Thanks. Will keep that in mind.

Thanks. I figured it was being worked on by the astronomical and military communities especially. If it can filter to the consumer photography industry one day...

Unfortunately, the rules & regulations on drones in this area make that difficult. In addition to FAA rules, cities like Seattle prohibit launching them, state parks ban them, etc etc

I have thought about that, especially in terms of a timeshare boat. But the finances & logistics are daunting. I travel all over the Puget Sound region from Pt Angeles to Olympia to Anacortes. Where do I moor it? If I trailer it, I need to buy a vehicle & trailer in addition to the boat itself. I often avail myself of local ferries and water taxis to get closer to moored vessels. [I opportunistically take pictures of Minkes, Grays, Humpbacks & Orcas, too.]

Hmmm... That's something to think about.

Well, I shoot with a Fuji XT-3 and 100-400mm Fuji lens. You think that equipment is not up to the task? Oh... you probably mean my mental equipment isn't up to the task, don't you.

The fact you haven't experienced my problem tells me one of three things - either you have taken your own advice and shoot only in ideal conditions, you don't take distance shots of vessels OR you never blow up pictures of those vessels. I often get reasonable pictures in bad conditions, but it's when you examine them closely you see the problems. For example with good conditions, I can magnify parts of a container ship and read the name of the ship and names on the containers. On unstable air days. when I magnify these things, the names are wriggly or smeared.

Your advice was not wrong, but merely not addressing my question: is there anything that can be done to improve pictures WHEN the air is unstable. Of course shooting in ideal conditions is always preferable. I am an amateur hobbyist who contributes pictures of ships to an international website. I want my pictures to be as good as I can get them, but I don't want to miss out on picture opportunities as they arise.

Did not mean to offend you.

OK, I will tell all the ships & tugs to only pass my location in the early morning. I am sure they will cooperate. [OK, sorry for the sarcasm, but I take pictures opportunistically based on vessel movements that I have no control over. If I were to take pictures only when conditions were ideal, I would miss out on many vessels. It's like telling a bird photographer to only take pictures when birds are stationary and posing.]

I am well aware of air instability effects from my amateur astronomy days. That's one of the reasons that high elevation sites are preferable - less atmosphere to peer through. I know some of the professional astronomers use telescopes with computer software that can help dampen this atmospheric movement effect. Anyone know if such software might be incorporated into consumer cameras in - say - the next decade or so?

Here is my situation. I take pictures of ships and tugs over salt water at a distance. If the air is still, I can get good pictures over a considerable distance. If the air is very unstable, especially on hot days with heat ripples, then only very close pictures are acceptable. Are there any tricks to making pictures better? Next time out in bad conditions I am going to see if cranking up shutter speed will help or not. Mother Nature gives us challenges over and above bad lighting - which I continually fight with ships showing only their shadowed sides.

Especially interested in knowing if any desert landscape photographers have a trick or they just wait it out until conditions cooperate.

Thanks BBurns. Actually I am not that photographer you describe. I am an amateur who shoots for my own enjoyment and to post on a few web sites. Appreciate your response.

Thanks to all. Seems like the near-consensus is to handhold with fast shutter speed. And shoot lots of pictures, then cull the best.

I am wondering about solutions for taking pictures from fishing charter-sized rocking boats. Anyone use some gyroscopic device, either handheld or on a tripod? I have seen ads for hand-held gimbal stabilizers for $500-1000 but I have no idea of their effectiveness. I am thinking of a Fuji XT-3 sized mirrorless camera with up to a 100-400mm lens. One worry is that these devices might work but would weigh so much as to be almost useless after a few pictures, due to arm weariness. I am talking about still photography and not video. I have been on some ferries that rock so much it is almost impossible to get good handheld shots.

So, I get a FF camera and fit a ship into the frame at 50mm. Or I fit the same ship in at 33mm on my XT-2. They will appear about the same, correct. So the only advantage of the FF is if I don't have an ultrawide Fuji lens to fit the entire ship into? (I do have the 10-24mm which maybe I should start using as I only got it recently).

I take pictures of ships, usually far away but on occasion fairly close. I don't want to stitch a panorama. My question is this: are there some cameras and/or lenses that are more adept at this than others? Macro lenses are specialized for taking pictures of small objects up close. How about large objects up close? Are some lenses better inherently? Or am I simply fighting the laws of physics here?

[I currently use a XT-3 with a 100-400 and XT-2 with a 18-135. I get great pictures when I take ships from sharp angles or good distance, but when I take them from full side view, they often seem distant even when I am close to them.]

THANKS TO ALL FOR SOME EXCELLENT ADVICE AND OBSERVATIONS. I don't use Adobe products, but use a program called Zoner Photo Studio 17. After I process files, then I load them into the photobook creation software of Adoramapix (Printique) or Shutterfly typically. I will check into ICC and sRGB for my personal knowledge. Again, thanks to all for taking the time to respond and give advice.

Just wondering, do you wedding photographers preview your pictures on a color monitor with clients before printing them? Do you have the monitors set up for the way the printed pictures will look? Or have clients ever commented that the pictures look darker than the pictures they previewed on the monitor?