Photography on a canal boating trip.

Hiring a canal boat can be a photographers dream as your narrowboat holiday will provide you with some amazing photographic opportunities.

Travelling on your canal boat will lead you to some beautiful locations where you will see fantastic views and stunning scenery. You will also be given a once in a life time opportunity to photograph wildlife close up and in their natural habitat.

The light of the early morning is a great time for photographers and when on a canal boat you simple get out of bed open the door and all those wonderful shots are on your “doorstep”. There is no better place to wait for that perfect shot of the sunset than on your canal boat and you don't have to worry about a long drive home either. Whether you have a state of the art camera or a pocket size digital you may want to follow our helpful suggestions which will make your canal side memories even better.

There is plenty of room on the narrowboat for storage so don't leave any equipment at home bring your lenses, tripod and films with you. You may have switched to digital cameras, but for the film enthusiasts, bring enough rolls of film for the entire trip. Rolls of film are getting harder to find and small canal side shops may not stock them any more.

Think about scale a canal bank is a great location to photograph a large expanse of sky but you can get great shots by thinking small. A jam jar of canal water and a macro lens might just reveal some fascinating insect life.

One of the best subjects to photograph is the narrowboat it's self also the classic old fashioned canal boats you pass on route will give you a marvellous opportunity for a special and unique photograph.

Get your narrowboat crew involved as taking photos can often be a solo pursuit. Why not run a competition for the kids let them all take photos and award prizes for the best. A good idea is to invent categories and after the photos have been entered make sure that everyone wins a prize.

With all the beautiful scenery around you and with the wealth of subjects it is easy to forget the humans don't forget to include your crew in, at least, some shots so they can remember their narrowboat holiday

Know when to put your camera down and think about safety first and photography second carrying a camera is a bad idea when you are operating a lock for instance. Also be careful not to loose any of your equipment overboard.