Mastering Marine Photography

Published On: May 1, 2024

Build your portfolio with more captivating images that showcase your craftsmanship and inspire new customers

Tips from renowned marine photographer Marc Montocchio & Sunbrella®

  • Show your project in context on the boat, positioned on a clean, simple background
    • Focus on the project by minimizing clutter—don’t forget to remove ladders, tool bags, buckets, etc.
    • Consider environments that enhance the project and give a sense of place without distracting from the product
  • Consider lighting—go for full sun or full shade for consistency
    • Aim to have light shining across the project to show texture
    • Try to avoid harsh shadows (including your own) and glare
    • Use a tripod for stability especially in low light settings
  • Capture a variety of angles and perspectives to showcase different features of the project in application
    • Change scale, focus and angles to highlight craftsmanship, innovation, and unique design details
    • Highlight details, such as texture, quilting, stitching, contrast piping, embroidery and color combinations
    • Try capturing images with a standard, wide and zoom lenses, but beware of distortion
    • Use a drone to capture “bird’s eye view” (a technique used by many MFA award winners!)
    • Use rules of composition to draw attention to fabric and other details
  • Fine tune your images with editing—but don’t go overboard
    • Maintain a natural look to best represent the project—when it comes to editing, less is more
    • Edit with your phone—using the “auto enhance” option is the easy way to boost the quality of the image (helps with high contrast, overexposure, colors, highlights, etc.)
    • Experiment with entry-level editing apps or software to lightly tweak and enhance color, contrast and sharpness

We love to see your work!

Tag @Sunbrella so we can see your craftsmanship come to life!

Sunbrella ® is a registered trademark of Glen Raven, Inc.