Five Easy Tips For Capturing Great Beach Photos

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beach-41-600x3981 Five Easy Tips For Capturing Great Beach Photos Guest Bloggers Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

Who doesn’t love the beach?  It is one of my favorite places to have a session, especially since I live near so many of them.

Here are a few tips for capturing great beach photos:

1. Go at off times or find a beach that doesn’t get too much traffic.

You don’t want to travel to a heavily crowded beach to do a session.  I have found that the little town beaches usually are a great place to have a photo session. They tend to be a little quieter and less crowded.  One thing to watch out for is that they usually only allow parking if you live in the town, but if you go after six o’clock most beaches allow you to park without a sticker.  On the North Shore of Long Island there are a lot of small town beaches that are less crowded than the busy and large beaches on the South Shore. I like to take advantage of these and usually take clients after six o’clock, which allows us to skip the crowd and we get good lighting too.

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2. I love doing beach photography sessions around the golden hour, the hour before sunset.

This allows me to take advantage of private locations that are less crowded and the lighting is gorgeous!  Even doing sessions after four o’clock allows me to shoot without harsh sun.  I typically shoot with clients having their back to the sun which gives me a beautiful hazy look to my beach photos.

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3. Don’t forget to pay attention to which direction the wind is blowing.

You don’t want hair to be being blown into faces.  Also, you might want to make sure you bring some hair ties in case the wind is really blowing and your client doesn’t have one on them.

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4. Get wet and have fun.

Sessions at the beach can be so fun because you can play.  Play with the sand, the waves and tell clients to enjoy themselves.  You can get some really great shots of Daddy swinging the kids in the waves, skipping rocks together or just jumping in the water.

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5. Edit your images to enhance the beach tones.

Use products like with Summer Solstice Photoshop Actions, Fusion Actions or Enlighten Lightroom Presets – to enhance photos with a summery feel.

Erica Burns is the owner of Erica Burns Photography from Long Island, NY.  She specializes in children and family photography. For more information, visit her website or Facebook page.

 

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  1. sona on June 7, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    Could you give some insight into what settings etc when shooting into to sun so as not to get black/dark images in the forground. Are you using a flash? Are you also using a polarized lens?

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