How to take nice pictures at the beach

With summer in full swing and with it warm weather and blue skies, just perfect for a day at the beach. Taking beach photos of yourself, friends and family while hanging out and enjoying the sand and ocean, can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience, even for beginners in the world of photography. Getting great beach pictures that you could upload to your social media site of choice to share with people, can have your subscribers loving the subjects captured, the beach landscape and even the seascape, if you can accurately capture it. When shooting beach photography, it is crucial to determine the time of day that you are looking to complete your beach photoshoot. Depending on the time of day when you conduct your photoshoot, you may be looking at different levels of natural light coming from the sun. You will want to make sure to get great photos at the beach and that you are prepared for these lighting conditions with the right DSLR camera. You can utilize the autofocus features on your camera settings or set your camera to photograph in manual mode, which offers more customization, allowing you to tinker with things like the aperture, ISO, and white balance to name a few. So whether you are enjoying a day at the beach or just a landscape photographer looking for tremendous photos of a beach landscape or seascape there are photography tips which will we delve into to assist you in your beach photography. We will also be reviewing several items that will make your beach photoshoot that much easier.

Beach Photography Tips

Below is a tutorial on some of beach photo tips that will get you prepared to take amazing beach photos ready to show off on display or on social media.

1. The first item to check off on your list in order to get great beach photos is to have a wonderful digital camera which could be a DSLR camera or others. Having the right camera with expansive features and settings will allow you to get gorgeous beach portraits.

2. Get the right lens for what you are planning to photograph at the beach. Whether you are looking for a wide angle lens to capture a large viewing portion of the beach scene, or a zoom lens to zoom in tightly on the focal point of your beachgoing friends and family frolicking in the ocean, from your comfortable seated distance lounging on the beach.

3. In the lens department, you will want to have the right filters and accessories for your lens in order to shoot in the natural light of the beach. Try and ND Filter or Neutral Density Filter, which will reduce the amount of natural light hitting your camera’s sensor so you don’t get an overexposed image. You should also look into a polarizing filter and a UV Filter to reduce the glare and reflection which the natural light from the sun gives off, and may reflect off the water, boats on the water and other items.

4. A camera lens hood will offer additional protection and will also reduce the amount of natural light entering your camera’s lens. With a good lens hood you can properly control the lens flare and still get tremendous high quality photos and vides.

5. Check on the time of day you want to conduct your beach photoshoot. We do not recommend doing this during the middle of the day when the sun is at it’s peak. There will be an abundance of natural light and especially if your shooting portrait photography, you don’t want your subjects to appear washed out by all the light. So be cognizant of the time of day when you are shooting photos at the beach.

6. Try giving your beach photography during the Golden Hour. The golden hour is the period of time during the first hour of light after sunrise, and the last hour of light before sunset times when the color of the sky goes from red and orange to yellow. The beauty of this will show amazing clearer skies of early morning and late evening in summer. You can achieve gorgeous beach landscape and seascape photos with the soft light during this time of the day. You can make out the sun as it rises over the horizon of the saltwater ocean for a breath taking view.

7. Shoot your photographs using the rule of thirds. This will structure your divided photos so they will look great uploaded to your social media site of choice.

8. Taking photography with spot metering is a good idea, as the immense amount of natural light coming from a bright blue sky, reflected light from the sand and sea can mess with your metering system, or taking photos and video recordings while your camera is pointed directly into the the light. So using spot metering which will narrow the scene that the camera is shooting, means your focused in on subject will appear clear and glare free.

9. While autofocus is great for beginners, if you really want to get deep into the nitty gritty of your camera’s settings and create a great shot no matter the moment, we recommend trying manual mode photography. While, this may seem daunting at first, as you progress in your photography skills, you will want to have the knowledge to shoot properly in manual mode.

10. Check your shutter speed so that it is ready for the time of day and specific scene you are shooting at the beach. A slower shutter speed will allow for more natural light to enter the camera’s sensor as the slow shutter speed leaves the camera sensor to taking in a long exposure, this is a good course of action when shooting during the Golden Hour. While for beach photos, especially during times when the sun is out shining bright, you will want to use a fast shutter speed which will allow for less light to enter the exposure.

11. Due to the amount of bright natural light given off by the sun at the beach, we recommend you shooting your photos with a low ISO, which will prevent overexposed images.

12. Utilize apps on your smartphone, DSLR camera, tablet or PC like photoshop and Adobe Lightroom to edit you exposures for post processing. This will allow you to fine tune your images before you may want to upload them to social media.
    
    

Must have Beach Photo Items

We have compiled a list of items and devices that will make your beach photoshoot better and easier.

The first item that we want to discuss is making sure that you have a good DSLR camera to use at the beach. These cameras will produce high quality images and video recordings, so if you are a shooting a Vlog or just showing off some creative content from your beach photos, this is a must have.

Shooting stills and videos at the beach means you are most likely going be in the water at some point, so why not have the DJI Osmo Action 4 Action Camera. This is a great gadget camera for those underwater scenes. With it’s powerful image sensor, the ability to capture breathtaking photos at a high 4K quality with 120 FPS meaning you have a blazing refresh rate for fast action scenes, this is a wonderful camera. With it’s “Rock Steady” feature, you will get tremendous image stabilization, even if you are shooting from choppy waters. Plus when shooting underwater while at the beach, you will see the vibrant colors of fish and plant life even in murkier saltwater up to 18 meters.

If you were worried about battery life and recording time on the DJI Osmo Action 4, you needn’t to. With over 2.5 hours of use, you should never miss the opportunity to take great beach photos. When the camera battery is depleted and ready to charge, the included fast-charging has you covered. In just 18 minutes, charge up to 80% and you have plenty of more recording time for your great day at the beach. It is not a bad idea to have a spare battery in case you don’t have a charging receptacle available at the beach, or a power bank will help.

Protect your camera equipment with the Deco Photo Point and Shoot Field Bag Camera Case. Having a good camera bag like this for your trip to the beach will not only protect and help organize your camera equipment, but it will help tremendously portability during traveling. This camera bag is made out of a strong and sturdy nylon construction and with multiple padded pockets on the interior of the bag, you can safely store and protect your equipment when heading out for a wonderful summer day beach photoshoot.

Finally if you really want to have some sun shooting seascapes and beach landscapes, you must have the incredible DJI Mini 3 Fly. Here are some of the incredible features of this amazing drone:

• As an extremely lightweight and portable drone at just under 249 grams, portability is a breeze.

• Ready for all types of lighting conditions, the included 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor features dual native ISO and supports HDR footage for an even better 4K viewing experience.

• You get a good amount of photography time with up to 51 minutes of flight time on a fully charged battery. This should give you time to show off your skills as a landscape photographer.

• This drone can shoot in 4K HDR video, meaning you get high quality vibrantly colored videos.

• With active obstacle sensing which is tri-directional offers safety features that give you as the drone pilot peace of mind with this fantastic safety feature.

• Another peace of mind feature is the RTH or Return to Home (RTH) function, which includes Smart RTH, Low Battery RTH, and Failsafe RTH. This will automatically instructs the drone to safely return to its starting point in situations like a dropped signal or low battery.

• The included remote controller for the drone has Lightning, Micro-USB (Type-B) and USB-C ports for easy connectivity. Plus the USB-C port offers power delivery for fast charging.

• A single memory card slot which supports cards UHS-I Speed Class 3 or above with storage capacity of up to 256 GB so you get some good storage. We do recommend purchasing a spare memory card to hold more content and just in case of failure of your main SD card.

• Download and use the DJI Fly app to add to the features of this drone and do additional work in post processing. This app offers controls, manuals, firmware information and other important things that will help you in your drone photography. This is a must have to pair with your drone to get the most out of your beach photos.

  

Go get some Sun

As we have established, taking beach photos can prove to be a challenge to some, especially beginners in the world of photography. By following the beach photography tips, getting one or more of the recommended beach photography items, you can rest assured that your beach photoshoot will be one to remember. Feel free to upload these great exposures to social media with confidence and enjoy your summer at the beach!