How To Take A Good Beach Picture
I love the beach!!! Nothing new here, besides the lake, one of our fav places to vacation is the beach. Not only have we made some of my favorite family memories at the beach, but it’s also one of the most beautiful and iconic backdrops for photos. Unfortunately, it’s hard to do even the most stunning beach justice in a photo. The beauty of the sun, sand, and water doesn’t always translate well in photos because most cameras can’t take the best photos in these conditions.
I recently wrote a post on how to take family pictures, BUT today I want to focus on photographing the beach and getting the family together for a beach photoshoot. So, today I’m sharing a guide to taking great beach pictures every time.
How To Take A Good Beach Picture
Choose your location carefully.
You might come across a location that seems perfect for a beach photoshoot until it comes time to actually take photos. Likeee, a dock made up of colorful rocks would definitely photograph well, but it would also be less than ideal for someone to pose on. Or your favorite beach might come to mind when you think of places to have a photoshoot, but if it’s super crowded with people it might be hard to get the kind of pictures you’re hoping for.
Use the right camera settings.
The camera settings you choose ultimately depend on what kind of photos you are taking and what your ideal results look like. When taking pictures at the beach in the middle of the day when the sun is shining, I recommend setting the ISO to 100. But if you’re photographing in low light, a low ISO will prevent noise.
If you are taking portraits at the beach, a smaller aperture like f/2.8 will blur the background and ensure the focus is on the people you are photographing. But if you want to take a great landscape picture, use an aperture setting of f/8 or f/11 instead.
Also, try playing around with shutter speed. If you want to take fun candid photos, consider using a slower shutter speed to capture motion blur for unique action shots. A fast shutter speed, like one above 1/250, will ensure pictures of even your most active subjects come out clear and sharp.
Shoot in RAW.
One of the best beach photography tips I’ve ever gotten is to always shoot in RAW. JPG and RAW are the two main formats you can use on a digital camera. Shooting in RAW gives you an uncompressed image file that is easier to edit in post-processing.
Speaking of post-processing, I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos (you can shop my presets here).
Pick a focal point.
To take the best beach photos, you should choose a focal point. Although this tends to apply more to landscape photos than portraits or family photos, a focal point will not only give your picture context, but it’ll give people something to look at. Play around with angles and perspectives to give people different ways to look at your subject. Whether it’s your daughter’s face or a shell in the sand, a focal point will ensure your pictures turn out great.
Experiment with filters.
There are two types of filters that are great for taking pictures on the beach with a DSLR camera: polarizing filters and neutral density filters. Polarizing filters are great when you’re dealing with a lot of reflected light and want deeper colors and darker tones.
Meanwhile, neutral density filters are great for shooting on days when the sun is shining extra bright, and you want things to come off less harsh in your photos.
Take advantage of the golden hour.
Golden hour, or the time of day right after the sun rises or right before the sun sets, is perfect for shooting beach photos with a beautiful warm tone. Plus, dawn or dusk is a great time of day to shoot to help prevent overexposure and other problems with lighting.
5 Good Beach Picture Ideas
Sunrise Or Sunset Silhouette Photos
Silhouette photography is gorgeous when it’s done right, and it’s easiest to pull off at sunrise or sunset when you can use the sun as your backlight. From there, the poses and perspectives are entirely up to you!
Candid Family Photos At The Beach
The best way to capture the personality of a fun and lively family is with candid photos. Essentially, you want to avoid poses and obvious pre-planned shots. Instead, follow your subjects around and capture them doing what they love. Playing, running, laughing, eating, etc.
Underwater Photos
If you have the right camera gear, like an underwater camera, this is a fantastic way to capture memorable photos at the beach. Snap pictures of kiddos swimming or incorporate sea life into your underwater landscape photos. Underwater photos are always fun and never fail to impress! Just
Dressed all in the same color.
You get the idea here. Having everyone dress in the same color always works great for beach photos. But there are a few ways to make this idea stand out. First of all, when deciding what to wear for a beach photoshoot, comfort is key. Stick with comfortable clothing. Sure, black suits and dresses would be cute, but everyone would be HOT and oh so uncomfortable!!
Think white linen shirts and flowy dresses instead. Also, try mixing and matching different hues within the same color family. You’d be surprised how well this can work for group shots! Just be sure to stick with solid colors for the best results.
Dancing on the shore.
I love this idea! Whether there is music playing or not, the joy that radiates from people as they dance is perfect for capturing on camera! The girls can twirl while boys stomp and bust moves in the shallow water, or mom and dad can get close for a slow dance. Don’t be afraid to really go for it and let loose and be comfy with your fam!!
Consider these tips the next time you plan a photoshoot at the beach!
Hopefully, with these tips, you can put together the cutest beach photoshoot no matter what kind of pictures you’re trying to capture! Be sure to check out my post on how to create a gallery wall in your home for such a cute idea of what to do with your pictures once you get them processed and printed!!
Then, head over to the blog for more fun and informative posts just like this one!!
