The River Wild: Rafting the Selway

Choosing and Using Your Photo Gear

By Timothy C. Greenleaf

A bouncing boat and thundering water will challenge your picture-taking skills. When you shoot the rapids, don't bring the whole camera shop with you. Choose your equipment and camera angles wisely, and you could return home with spectacular action photographs.

Read through the entire text below, or visit the "The River Wild" feature on National Geographic Online to view it in the original context. (June 1996)

Shooting in the Wet

Brace yourself in the front of the raft for an action shot backward at your fellow rafters. Don't try this in white water unless you have a waterproof camera or protective housing. To get this shot, photographer Michael Melford used a 16mm fish-eye lens and a fast shutter speed to freeze the flying droplets.

By using a fill flash to brighten the shade under broad-brimmed hats, you can record the expressions on your companions' faces. A slow shutter speed enhances the sense of motion. Or sit in the back of the raft to capture both raft and river with a wide-angle lens. This perspective makes the action seem more immediate and gives the viewer a sense of participation.

A la Forrest Gump, photography can be like a box of chocolates. When you experiment and try different techniques, you never know what you're going to get. For this shot Michael Melford leaned over the side of the raft, held the camera (in a waterproof housing) half in the water, and aimed toward the other raft before tripping the shutter. A 16mm fish-eye lens and auto focus ensured a sharp image. Be sure not to get yourself in the image! Many of Melford's images were made using this type of experimentation.

Shooting From Shore

Although photos taken from the raft can get you close to the action, some of the prime shooting locations are found safe on shore. A telephoto zoom captures both the majesty of the river and the energy of the rafters. A sturdy but lightweight tripod could come in handy for shots like this.

Find a high vantage point and shoot with a telephoto lens to isolate the raft and the rapids. The high angle from which this photo was taken strengthens the composition by eliminating distracting background elements. Panning the camera while using a slow shutter speed blurs the water to enhance the sense of action and excitement. A frame that's filled with white water can fool your automatic camera's light meter, providing a picture that's too dark, so it's a good idea to overexpose by one or two stops to compensate.

When you're on shore, don't forget to look around for other great photo opportunities. In this serene image the soft ambient light highlights the delicate foliage. The slow shutter speed blurs the river and makes it look dreamy. The camera was placed on a sturdy tripod.

Photo Gear: What to Bring

The limited space in a raft makes careful planning essential. A camera with a pop-up flash will fill in shadows and save you space. Take an extra-long telephoto and tripod only if you plan to shoot from shore. To photograph wildlife from the raft, ask the trip leader to move the boat to an eddy (or another calm part of the river), and use fast film with a telephoto lens in the 80 to 200mm range.

A polarizing filter will reduce glare from reflections, darken blue skies, and increase color saturation.

Outfitters usually provide metal ammo boxes to keep your equipment dry and safe. Discuss your needs when you make your reservation.

On overnight trips, see if there's enough space for you to have two ammo boxes„one to store your extra equipment, the other to keep close at hand with film, lenses, batteries, and a lens-cleaning kit.

Solar caveat: To prevent a meltdown of camera and film, put your gear in an ammo box that's painted white„or cover it with a spare shirt or towel. Dark boxes heat like ovens when exposed to the sun.

In addition to ammo boxes, airtight plastic bags are ideal for sealing out moisture and grit. But to shoot those hair-raising rapids, you'll need a waterproof camera or watertight protection like an Ewa bag — a heavy-duty vinyl bag with a glass porthole.

For maximum protection and convenience, pack your camera in a plastic, foam-lined case, available at camera stores.

Water, sun, and impacts are threats to camera gear, but more dangerous are sand and grit, which can easily scratch a lens. Be sure to protect your equipment at the campsite.

Although water and cameras generally don't mix, here are a few ways to shoot in the wet (from least to most expensive):

• Waterproof disposable cameras are a great low-cost alternative. It doesn't matter much if the camera washes overboard.
• Waterproof point-and-shoot cameras cost more but have better lenses. Ewa bags„heavy-duty vinyl bags with a glass porthole„protect single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras.
• Nikonos underwater cameras, the aquatic siblings of Nikon cameras, are expensive but can be rented from some camera stores.
• Professional underwater camera housings for 35mm SLRs, which have a plexiglass dome over the lens, are also expensive but can be rented from some camera stores.

For the Selway River shoot (July/August 1996 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER), photographer Michael Melford took along this equipment:

• two Nikon F4 cameras
• Nikon 8008 SLR camera in Stromm
• waterproof housing
• 16mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens
• 20mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens
• 20-35mm zoom f/2.8 Nikkor lens
• 28-70mm zoom f/2.8 Angenieux lens
• 80-200mm zoom f/2.8 Nikkor lens
• polarizing filter for each lens
• 81C filter (warming filter)
• 80A filter (daylight to tungsten filter)
• Nikon SB-24 flash
• Quantum turbo (battery for flash)

While on assignment, Melford shot 38 rolls of film in just five days. That's more pictures than most travelers would take, but it's not a lot for a professional photographer. For longer TRAVELER stories, photographers often shoot more than 200 rolls of film in two weeks.