Photography On A Cruise Ship

Miami Skyline from the top Deck of our Celebrity Reflection Cruise Ship
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

MOST READERS know that I am an avid photographer. I have been writing a blog primarily dedicated to my photography for 20-some years: LightCentricPhotography Blog. I started this second blog a couple years back as I realized that a lot of my more recent postings have centered around our travel, and in particular, our cruises, around the world. As I sometimes got deeper into the weeds about the cruises, I felt that it was getting too far away from the theme of photography. While travel is obviously an important part of my own photography, I didn't want to over-emphasize cruises. But I still wanted to talk about them!

What better way to illustrate them, though, than with my own photographs?

WE LOVE to cruise. Since we started in 2010, we have been on 21 cruises (that's in 15 years, with a couple years in between when we didn't cruise at all). We have 4 more already booked. I have carried a camera of some description on every one of them. The two blogs will continue to interrelate, but this one is supposed to focus more on cruises, cruising, and those aspects of my travels. What better way to illustrate them, though, than with my own photographs? In this post, I want to talk a little about how I have approached photography on and around cruise ships, including some of the advantages and disadvantages presented by this manner of travel.

Alaska Inside Passage from the balcony of our Diamond Princess Cruise Ship
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THE GEAR

IT ALL started with Alaska, which was - of course - primarily about the scenery. So my photography in the beginning was really an extension of my landscape photography which I had been doing for many years. Just always on terra firma. I had done some research about shooting from a water-based platform. I knew that we would often be moving, sometimes in multiple directions, and that the ships' massive engines would produce vibrations. For those who don't know, unplanned motion of any kind can be the death knell to a good, sharp, image. There are some workarounds for some of it. Fast shutter speeds can help cancel out the blurring effect of the ship's motions (but probably not the engine vibrations). Image stabilization technology (had been in binoculars for years, but weren't in very many lenses or cameras back then) has become pretty much standard in cameras. Today, my cameras all have "in-body image stabilization, or IBIS, which makes a big difference with handheld shooting. I have been a tripod zealot my entire photographic "life." Against my normal predilections, I would have to shoot handheld for a lot of my images, in order to combat the motion inherent in a ship on the water. When we were stopped, I was able to use a tripod (like shots of the glacier in Glacier Bay).

There really is no "right" or "wrong" camera for photography on a cruise ship

AT THAT time I was using a Nikon DSLR ("digital" Single Lens Reflex) camera. I brought that - along with an assortment of lenses, and a relatively large, sturdy tripod along. Traveling with that kind of gear poses its own challenges. There are two of them. First, the luggage issue. Carrying a lot of gear - especially the tripod - requires large checked bag size luggage and often some dissassembly of the gear for each trip. Cameras are expensive and delicate, so I don't usually put them or the lenses in checked luggage. This dictates and limits our carry-on baggage. The second challenge is just lugging them around. As cruisers know, much of cruising and much of shore time involves either excursions or walking around the ports where there are a lot of people. A tripod just doesn't mix well with either of those circumstances. Nor does it fit in particularly well on a crowded ship deck. These days the only reason I carry a tripod is for night shooting, or for the off chance that I will have some time alone on shore (e.g. on an overnight). Over time, I also grew weary of lugging the big, often heavy DSLR and lenses around.

Margerie Glacier - Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
From our upper deck balcony of the Diamond Princess 
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THERE REALLY is no "right" or "wrong" camera for photography on a cruise ship. Like almost all travel these days, the majority of people use their smart phones to photograph and even to video events on and around the ship. What I have learned is that travel photography - even for the more serious shooters - is always a compromise. I am personally not (yet anyway) satisfied with the results or utility of my smart phone for 98% of the shooting I do. I want something more. If you are a serious photographer, you likely will, too. I have carried everything from a full DSLR, lenses and a full tripod, to a small "point and shoot," handheld only. They have all worked to varying degrees. Today, I carry the smallest so-called "full frame" camera available that will accept interchangeable lenses; and mostly a single zoom lens that covers medium wide to medium telephoto views; and an ultra small, carbon fiber tripod which I use for any long exposure imagery (like night time) I make. They travel small, and very well. If that is still too much for you, perhaps try one of the so-called "bridge" cameras. My personal favorite (and recommendation) would be the Sony RX100vi or vii (which gives you 24-200mm equivalent zoom capability). This tiny little camera has all the "bells and whistles" that a modern day DSLR or Mirrorless camera does, in a very compact (think: pack of cigarettes size) little body. I carried it exclusively for travel for a couple years and was generally very pleased with it. Sony only very recently released a "full frame" version of this diminutive little body. It has two holdbacks for me. First, it has only a "fixed" 35mm lens. Second, it is very expensive ($5,000). Almost twice the cost of my Sony A7CR!

Sunset from the upper stern deck of the Celebrity Edge - Naples, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2012 - All Rights Reserved

SHOOTING

I HAVE mentioned before that when on a cruise (or really any family type trip) finding the time and place to shoot photos can be a challenge. Other than the possibility of a nice image or two from the ship in the port you are at, most of the time when you have interesting subjects, you are on shore during the middle of the day (even on cruising days when there might be nearby scenery, you are generally in the middle of the day, and on a moving platform). Unfortunately, that is often the time of day when the light for picture-making is at its most unflattering. That doesn't mean I haven't made some nice images. I have a few images during our sailing in and out of the narrow passage to Stockholm Sweden where I got some pretty nice images. I especially liked the images of other nearby vessels. Sometimes the shots of shorelines are difficult to compose and shoot, because they are moving past rapidly. The other boats are often more direct on, making the speed seem much less.

Celebrity Apex leaving the pier as the sun begins to set over St. Kitts, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

PHOTOGRAPHERS KNOW know that the "best" light for shooting is usually either very early in the morning and very late in the afternoon, into the evening. But on a cruise, a couple things happen to thwart photography at those times (especially the afternoon/evening time). First, there are times when you have left the dock by the time the evening light turns nice. Perhaps just as often, however, the nice light is happening just as you are casting off and sailing out of the harbor. So if there are worthy subjects, it pays to stay around the upper deck for that event. And sometimes, even when you have left land (and any photographic subject behind), you can still catch a gorgeous sunset off the stern of the ship. I caught a couple of them during our 2024 Caribbean Cruise on the Celebrity Apex in January.

Sun Setting as we cruise away from the Ft. Lauderdale Cruise Port bound for The Caribbean
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

SECOND, AND often the more likely culprit: the nice light happens during the same time people are being seated in the dining rooms (which means you have to make choices between dining with family and friends, or making pictures. I usually find a way to get a little of both in during the cruise).

Sun Setting over the Port of Athens, Greece - From Princess Royal Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THE OTHER "nice light" time of the day is early morning from just before sunrise until the sun gets high enough above the horizon that it starts to become too bright and harsh for good photographic results. Unfortunately, again, it is not very often that I have been able to get off the ship, or find my way to a good spot for photographs during that period. But occasionally, we get lucky, with the conditions. The shot of the street in Denmark, below, was one of those times we arrived at our destination on shore before we lost all the nice early morning light, and the bank of taller buildings acted as a filter.

Copenhagen, Denmark
Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved

THE MOST common cruise pattern is for the ship to move to (or at least toward) the next port during the night. Sometimes you will reach the port and dock overnight, which at least may give an opportunity for early morning light shots from the cruise ship deck. But more often it seems that the ship arrives in port during that period of nice light and by the time it is docked and cleared by local port authorities for passengers to come aground, the "good light" has passed on by. 

Port of Piraeus - Athens, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THESE MORNING arrivals do, however, often present some opportunities for shooting from the cruise ship deck. The shot of the Tug above, the opening image of the Miami Skyline and the Skagway, Inside Passage shot were all made in the very early morning light, as we approached a port. As you sail into port, you can move around the deck more or less freely. I made some nice images in the early morning light as we sailed into Tromso, Norway on the Celebrity Apex in September, 2025. But the timing of the cruise may also dictate the parameters of "nice light." In the northern hemisphere, in the west (U.S. and Canada mostly), days are shorter and light lower angled during the fall, winter, and early spring. Summers mean much earlier sunrise, later sunset, and a much longer period of high angled, harsh light. That phenom is going to translate to your cruising, but it is useful to keep in mind where you are traveling. We spend a fair amount of time in the Caribbean, but those cruises tend to be during "our" winter months, and I have found the light to be consistently good during morning and evening hours.

Tromso, Norway
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

ONCE YOU are docked, shots from the ship deck is another story entirely. There are two considerations that I find often drive my photography. The first is the direction of the light (no matter what the quality is). Usually your subject is either the shoreline, buildings, beaches, marinas, etc. Sometimes it will be other ships, or parts of a harbor that are in a different direction. If the sun is rising behind your subject, it is going to generally yield poor results, with hazy, glary and extremely contrasty exposure. If you are fortunate enough for the sun to be lighting the shore objects, if you get out early enough you can get some good results. Or, if you get out before light, the city and harbor may still be lighted, which can make for nice images. Finally, you might get cloudy or foggy conditions.

Early morning sun, filtered by fog, on our approach into the harbor of Sokcho, South Korea
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

THE SECOND issue with being docked is that your view will be obstructed, at least partially, both by the ship and its structures, and by nearby ships, or obstructions of the harbor itself. If the light is conducive, I will shoot anyway, sometimes using these obstructions as elements in my frame. Either way, it is fun to try to find shots in and around these challenges. And you still have the high perspective of the ship deck to shoot from (more on that subject below).

Copenhagen, Denmark - Celebrity Apex
Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved

WHEN AN object appears to be obstructing your shot, sometimes I think it makes sense to consider that the offending object itself might just be the subject of a photo. On a recent stop in Nassau, Bahamas, walking around the ship in the early morning, just shortly after we docked, I made the image of these three ships docked along side of us. Shortly afterward, a fourth (MSC) ship joined the entourage, slipping into the emption berth between the Norwegian and Holland America ships (I had watched the Holland America ship docking just a bit before I made this image. The shot wasn't as good, though, because the MSC ship was so large that it pretty much blocked the Royal Caribbean ship furthest away.

Holland America Eurodam - Nassau, Bahamas
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

AS I came up on deck the morning of our stop in Nassau, this Holland America ship was backing into the berth adjacent to us. I knew once it finished, it would obstruct our view (and hence, my shot) of the Atlantis Resort, but in the morning, that shot would be directly into the sun. Fortunately, we have been in the Bahamas multiple times, and I have had other opportunities to photograph the resort. But the ship here was bathed in the golden, late morning light, making the shot worth taking in my view. And from our top deck, it gave me a nice perspective (as I will discuss below) for the shot.

Multiple Cruise Ships in Nassau, Bahamas
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THERE IS one more challenge, as illustrated by the "tension" between dinnertime and good shooting light and subjects. That is family and friends. I don't mean that in a negative way by any means. But anybody reading this who is a serious photographer knows what I mean. Family excursions do not mix well with dedicated, serious, photography that involves "working a scene." Whether we are on an excursion or just doing sightseeing on our own, it is not the time or place to set up and really "work" a spot. I have had to learn to be quick, making many shots in places where I would love to have had more time and in some instances a tripod. Life is full of compromises. I have resigned myself to the realization that there are two kinds of travel for me: "dedicated" photo trips," and everything else - including cruising. That is o.k. It has actually been kind of a fun challenge to adapt my photography to the need to be with and blend with the group. Dedicated trips can be about me and my fellow photographers and our photography. Cruises are about family, friends, culture, and seeing the world, and photography can be a small, but still vital part of it. An additional positive for me is that it switches my focus from my established genres, like landscape and wildlife, to "travel photography." For me that has been a positive that I wouldn't now give up. And I have been fortunate to get some pretty nice images over the years.

Caribbean Sunset - St. Maarten, West Indies
Copyright Andy Richards 2012 - All Rights Reserved

SO WHAT is unique about photography on a cruise ship? I can think of a few things:

TIMING and OPPORTUNITY

SEASONED PHOTOGRAPHERS know that the best conditions for photography often happen at inopportune times. Often the best lighting conditions happen early in the morning or late in the afternoon to early evening. Also, nightime can produce some magical images. There are two challenges to this. First, these times often interfere with meal times. I know that the few times when I have been able to catch a sunset off the back deck of a cruise ship, most people have left for dinner. And lets face it, meals are one of the primary "events" on a cruise ship. The second challenge is excursions. It is very rare that you will be out on an excursion during the "nice light" periods - around and just after sunrise, and at sunset. That just doesn't fit the timing of docking, departure and excursion in general.

Tourists on the Street in Pisa, Italy - Emerald Princess - Mediterranean
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

I HAVE learned that I have to make the best of what are often not the best lighting conditions. Looking for shady areas is one way to work with it. Remember that the angle of the sun will strongly affect your pictures, often creating harsh lighting and strong shadows. It is important to be aware of where the sun is and how it is affecting a scene or people you want to shoot. Also remember that while the old adage is "keep the sun over your shoulder," for people shots, that also means that your subjects will be squinting directly into the sun. But with some planning and thought, it can be done. Another aid, if your camera/lens combo will accept it, is what is known as a polarizing filter. That filter can sometimes (it doesn't always) ameliorate the effects of harsh sunlight.

The bridge here in Sokcho, South Korea, reminded me of the Platt Street Bridge crossing the Hillsborough River here in Tampa. Both Bridges have the capability to change the color of their lighting scheme, and if you wait patiently, you will have several different colored bridges from a single outing.
Sokcho, South Korea Port
Copyright Andy Richards 20204 - All Rights Reserved

THE THING is, there are just many times where you will get in front of subjects you might never again see or have the opportunity to photograph. So you photograph them in the "bad" light, the best that you can. Probably the best comment on this subject I have ever heard was made by the late, great, Bryan Peterson. I am paraphrasing, but he says: "Great light rarely saves a poor composition, but great composition can overcome poor light."  These circumstances motivate me to keep on shooting during these trips, even when conditions aren't the best; even when I would probably not bother during a serious landscape photography outing (the title of Peterson's Adorama TV spots is "You Keep Shooting"). Modern digital recorded images and modern processing software helps us mortals deal with some of the bad light situations, also. The shot on the street in Pisa has been processed using Photoshop to give it just a touch of a painterly look. I really like the image itself and will likely never have had an opportunity to do so in better lighting conditions. So I made the best of what I had in front of me. And I have a memory. And the key here, is that shooting during a cruise (both on and off the ship) abounds with photographic opportunity!

Holland America Westerdam aft top deck - Fukuoka, Japan
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

SOME OF my favorite photos have been taken from (and sometimes on) the ship deck at night. In order to do it successfully, you will probably need a tripod as the length of exposure necessary at night will make it nearly impossible not to have your hands and body's natural shake make the images turn out blurry. I have had some limited success with my cell phone - and with some of the newer modern cameras that have "anti-shake" technology. But nothing is going to beat a tripod in most cases, and even with the best of "stabilization tech," you are very unlikely to get a sharp night shot. For this purpose, I carry a very small (would fit in carryon baggage) carbon fiber tripod, which has worked very well for me over the years. It is important, though, to realize that the purpose of a tripod (or similar accessory) is to "ground" your camera to keep your body's natural motion (shake) from affecting the picture. As such, if the tripod is "grounded" on a moving, shaking, or vibrating platform, it is probably not going to help, and will perhaps even be a negative. The vibration of a cruise ship's huge engines, or the movement of the ship on the water may very well negate the benefit of a tripod. Something to think about.

Port of Fukuoka -Hakata, Japan
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

NIGHTIME SHOOTING provides a number of opportunities to be creative in your photography, so when a cruise ship is motionless in a harbor after sunset, it is time to get your gear out and go to work. The dark often visually filters out "clutter" that can render a relatively clean and pleasing image where the daytime version will not. Black is known by artists to be one of the best backgrounds and frames for color. The artificial lighting can yield multiple and often interesting color variations, and strong sources of artificial light (like street lamps and lamps around bridges and harbors) can render with a star effect. Contrasts - especially with colors - stand out more, too. And if the scene is a water scene (which most from cruise ships are), there are some wonderful opportunities for reflections.

PERSPECTIVE

La Verdon sur Mer; France - from the deck of Regal Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2021 - All Rights Reserved

THIS IS one of my favorite things about photography from a cruise ship deck. If you have done any street or cityscape photography, you know the challenge of getting tall buildings and objects high in the air to look right in a photograph. Tall buildings tip backways and sideways. The wider the lens angle, the more they tip. It is a paradox. Wide angle lenses are designed to help us get more of a very tall or very wide subject in the picture. They to do that they distort things. You may also know that one of the tips to getting better images of these subjects is to your your camera viewpoint up high, so you aren't tilting it upward to catch the top of the subject. Another thing is to try to get back from your subject some. But we know that in cities, there is only so far you can back up, and it is often not possible to get up to a higher viewpoint. That is where modern day cruise ships excell. They are very tall and and often moored a bit away from the subject. They allow you to get a high up perspective on many tall or high objects that you just cannot get any other way (except today, possibly with a drone). I love that. I take advantage of it as much as I can. I am not sure there would be any other way (other than a drone) to get the same perspective shot of the cruise ships below than from the deck of a tall ship (like a cruise ship).

Tallink Cruise Ships from the Deck of the Celebrity Apex - Stockhold Passage
Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved

HEIGHT COMBINED with distance sometimes allows you to see a creative opportunity that might not be possible any other way. As I stood on the upper deck of the Celebrity Apex (one of Celebrity's largest ships), I spotted the solitary church steeple off in the distance in the very small, beach community of Warnemunde, Germany I saw that by moving to my left, I could frame the steeple within the large ferris wheel in the foreground. I don't know any other point of view where you could do that.

From Celebrity Apex - Warnemunde, Germany
Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved

FOR THE very same reasons, is also possible to get wide angle shots without clutter in the foreground and without lens distortion of some views that might not otherwise be possible. In 2021, in the seaport of A' coruna, Spain, I was taken by the pattern of sailboats in the harbor. From our unique, high perspective on the top deck of the Regal Princess, my wider view lens compressed them in a fairly tightly packed together group of boats. The image, shot with my smartphone, also illustrates why smartphone cameras don't satisfy my standards. While this can easily enough be blamed on me and not the technology, I rarely use any manual settings on my smart phone when I do use it. Instead, it is my "point and shoot." In this case, even though there was plenty of bright sunlight, the Samsung S23 algorithym decided for me to use a wide operture (f2) at a low ISO speed (25). Had I shot this with my camera, I would have used a small aperture and tried to do a better job of achieving sharp focus throughout the frame. But you can still see how the perspective from up high is unique.

A' Coruna, Spain - from the top deck of the Regal Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2021 - All Rights Reserved

THE HIGH perspective is also one of the only ways I know (other than drones, hot air balloons, or maybe helicopters) to get that "birds-eye" perpsective - almost as if you were flying above your shot. I made the shot below from the top deck of the Celebrity Apex in January, 2024, of the Old San Juan Harbor, in Puerto Rico.

Old San Juan Harbor, Puerto Rico - Celebrity Apex
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

ON A recent cruise, while we were in port in Nassau, Bahamas, I was able to make the image below with a medium telephoto zoom lens and some additional cropping, to emphasize colors and shapes I saw. From the top deck of my cruise ship, I was on a level with this 2 story rooftop, which gave me the perspective to be able to make this shot work to my vision.

Cruise Port - Nassau, Bahamas
Copyright Andy Richards 2025

I HAVE learned, over the course of 20 - some cruises - that photography from a cruise ship presents unique and special opportunities for the photographer, in spite of some serious compromises. Enough so that I would certainly encourage any photographer - with the right preparation (both mentally, and in terms of equipment) to give it a try. Until next time . . . .