Tips: Shot Striking Beach Landscape Photos

Scott Mead's adventure in beach photography started back in 1975 when his grandfather gave him a Kodak Instamatic and sent him off on the sands of Maui. Since then, he has been creating striking images of sand, sea, and sun. Here are some tips for taking full photographic advantage of your next trip to the beach.


What do you look for in a good shooting spot on the beach?
Typically what I'm looking for is something that has a really solid foreground to anchor the image. If I'm shooting a sunset, it obviously has to be west-facing, but it also has to have some really good wave action. I like to have some motion within the image. You also want to make sure the sun isn't going to be the bullseye in the image. You have to have it off at least a little bit.

What is your scouting process typically like?
I spend a lot of time just looking for the right spot. You have to observe how the water is moving, how the under water topography is affecting the waves. Eventually you find that one perfect spot where everything comes together and from there it's just a waiting game for that perfect light. The beach isn't a bad place to wait around.

Sunrise and sunset are obviously great times for beach shots, but what do you shoot in mid-day sun?
You can shoot the beach any time of day. Everything is always changing at the beach. If you have really shallow water, you wan wait until the sun is really high and in back of you and that light will come through the water. It'll hit the sand and reflect up, so as the waves curl, you'll get some incredible aqua colors.
You can also pull out a macro lens and shoot foot prints or little crabs. Different beaches are made up of a multitude of different things. If you wait until noon when the sun his high in the sky and do a really tight macro on some wet sand, it can really look incredible.

Do you use any filters when shooting sunsets?
When it comes to sunsets, I use split neutral density filters 100% of the time. It's really the only way to balance the light within the camera so you make sure you retain all the detail within the shadow areas without blowing out the clouds that are close to the sun. It has the added benefit of letting you drag the shutter a little bit to catch that wave action.

What does your normal gear set-up look like?
I don't leave anything at home. I typically carry a 5D Mark II and a 5D Mark III. I set them both up side by side. The 5D Mark II is basically shooting time lapses. The 5D Mark III has the split ND and is taking the individual beauty shots. Both cameras have a Canon 16-35mm F/2.8L zoom lens. I also carry with me a 24-70 F/2.8L and a 100-400mm lens as well. I also have a 15mm fisheye. It's a fun lens because I can put it on the 5D Mark II, get it less than an inch from the water and it looks very cool.

Can you run us through your process for shooting a sunset?
I start shooting maybe 25 minutes before the sun actually goes down. The scene keeps evolving for that entire time. A lot of people see the one final image that I present, but the time lapse shows how things progressed. It's not just the sun, but it's everything around it. If you have a sailboat in the scene or surfers, they help tell the story. The main subject is the beach itself but incorporating those secondary objects that draw people's eyes. They don't just glance at it. They pick up all those little details that make it a living, breathing thing.

How do you predict the tides and the wave action?
You can learn the timing of wave sets. You have a small wave, which builds up to larger waves and then it goes back down again. Surfers have been using this for decades. Each break has its own timing. You can just go out early and watch the waves. You'll notice a series of maybe eight to 10 waves. In that set, you'll see a real big one in the middle. Spend some time watching and that will give you an idea of how long you'll have to wait to get the one you want.

There are a few smartphone apps for tide predicton that list the tides for where you are. It will show you when high and slack tide will be. That enables you to predict your setting days ahead. You can make sure you're at high-tide, which will give you bigger waves and better action in your photos.

How do you decide whether to use a slow shutter speed to blur the waves or a fast one to freeze them?
It depends on what I see the waves doing. Are they breaking high enough to give me a decent curl? Is there light behind the wave to give me a crystalline effect? You have to watch to see what's going to work. Sometimes I'll pull a slow shutter speed like 1/6-1/8 sec. and let the wave curl over to give it a sense of motion. Pan blurs also work really well with waves. Go to 1/30th sec. or so and follow the wave with your camera. If you want to catch every single little water droplet, you can bump it up to 1/500-1/800 sec. and freeze everything. You'll find out what works for you pretty quickly.

Do you find it tricky setting up a tripod in the sand? Seems like it could be a nightmare getting it level.
It's not a problem at all. The best thing I've ever purchased is the Gitzo explorer tripod, which lets you lock the tripod legs in any position you want. Sand, and if you're here in Hawaii, lava can make it tricky to set up a tripod if you can't move the legs freely. I also use a Acratech head leveler. I set the tripod down and I've got everything level within a minute.

Do you do anything special to protect your gear from all the sand and salt at the beach?
The one thing I utilize that people will probably laugh at are the small, clear garbage bags from Costco. They're one of the best cheap ways to take care of your gear. I'll poke a hole in the end, stretch it over the lens and let the rest drape over the camera. I have storm covers that I use if it's raining or if I'm out on a boat shooting whales, but the clear bag lets me make quick adjustments to my camera.

Do you clean your gear before putting it back in the bag?
I always keep a blower bulb or a can of air handy because sand can really get into everything. Before I put anything back in the bag, I'll give it a quick blast to get the extra sand off. When I do get back to my studio, I thoroughly clean all my gear with a damp terry cloth towel. Knock on wood, in my eight years of continuous shooting over here, I've never had a camera fail due to salt exposure.

What are some common mistakes people should avoid when composing beach shots?
Probably the biggest mistake I see people make is that they don't take in the whole scene. They'll see something they like, step up and snap it. Then when they get back and look at the photo, they'll say, "This doesn't look exactly how I saw it." You need to ask yourself what's really making it an awesome scene.
A lot of people shooting sunsets will grab a shot and their camera's meter takes an average of the scene, giving you a nice glow, but it loses the foreground and the background. That's where it's really important to utilize cloud cover if you don't have an ND filter. You can shoot a beautiful sunset without the sun in it.

How do you keep your landscape and sunset shots feeling fresh and interesting?
Sunsets are like snowflakes in that no two are ever alike. You can have a really clear night that will give you vibrant yellows and deep oranges. Other nights, you'll have low-lying clouds and you'll gets those wonderful pink tinges. After the sun goes down, wait for another 15 or 20 minutes. Sometimes after the sun goes below the horizon, you can get incredible colors in the clouds.

A lot of photography is about patience and persistence, but you need a dose of luck as well. It's not uncommon for me to go back to a location maybe five times just waiting for the right sunset. Experimenting is so important.

source: popphoto | Stan Horaczek | Scott Mead

7 tips better portrait

We asked portraits pros to share their best tactics for framing up a subject

Many decisions go into shooting a single portrait. Often, as we chat with our subjects, we’re not even aware that we’re making choices about framing, subject distance and position, color palette, focal length, lighting, and other elements. But rather than rely on instinct alone, here are some ways to ensure you make the right decision.

1. Frame Them Up More then any other tools at your disposal, composition and framing help you direct a viewer to appreciate something specfic about your subject. It could be a physical quality such as beauty, or a personal quality of character.

One crucial question: How tight should you frame a face? When Richard Brocken of the Netherlands (richardbrocken.com) made this portrait of his (then) 10-year-old daughter Eva, he wanted to focus attention on her beautiful eyes. Their gaze reflects a calm, Zen-like quality unusual in a child so young. So he moved in as close as possible with his Nikon D50 and 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor to capture a single eye and cheekbone.

“Because I’ve photographed my children all their lives, they’re very used to it,” says Brocken. He was able to move within 18 inches of the child, and she remained relaxed, composed, and unselfconscious.

“My first concern is always to focus on what’s important in a portrait, and here it was that eye,” he says. After some experimentation, he found that converting the image to black-and-white drew even more attention to this limpid window into the soul.

For subjects with whom you are not quite so intimate—or who feel less comfortable being photographed—you can use a telephoto lens to let you stand farther away, though you may need to crop for the exact framing.

For a less intimate view, move back for a half- or full-length portrait. This shifts the attention from your subject’s skin and facial expression, placing it onto the body, gesture, and background. (It also takes the pressure off your subject to appear fashion-magazine “perfect.”)

If the background is cluttered or distracting, downplay it by cropping in on your subject, dimming the light in the background, or defocusing it by shooting at a larger aperture. If, however, the greater scene complements or somehow comments on your subject, include as much of it as possible.

2. Depict the Surroundings Environmental portraits, in which the nature of the background is almost as important as your human subject, can make a portraitist’s life easier.

Christopher Dibble, a Los Angeles-based photographer who made the male portrait shown here as part of a fashion spread ( christopherdibble.com), specializes in finding simple yet evocative backgrounds for his pictures of actors and models.

“My eyes are constantly looking at locations and evaluating their potential as portrait backdrops,” he says. “Whenever I see a background with possibility, I take a photo with my cellphone and e-mail it to myself with the location and time of day. I’m looking for interesting light and the ability to control any clutter or distractions. There must obviously be room to shoot someone in the space, and the scale and proportions of the human body have to make sense within the larger scene.”

Once he finds a great background, Dibble uses his own lighting to bring out its character.

3. Light Your Way Whether it’s a set up you create or the ambient one you’ve found, lighting—and shadows—can lend mood and presence to your subject, while drawing attention to (or deflecting it from) specific physical traits. The right light can make heavy people appear thinner, and carefully placed shadows can help conceal any number of perceived flaws that your subject may feel uncomfortable about.

“Don’t be afraid of shadows,” Dibble says. “I wanted to create some tension with the lighting in this cabin portrait, so I put an orange gel over the main light to create a warm glow, but I also made no attempt to fill in the shadows.” Almost completely black, they impart a mysterious, almost uncomfortable or threatening feel to the portrait, giving it the compelling, edgy quality that Dibble likes.

4. Working with Groups Ironically, the best way to capture individual personalities may be to photograph them with others. Subjects who are particularly self-conscious and nervous whenever a camera comes out often relax when someone else is in the frame. These ancillary subjects can take the pressure off, offering a distraction that produces engaging facial expressions in an otherwise uncomfortable subject.

You don't even have to leave the other person in the photo. When your goal is to photograph grandparents, for example, shoot them with a grandchild, framing the shot so the child can be cropped out later.

Barbara Peacock, a pro shooter ( barbarapeacock.com) based in Westford, MA, who photographed the snacking sisters here, agrees that groups can be easier than individuals. “Siblings are great to shoot in pairs,” she says. “They have this symbiotic thing going that can work to a photographer’s advantage.”

Individuals in groups tend to quickly engage with each other, helping them to ignore the camera. With some pairings, capturing great facial expressions can be relatively easy.

5. Relaxing Your Subject When Anne Makaske set about making this stunning black-and-white portrait of her grandmother, she knew her model would be uneasy. “To take her mind off the camera, I started by taking pictures of her home, of a house plant, testing the flash, and checking the camera,” she says. “When I started to take her picture, she had forgotten the camera and wasn’t aware that she was my actual subject.”

Based near Arnhem in the Netherlands, Makasker ( annemakaske.com) stresses the importance of patience in relaxing her subjects. It’s only after they become accustomed to the camera, that they start to reveal their true character. It also allows you to capture natural gestures, rather than stiff poses.

“Making a portrait takes time,” she says. “Whenever you want to see a part of your subject’s soul reflected in your image, you need to invest time and learn what moves your model. Discover their characteristics, and try to bring these traits out.”{C}

6. Watch, Don’t Direct Body language plays an even bigger role in depicting individual personalities and roles in group settings. In her book, The Mark of Abel (Keher Verlag, 2012), Lydia Panas, a Kutztown, PA-based fine-art photographer ( www.lydiapanas.com), examines interfamily relationships in a series of expressive group portraits, including the rural Pennsylvania father and his four children shown here.

How does she get such insight-ful images? “By watching very closely,” she says. “I try not to direct, because whenever I ask someone do something specific, they don’t really do what I want, and the result is often awkward. I’ve learned to trust that something will happen on its own. I watch to see how my subjects arrange themselves, who stands in front, or on the side, and who seems to dominate. Then I go under the black hood [of her 4x5-inch view camera] and wait to see what happens.”

Panas attributes her success to not being critical—and, yes, many subjects will often infer criticism if you start to direct them. “I want my subjects to feel good about themselves. If you direct too much, they get confused.”

Like Makaske, she finds that patience pays off. “I try to wait until I can relate to the subjects, before I start working in earnest. It usually happens when what they're saying to each other begins to make sense to me,” she says. “It’s a very intuitive process, and one that’s very exciting.”

7. Wardrobe and Props Often, clothing choices can make or break a portrait. It shouldn’t distract from your subject or clash with the background. “I ask my subjects to wear dark, muted colors—no patterns and no jewelry,” says Panas, who mainly shoots outside. “I like for the clothing colors to work with my backgrounds, which are mostly the greens and gray of nature. A white shirt wouldn’t work.”

She also likes to make sure the style of clothing in group portraits is roughly congruent from subject to subject, without actually matching. “If some subjects are casually dressed, and others more formally, it can [adversely] impact the overall image,” she says.

The two sisters in Barbara Peacock’s photo benefitted from her eye for color. Clean, strong hues in the clothing, props, and backgrounds all work to imply a sunny, child-friendly world. “The house belongs to a friend of mine,” Peacock says. “I was lucky there were many colorful backgrounds. My job was to make sure the kids were positioned so that I could utilize that color.”

So while both the clothes your subjects wear and the environment in which you photograph them should reflect their personalities, make sure they don't fight each other. If they do, consider changing one—or both.


Source: popphotography