Hands up if you love seeing awesome beach pictures!
I know I certainly do and I especially love it when they’re my own. It’s so awesome to be able to look over on my desk and see that beautiful photo showcasing my family and I having a grand ol’ time at the beach. I just love the happy memories it brings back.
But how do you capture those moments that evoke such a special feeling? Well, it helps if you come prepared and hopefully these 8 tips will inspire you to capture your very own special memorable beach moments. Here we go!
Tip #1 – Bring the Right Gear
There’s nothing more frustrating than planning an awesome adventure and then getting there and realizing you forgot to charge your camera battery. So don’t forget these essential items when heading out for your beach adventure:
Camera:
Any camera will do, but when I want to capture a memory frozen in time that I’ll want to remember forever, I’ll make the extra effort to bring my DSLR.
I have both an entry level SLR which is my Canon 70D and a higher quality SLR, the Canon 6D Mark II. Either or work great at the beach. The Canon 70D does a great job and I usually opt for that one simply because I won’t cry as much should I get sand in all the bits.
Another reason the Canon 70D works great is because typically when I’m planning a beach day, it will be when the sun is out. This means with more sun, I’ll be able to keep my ISO lower, resulting is less grainy photos (especially noticeable with an entry level camera).
Lenses:
Honestly, I like to bring different lenses depending on the day. The trick here is to know what type of photos you’d like to capture ahead of time. This way you can avoid switching out your lenses.
The reason why you want to avoid this to eliminate any sand from reaching areas like the camera threads or even worse, your camera sensor (insert cringe emoji here).
If my goal is to capture details, like my sweet baby playing in the tide pools, then I’ll use my Canon 50mm lens. I have the 1.4, which means I can open up my Aperture to 1.4 and get that sweet Bokeh that we all have come to love.
If my goal is to capture the most out of the scene with my family, including the beach as well, then I’ll bring a Wide Angle like my Canon 10-18mm lens.
Finally, if my goal is to capture whales playing in the distance or any other wildlife, I’ll bring my Sigma 150-600mm.
Helpful Hint:
If you’re bringing a telephoto lens, do remember to pack a tripod. I’m not sure about you, but even at a fast shutter speed, my hand-held telephoto shots typically come out blurry. Plus, even though I know I’m not in the water, I’ll usually end up feeling sea-sick because of all the motion I see due to my lack of ability to hold still. Not a good thing!
Other Important Items:
- Charged Battery
- Memory Card (with space on it for more photos!)
- Tripod (I’ll explain this below too)
- Variable ND Filter & Polarizer Filter (you’ll be glad you did. I’ll go over these details below as well)
- snacks and water (yes this is very important – nobody like a cranky beach bum)
- Rocket Blower (this is the coolest name for this item and what it will do is save your camera from scratches should you happen to get some sand on the lens or in the eye-piece, etc.)
- Lens hood
Tip #2 – Go at the Right Time
If you want the most beautiful beach pictures, go at sunset (I say sunset because I’m definitely not a sunrise person unless absolutely necessary, but if you are, you’re amazing and you get a virtual high-five.)
The thing about beaches is that the water can seem to go on forever with nothing really that interesting in the distance. Going at sunset ensures you’ll have some background interest in your photo.
Here’s an example of a recent shot we took about 20 minutes after sunset when the sky lit up on fire! Such a treat to witness and made for an incredibly memorable evening.
Another reason to go at sunset is that this is the best time of day to capture lots of contrast and shadows in your photo which adds great depth that almost seems to pull you into the scene.
If you can’t go at sunset, that’s okay! More often than not, neither can I. But the one time of day to try and avoid would be mid-day. This is when the sun is directly above you. What happens here is you will see harsh shadows on all elements within your photo. It’s not very flattering, especially for faces.
Also, don’t forget to check the tides! In certain areas, the beaches seem to go on forever and at other times you find yourself stepping on boulders covered in barnacles because the tide is so far in (not a fun place to play). So, check the tide and try to go when the tide is out.
Tip #3 – Bring a Subject
(you better include yourself on this one – you were there too!)
Yep, you got it, this is the trick to getting that photo worthy of placing on your desk. Doesn’t it seem like those spontaneous photos with you and your loved ones playing around in the moment are the best? The key here, is that I said YOU and your loved ones. That’s right, you should be in the photos too, because you were there weren’t you?
This brings us to our next topic…
Tip #4 – Use That Tripod
Remember that tripod I included in the pack list above? You carried it all the way down to the beach so you better well use it! This is how you can be sure to capture a couple of moments with yourself in the photos too.
All you have to do is find a nice composition, set up your tripod, and set your camera to a 10 second shutter delay. With something like this, you can keep your camera on Auto mode. Or, if you want to blur the background a bit, change it to Aperture Priority mode. I go into more details on camera modes in this post if you’re curious.
Now, get your family playing around in the photo, press the shutter button half way to make sure the focus is on them and if it is, commit to pressing that shutter button. Then high-tail it in there and build that sandcastle like a pro! Or you could be King Kong, stumble into it and destroy it on accident – also worthy of capturing on camera.
One time, I tripped and fell over a rock on my way in – not very gracefully might I add. Luckily the 10 second timer wasn’t up yet so there’s no evidence… other than the massive amount of sand caked to my knees in the photo. Oops!
Tip #5 – Find That Unique Composition
The trick to taking awesome beach pictures is to include some foreground interest to reel the viewer in (see what I did there?) Just seeing half a photo of water and then half of the sky doesn’t really pull you right in the same way.
A unique composition to try would be to get low to something on the beach like a shell or a rock with barnacles on it and then compose the horizon so that it’s two-thirds of the way up. If you want more details on composition tips, check out this post.
Don’t forget to make sure the horizon is straight! Most cameras have the option to turn on a one-third grid to help you make sure your horizon is level.
Then, if you’ve gone to the beach at sunset, you might have a beautiful sky to capture in the remaining one-third of the photo!
Tip #6 – Use That ND Filter
this one is for those creatives out there
If you’re wondering why I mentioned a Variable ND Filter in pack list above, this is why…
To really make your beach pictures stand out above the rest, try taking a long exposure photo and smooth out those beautiful waves. The only way to capture this though is if you bring a Variable ND Filter with you.
Getting those smooth waves requires a shutter speed from about 1/3 of a second to 2 seconds, or really, anywhere your creativity takes you! I say 2 seconds though because that’s what I like.
The tripod also comes in handy when taking this beautiful beach photo. With a long shutter speed, we’ll need to hold that camera very still. So, just set it on the tripod!
To get this awesome effect, first find a composition you like. Try setting up your tripod at eye level and compose your scene with 2/3 foreground and 1/3 background. This way, you’ll be sure to capture those beautiful smoothed out waves in a large portion of the photo.
Next, set your camera to Manual mode with the following settings (trust me, you can do it!)
- Shutter Speed – 2 seconds (because we want to capture that smooth water)
- Aperture – 16 (because we want to ensure the entire scene is in focus)
- ISO – 100 (this is a good starting point)
Now, twist on your Variable ND Filter and press your shutter button half way. If you exposure bar is telling you that you’re over-exposed, just twist your ND Filter to darken the scene! Keep repeating the twist and half-way shutter press until your exposure bar sits smack dab in the center like this:
Once you’ve got it, I’d recommend also setting your camera to a 2 second delay. This way, it will reduce any chance of camera shake because with a shutter speed of 2 seconds, your finger pressing the shutter button is enough to result in a shaky photo. And after all this work, who want’s that?!
Here’s what the result may look like:
Tip #7 – Use That Polarizer
get those colour poppin’!
Alright, so we’ve covered the variable ND Filter from the pack-list, but what about the Polarizer Filter? The reason you’d want to bring a Polarizer with you, especially when capturing a sunset beach photo, is that it will bring out the beautiful colours in the sky as well as cut through the water reflection.
Sometimes I’m just blown away by the colours I can capture with a Polarizer. To really make your photos stand out above the rest, consider adding one of these puppies to your photography kit. If you’re curious about which one I’m using, it’s the B+W Circular Polarizer and I would not go on my landscape adventures without it!
Tip #8 – Try Something New
for an incredibly unique perspective
Bring a drone if you can! We’ve recently added a DJI Spark to our photography gear and are in love with the perspectives we’ve been able to capture. It’s almost like discovering a whole new world!
What I love about this little guy is that we can fly it out to see whether something is worth adventuring to before going. We actually discovered a waterfall one day by doing this. Yup, we hiked to the waterfall. It was awesome.
But back to the beach photos, I just love how much colour is captured in the water at sunset. Alright, I know what I’m doing tonight! I’m excited, let’s go capture some awesome memories!
Bonus Tip
Exposure Bracketing
What is this might you ask? Well, the bright summer sun sometimes makes it tricky to capture all the bright and dark areas within our compositions in one picture. If we only take one photo, chances are that some areas will be either blown out/over-exposed (too bright) or under-exposed (too dark).
To mitigate this, try exposure bracketing. Check out your camera settings for its bracketing option as each camera is different. By turning this function on, your camera will take a set of photos at different exposures that you’ve specified. I like to set mine to take five exposures like so:
-2
This means the photo will be under-exposed by two stops. I like starting my set of exposures here to ensure that all the bright areas will not be blown out.
-1
Under-exposed by one stop.
0
A properly exposed photo according to the camera. However, it’s likely showing some blown out and under-exposed spots.
+1
Over-exposed by one stop, and finally,
+2
I’m sure you get it by now but this means the photo will be over-exposed by two stops. This photo will look quite bright but won’t have any under-exposed shadows.
Then, I just blend these exposures in Photoshop and voila, a beautifully exposure balanced photo!
Helpful Hint:
Remember that Tripod that you packed? Well it’s a good thing you did because using a tripod is a necessity when Exposure Bracketing. This way, all your bracketed photos will easily align in Photoshop.
Thank you ever so much for stopping by today. I hope this article inspires you to get out there and capture some of your own special beach memories very soon. I’d love to hear if you have any funny beach stories or if you’ve found any of these tips helpful. Always happy to say hello to a new photography friend.
Have a wonderful rest of your day!