A tip for video recordings. For most YouTube video HD (1920 X 1080) is sufficient.

I successfully recorded a video using a higher setting on my GoPro (either 2.7k or 4k) and transferred the video to my PC (which has a standard HD video display board in it). In my video app I was able to digitally zoom using crop so now the object (model boat) was closer yet still have a decent HD video for YouTube.

You can do the same with a camera that records in a definition higher than HD.

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA 🇺🇸

Doug, YES, I find the vertical (portrait) format horrible in most cases, even youtube, especially on a TV when the blurred sides are used to fill up the spaces. Just tilt the phone.

Using a camera to take a portrait photo is awkward and using a cell phone is awkward when trying to take a landscape photo. Even harder if one has a transmitter in one hand.

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA 🇺🇸

Hear hear Lew👍
Particularly disappointing are pond shots taken with a (so called) smartphone in vertical format.
The boat appears as a very small percentage of the whole. More than 90% being water or houses or whatever in the background. Zooming (if possible) usually doesn't help at all.
😎

I want to thank those that send in nice photos and videos of model boats. I especially enjoy and appreciate those that go the extra steps to show more detail of the models.

I found that getting down closer to the water (if possible) at a level of a few inches above the main deck is one of the better levels to photograph at. Next is the distance. Full frame the boat so that the photo contains 90% (or so) should be a high priority. Use a pretty good resolution setting. Shooting close to the object is much better then far away then cropping the photo to fit the frame. I often crop my photos but I usually have my cameras set at the highest resolution to pick up the details.

There are times when I see an interesting photo only to try and zoom in and find everything is blurry.

When I look at photos of model boats I find some of the best ones are taken as if one is either on board the (model) boat or from a pier or a nearby (model) boat.

Same for videos, run the model closer to the camera or at least a slow run by closer. A boat operating 50 feet away going around in circles has little to no appeal (at least to me)😴. I'm not a professional photographer but I do enjoy DECENT model boat photography and videos.

Keep up the good work and show it off to your peers😉.

Lew
Florida ⛱️, USA 🇺🇸 ♥️