The Arctic landscape is both unique and unforgettable. Many people would call it a photographer's dream. Arctic photography can be tricky though.
From towering sea cliffs and epic mountains, to wild tundras and spectacular wildlife, the Arctic is truly one of the best places to shoot for both landscape and wildlife photographers.
However, shooting in the arctic is unlike other landscapes and you'll need to brush up on some skills before you take your Arctic cruise.
Because of the expense and the rarity of shooting in the Arctic, it's best to be as prepared as you can. To help you do this, we have put together a list of our top 10 tips for Arctic photography.
We understand that every photographer is trying to get something different out of their experience and not everyone will require the same gear, however, the tips below should be relevant to most beginners looking to shoot in the arctic for the first time, whether it be landscape, wildlife, macro etc.
Please also bear in mind that some cruise itineraries, particularly longer ones such as the Northwest Passage or Canadian Arctic, have dedicated photography experts and tours.
3. Extra Memory Card and Batteries
It's surprising how many people forget to bring extra memory cards and batteries to the Arctic. You'll be amazed how many photos you take when you see a polar bear or whale near your ship.
You'll start clicking away, often taking 5 or 6 shots a second to capture that perfect moment. Before you realise, the memory card is all full up just as the bear begins to move towards the ship! It happens more than you think.
Bring at least 1 spare memory card and remember to always upload and format your card each night for maximum shooting potential the next day.
Batteries are another thing to keep in mind. Because the Arctic is cold, you'll notice that your batteries die significantly faster than back home. Many photographers go through 3 or 4 batteries a day if there a some wildlife sightings.
This does largely depend on the brand of camera and if you're using official batteries. Sony batteries are notoriously short-lived, as are non-official batteries for Canon and Nikon.
4. Framing A Landscape
Probably one of the most difficult things to do is to know how to frame a shot. What makes a good composition? Whilst there are certain rules regarding framing, these rules are often broken in the pursuit of the unusual.
The tip here is to not only think about framing a landscape when you're photographing a lake or mountain, but to also frame a landscape when photographing animals. Great wildlife shots work because the animal is nicely framed within the landscape, not just because you managed to get close to a polar bear.
The beginner rule is to think in terms of thirds. In your mind, create three horizontal and vertical lines across your frame and make the landscape lines match those imaginary lines. Whilst this will always yield decent results, it's by no means a set rule.
Another top tip here is to engage with your guides and fellow travellers. You'll find that your guides are often photographers themselves and will be able to give you excellent guidance. You'll also find that your fellow passengers are a gold mine of information when it comes to photography, so don't be afraid to ask .
Another tip its to look at photos that you like and use them as our inspiration. There is no shame in this as every photographer takes inspiration from something.
7. Shooting from A Kayak
If you're taking an Arctic cruise, you'll most likely take one or two kayaking trips along the way as they're great ways of getting up close and personal with the sea life.
This is also the perfect time to photograph things as you'll get to explore hidden bays and take shots of icebergs from angles that no cruise ship could reach. However, taking a photo from a kayak is never easy, particularly getting the horizon level.
The first thing you can do to combat this is up the shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed, the less likely bumps are to affect you. You'll also get a lot less blur as the fast shutter speed literally takes 1/1600th of a second.
The second thing you can do to get a straight horizon is to crop in post. You can literally zoom in on your image and turn the image so that the horizontal is level.
The problem of course is that you lose some of your image. You therefore need to be aware of this so that you frame your shots slightly wider than you would otherwise.
8. Classic Animal Poses
Some animal poses and angles are always going to work. An example would be whales.
Simply photographing the top of a whale as it comes up to breathe often yields poor results. However, if you manage to catch the fluke of a whale as it points upwards just before diving down, then that usually makes for a lovely image.
Animals that are looking directly at you also make for nice images, particularly seals that are notoriously cute. Sadly for cruise passengers, shots angled downwards on an animal rarely make for nice shots.
The trick is to get as low as the animal itself so you can create some nice blur behind the creature. This is why taking shore excursions is so important as it gives you that chance to interact with nature on their level.
9. Find Interesting Angles
Arctic photography provides travellers with unique landscapes and wildlife. Finding interesting angles to shoot these elements will heighten your photos even more.
As mentioned above, getting as low as you can to the wildlife is a great way to get nice shots as you can capture the landscape as well. This means getting on the ground, often lying flat and waiting for the right angle.
Finding interesting landscape angles is also a great way to improve your photography. Instead of shooting the lake in front of the mountain, why not put your tripod in the water itself and take the image from there. Or better yet, why not take an image of the lake from on top of the mountain!
Why not shoot the waterfall from behind, or take an image from the ground of someones shoe in front of an epic landscape. Try to think outside of the box. It doesn't always work, but when it does it's brilliant and unique.
10. Finding The Optimum Exposure
Getting the right exposure is paramount to your Arctic photography adventure. Dark light and bright snow both prove difficult to expose for.
The dreaded grey snow effect happens all to often and can ruin many a lovely picture. To avoid grey snow, you'll need to bracket your exposure. Generally a setting of 3 or 5 brackets at an interval of 1 to 2 stops will stop the grey snow effect and give you nice clean, white snow images. This often means overexposing though which can feel a little wrong. Just try out the setting and ask the guides if you're confused. Check out this video for more info.
Shooting in the dark for the Northern Lights is an entirely different situation. Once again, it's pretty much trial and error. What you will require though is a wide-angle lens of at least 24mm with an f/stop minimum of 2.8 for great results.
Try setting your ISO to 1600 and leaving the exposure for 10-15 seconds. The shorter the exposure you can get the better as this will reduce star blur. If you want to get fancy, expose for the Lights on one shot, then expose for the foreground on the second shot and blend them in post.
