Shooting Summer Seascapes
By Shelton Muller
“Down by the seaside” – words that by their very combination make you feel relaxed. However, for the avid photographer, there is little time to relax because the ocean, the beach and all that is nearby can cause the photographer quite some anxiety just trying to get it all in!
The seaside is more than just a place to photograph sunsets and seascapes. It is a great location for photographing people, colours, textures, sports, boats and much much more.
Seascapes.
Seascape photography can be as varied as the seaside itself. Wherever the earth meets the sea there are opportunities for images that can vary from aqua blue, tropical seascapes to stormy skies and crashing waves. Through the entire gamut of this photographic spectrum of possibilities the photographer can create equally dynamic images. Much of what you photograph and how will not only be determined by the actual appearance of the location but also by the prevailing weather and the nature of the light. There is little point trying to create tropical seascapes on an overcast or cloudy day. The elements of light and subject matter within the image need to be entirely congruent for the image to be convincing.
Strong foreground interest is usually an essential compositional element in seascapes. Failing to include foreground interest can mean vast empty areas of the frame in which the eye is led aimlessly about, looking for something to keep it interested. Foreground interest can vary from seaweed to swimsuits, but there should be an element of interest to fill and compositionally balance the image.
It is for this reason that sunset images usually fail as truly dynamic images. Photographers need to be careful that they create art and not just copy it. Raising the camera to the eye and photographing the colourful sunset sky is hardly original. It would be similar to photographing a painting and calling it your own. The sunset is in itself a beautiful artwork and therefore little credit goes to the unimaginative photographer who simply takes a snap. The sunset therefore needs to work as a backdrop to another – perhaps even more dominant - element within the frame, such as a person, a sailboat, a rocky outcrop or anything else that gives the image a slightly less cliché reason to exist.
Leading lines are also effective in making an image more interesting to the viewer. They can be found in rock formations, piers and jetties, rivers, driftwood and many other things naturally found along our coast. These can also be used to lead the eye from the corner of the frame through the frame or to the subject.
People.
There are great opportunities for people pictures at the beach. However, the photographer needs to be careful about local laws and the sensitivities of bathers, especially their children. However, the coast is an ideal location for more formal portraits also. Most beaches and coastal locations offer the photographer an abundance of options for posing, lighting and situating their subjects. For reasons explained further in this article, the portrait session needs to be very carefully scheduled for light and weather, but when properly done can resulting beautiful portraits of family groups and single subjects.
The Light.
Summer light is harsh – especially at the beach where there is often little to diffuse or soften it. This kind of light can be used effectively for strong colour saturation, but it is also very hard, producing deep shadows and high contrast. This would be the kind of light that photographers would usually avoid for portraits and other ‘people’ pictures. However, it can be used for other subjects, provided they are carefully chosen and composed.
However, at either end of the day, summer light is truly beautiful. During early morning and very late afternoon it is both soft and warm in colour. It is this kind of light that can be used very successfully for truly beautiful seaside images. Late morning, midday and afternoon are usually going to be off limits for much of the photography you will want to do. Should you choose to continue shooting, select your subjects carefully and ensure that the light is not too hard and uncomplimentary.
A classic example of this is wedding photography at the beach. Many couples who live on or near the sea often opt for wedding photos by the beach. However, photographers need to be careful if and when they agree to this process as many of the beach photographs that couples envisage do not include harsh afternoon light, hard shadows and blistering heat – most of which are the norm for the time of day scheduled by most couples for the ‘beach shots’.
Filters.
Filters can enhance seascapes and other seaside photographs dramatically and there are several that can be used. For many photographers it goes without saying that polariser is the ultimate seascape filter. Polarisers reduce reflections and make possible the tropical blue seascapes we often see in travel brochure and postcards. They also deepen the blue in summer skies and saturate colours in many of the things we see naturally at the beach.
A variation of the polariser is the Cokin 173 Blue-Yellow Polariser that will simultaneously warm and saturate as it polarises. This filter can help create the most eye-catching seascapes and because it is potentially so powerful it needs to be used with discretion to avoid producing some seriously over-the-top blues in skies and oceans!
Graduated filters are also very powerful tools for seascapes that include the sky. Sunset photographs can be enhanced by graduated tobacco and orange coloured filters, and graduated grey or neutral density filters are particularly effective for balancing exposure between the foreground interest on the shore and a bright summer sunset. They can also be used to darken the looming black clouds on a stormy horizon.
Warming filters – which usually have a reference such as 81a, 81b, or 81c –are also effective, especially for those early morning and late afternoon seascapes. These filters highlight and enhance the warmth evident in the light as the red component of the spectrum overwhelms the other colours as they travel through the atmosphere.
A day by the seaside can yield an incredible variety of images ranging from seascapes to portraits, action photographs and candids – to name only a few! Don’t limit yourself to shooting the big picture all the time. Textures and colours abound at the beach and can in themselves become the elements for vibrant and interesting photographs. Keep your options open and keep your cameras ready to make the most of your coast.
Shelton Muller is a Melbourne-based photographer and the editor of Total Image and Better Pictures magazines. He can be contacted via his website at www.photographybyshelton.com
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