Jonathan Chritchley
http://www.jonathanchritchley.comRANGER, SAINT-TROPEZ
http://www.leefi lters.comNikon D800, Nikon 22-70mm F2.8 @ 31mm
500 ISO, F6.3 @ 1/800th sec
LEE 0.6 ND Soft GradPhotographing at sea is a huge passion of mine, and something I do regularly for clients
such as Ralph Lauren and Hilton Hotels. But working in this environment does have its fair
share of problems: the damp, the salt, and of course the ever changing light. Shooting an
80 metre long wooden sailing boat from a fast moving speedboat is a far cry from traditional
landscape photography; I love working at dawn on a misty lake, the peace and tranquility, the
time to set up, the stability of a good tripod and a brace of essential fi lters, but I also adore
shooting classic yachts; the speed, the excitement, testing yourself and your equipment as
you bounce around the Mediterranean for 8 hours a day, it’s incredibly addictive!
Because I shoot the yachts during the daytime, when the sky is bright and the sea a dark,
indigo blue, I always use the camera handheld, fi tted with a LEE 0.6 ND Graduated Filter
to hold back the sky and control the light. I use a soft grad which darkens the sky perfectly
without effecting the sails and masts which would be problematic with a hard grad. I also
fi nd that using the grad whilst shooting stops any ‘banding’ that may appear when using
digital graduated fi lters during post-processing. If I can get it right ‘in-camera’ that suits me
as I don’t really like spending hours at a computer trying to fi x things!005_OPHO_227.indd 5 12/18/17 11:57 AM