to do. Trying to keep your balance, while grabbing a snapshot of the scenery, your fellow paddlers or even a selfie can be tricky. But with a little practice and some tips, you too can be taking beautiful photos that makes everyone want to go for a SUP.
Take the time to line up your perfect shot
If you see a great scenery coming up or other paddlers lining up in front of the perfect backdrop, kneel on your SUP to get yourself steady.
If you can balance well, stand up for a better angle.
Taking an extra minute to set up the perfect shot really pays off. Make sure to get your own SUP in the shot, it completes the story.
Capture everything
Don’t just take close ups. Take a moment to focus on all the beauty around you. Even better, use a phone camera app to capture a panorama shot and take in your whole view.
Break the rules
Some of the best photos are taken when you forget the rules. Point your camera at the sun or try an angle you wouldn’t normally. If you have a waterproof camera or Go Pro in waterproof housing, try submerging half in the water or capture the stroke of your paddle.
Better still, get in the water and have someone paddle over you and capture the underside of the board. While you are on your SUP try and think about making the SUP perspective more interesting.
A camera phone is really good at this because it is so light and there are cheap waterproof cases to keep them safe.
Attach a Go Pro to your SUP to capture your whole SUP experience. Hold your camera up high above your head, close to the water, or even in the water. Keep asking yourself, “How can I make this look different?
Always get a group photo
Group photos are always great out on your SUP and look really amazing at sunrise or sunset. Shadows cast over SUP'ers creating beautiful silhouettes against a colourful sky look stunning.
Line all the kids up on your paddle board for a cool family phot or capture the moment of all your friends and you sitting out on your boards in the water, just relaxing in the sun.
Get up high
If you have a Go Pro, attach it to your paddle to take photos from up high. It creates a great angle, capturing the paddle in the shot.
The amount of angles you can capture a photo with this method is unbelievable and can really take in the whole environment you are paddling in.
Want to get even higher? Grab a drone! Some of the best photos and even video is being captured with drone technology. This excites us!
Capture the candid moments
Get ready to capture the moments when someone falls in, a chance encounter with a dolphin or stingray or that perfect wave.
These are the most memorable and always makes for a great SUP story.
Use Apps to enhance photos
Don’t be afraid to add a filter or create collages of a day out.
There are so many free and paid Apps available, create a single beautiful photo or capture a whole day in a story of photos.
Take a selfie
If ever there is a great time to take a selfie – this is it! It always makes for a great angle with your friends or family in the background or just the beautiful scenery.
Try to play with focus – either making the background out of focus or making yourself out of focus with the background being the feature.
If paddling on your own, take stops along the way to grab a cool selfie of you and the places you have travelled that day.
Yoga moves
Everyone loves a yoga pose on a paddle board. Anyone can do it and it doesn’t need to be a headstand to be amazing.
Try a tree pose, downward dog or even a simple backbend with a beautiful backdrop which can make the most inspiring photos.
SUP dog
If you take your dog paddle boarding, you will have endless fun taking photos of them out on your SUP. If they can ride a small wave with you, get someone to grab that awesome moment of you both.
Attach a Go Pro to your board and get their reaction up close and personal. Heck! Attach the Go Pro to your dog! See paddle boarding from their perspective.
Take photos at different angles and even utilize your Go Pro on your paddle for an ariel shot of your SUP adventure.
Ride The Tide Tribe – Photography Geniuses!
Not forgetting you guys! We’d like to thank our Ride The Tide Tribe and community that sends us their amazing SUP photos every day!
You inspire us and others. We love seeing them, so keep it up!
Our SUP Ambassadors
RTT SUP Ambassador VJ, sends us beautiful photos all the time and really makes use of his surroundings and fellow paddlers to capture memorable SUP moments.
Check out his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/suptography to see more!
RTT SUP Ambassador Aily, is always out on her paddle boards capturing amazing photos of all her adventures. Her two boys enjoy getting out on their SUP with her and it’s always fun to see what Aily gets up to!.
Check out Aily’s Instagram page at www.instagram.com/isle_of_ai.ls to see more!