Beach Photography Tips

After two beach sessions, I've learned a thing or two, and I thought I'd share my experience with you. As always, this is just my opinion about things, so take it or leave it.

1) Expect sand to get onto/into everything. I actually already knew this (having lived at the beach my entire life), and it's something you should be aware of.

2) Shoot in the early morning or late evening, when the sun is close to the horizon, for a few reasons:

a) At least in NC, it's usually too stinking hot in the middle of the day to make anything but sitting in the ocean enjoyable.

b) Anytime you shoot outdoors, shadows are going to make or break your photos. When the sun is overhead, you're basically doomed (unless you've got crazy skills). When the sun is close to the horizon, you have a lot more flexibility. But, it also means that you'll need to spay extra attention to make sure you haven't got uneven shadows, especially on faces.

Bad shadows on several faces in this shot.

c) The light of the sun in the middle of the day is usually extremely bright and abrasive. Especially late in the evening, the sunlight becomes much softer and gives an orange tint to everything, all of which makes for much better shots, IMO. Plus, if you're really lucky, you'll get some very cool shots with the sun shining through the mist from the ocean.

The Setting Sun creates cool back-light.

Ocean Mist in this background of this shot gives it a very cool look.

d) There are typically fewer people out on the beach, which gives you more flexibility and helps insure that you don't walk away with a bunch of fat, sunburned tourists screwing up your shots.

I love this shot, except for the stupid chairs in the background...DOH!

3) One tip I learned from my wedding photographer (our wedding was on the beach in the evening) was to ask people to only smile when you count to 3. This helps smiles from looking fake, and keeps people's faces from getting tired. If you subject(s) is staring into the sun (meaning the sun is at your back), you can also suggest that they both smile and open their eyes on 3, but that's a little trickier for some reason.

4) I prefer pics in which family groups basically wear whatever styles and colors they feel most comfortable in. I think it adds a lot more character and life to a shoot than when everyone is wearing the same colors (especially in a large group), and people tend to be more comfortable when they didn't have somebody telling them exactly what to wear. I've found that earth tones (blues, greens, browns, etc.) tend to work the best at the beach.

5) Shoot fast and often. If you go in the evening, the sun tends to only be exactly how I like it for about 45 minutes. Don't rush people into position, but once you get them there, get on it! I've found that some of my favorite pics are the ones when people weren't quite ready, or forgot momentarily that the camera was there.

6) Especially at the beach, be aware of the environment. I hate it when, after the fact, I realize there was a shirtless old dude in the background, or a tire track from a lifeguard ATV in the sand.

Tire tracks...

7) Take note of the direction the wind is blowing. Most guys don't have issues with the wind screwing up their hair, but most women/girls do. Unless your specifically going for a crazy hair shot, try to face the ladies toward the wind so their hair stays out of their faces.

These next few apply to any shoot, I suppose...

8) (This is something else I learned from our wedding photog.) Ask people to eat before they come to a shoot. Everyone, especially kids, are a lot happier and more cooperative when their stomachs are full of good food.

9) If you're shooting a large group, with smaller family groups, shoot the large group together first, and then move on to the smaller family group with the most/youngest kids. Again, adults tend to be much more cooperative than kids, especially after the first 30 minutes or so.

I tried to think of a tenth tip to round it out with a strong number, but that's all I got for now. Do you have any tips to add, especially about shooting on the beach?

Nate