beach photography tips

This article on beach photography tips will help you improve all of the beach photos you take.

You can use these ideas for taking amazing seascapes, wildlife photos, candid photos of your kids playing, and portraits on the beach with the photography equipment you already have.

Part I gives you the advice on the gear you use and specific tips that will dramatically improve your creativity with your photography.

Part II will give you tips on portrait photography on the beach. Let's face it, finding out how to take great beach photos begins with equipment. Let's dive in with what photography gear is needed and what camera settings are best.

what's the best camera for beach photography?

This sounds like a sassy answer, but it's really true: the best camera for beach photos is the one you take with you. You need to take it with you-and maybe with an accessory or two-and use it.

With that said, an advanced point and shoot, a DSLR, or one of the newer mirrorless cameras are all great choices to capture the spectacular natural beauty of the ocean. Reading this article will put you in the right frame of mind to use any camera.

Although you can take some nice  beach photos with your cell phone, use your camera that has the ability to set different settings. We'll get to why in just a minute.

Ideally, the best camera for beach photography should have:

1. VERSATILE LENS: Interchangeable lenses or a solid zoom range with the lens it comes with. A zooming lens will give you the versatility for wide angle compositions, zoomed in detail shots, and everything in between.
2. ADJUSTABLE SHUTTER SPEEDS: Whether it's your kid running to jump in the ocean waves, or a seagull in flight, it's valuable to be able to set your camera with a high shutter speed to freeze the action and prevent motion blur
3. EXPOSURE COMPENSATION: Although can brighten photos afterwards with software, you'll get the best results by getting the exposure right when you take the photo. Because of all of the white sand and bright sky, your camera's exposure meter can get fooled. You want to have the ability to add exposure to the auto settings your camera decided on.

If you're concerned about the harmful environment of sand and salt water on a camera for the beach, then you want a smaller sports camera that is weather resistant , or even water proof. These point and shoot versions will have less camera setting options that a bridge, mirrorless, or DSLR camera.  See some of the choices below.

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Which Camera lens for beach photography is best?

A lens that can zoom in far will give you a chance to get some great shots of wildlife, the ocean waves, a distant boat, or yes, even people. On the flipside of that, if your lens can also go wide you can get some strong perspective photos too.

what are the best camera settings for beach PHOTOGRAPHY

During daytime hours at the beach you have plenty of daylight, so your automatic or program settings will do fine to give you sharp, clear photos without blur. When it's bright like this, your camera will choose a fast shutter speed and a small lens opening, which fill keep things in focus with a deep depth of field.

Just remember to review your photo on the LCD screen to make sure your exposure is right. We talked about exposure compensation earlier. Another good idea is to use your camera's histogram. At first it may seem intimidating, but with a little practice, you'll get the best quality of beach photo with the lens and camera that you're using.

It's the special situations that cause the frustration when we see a photo opportunity, but your camera comes up short in getting the settings right for the effect we want. Here are a few special camera settings for beach photos.

special camera settings for beach photos

You want to know what are the best camera settings for beach photography. Here are some camera setting for those beach shots that are a little more challenging and and will give you more control over the success of your photo.

In the photo below the camera was set for automatic exposure, but came up short because so much of the scene is very bright. The camera's exposure needs to be compensated with an extra f/stop (a factor of 2x) of exposure.

Look what happens when you use exposure compensation. You override the camera's judgement of the scene and allow twice as much light to strike your sensor.

Here are 4 scenarios and how to set your camera for the best beach photos.

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look for contrasting colors in your beach scenes

Pay attention to color and use it to your advantage. Sometimes very simple compositions are still very dramatic with the use of contrasting colors.

The other thing that makes this a well composed photo is the  position of the tropical drink. Although it's off center, the image is still balanced because of the drink's shadow on the sand.

simple beach photography tips

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ideas for creative beach photography

Here are 5 ideas for taking your creativity to a new level. Use them to spur your own imagination and come up with your own variation of one or more of them. The possibilities are endless. Digital photography gives you an opportunity to play around and try many variations and select the one or two you like the most. Have fun with this!

Here are two beach photography sample photos that emphasize the sand as the primary subject.

As with many interesting photos, it's all about the creative use of unique lighting opportunities.

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PART II - beach portrait photography

This second part of the post covering beach photography tips focuses on photographing people on the beach. Here are 5 tips specifically are to give you advice on taking beach portraits.

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time your beach portraits right

The best time to photograph people on the beach is late in the day. You'll be able to get some stunning shots right around sunset. You could try sunrise too, but usually it takes a few hours for people to be wide awake and looking their best.

The light at or just after sunset is not as bright and your subjects are less likely to be squinting. You do have to work quickly though, as the amount of light at that time fades quickly.

The color tone of the light is much warmer and the quality of the light is much softer early and late in the day.

In this photo of these three brothers, the sun was partially below the horizon and partially diffused by thin clouds. you can see the sunlight is coming from the left at a strong angle, but it's not creating harsh shadows because it's diffused.  

If it's not quite sunset and the sky is very clear, the direct sun may still be too strong and cause squinting and harsh shadows. If this is the case I'll look for shade.

I try to look for areas where the sand dunes are high and block the sun. That provides open shade. Another idea is that can do beach photography in the shadow of tall waterfront hotels or underneath piers if you can find a suitable angle to get a good background.  

use your telephoto lens setting for beach portraits

Using a long focal length on your camera's zoom creates a more flattering look for portraits of people. Zoom in as much as you can and then distance yourself from your subject so that they fill most of your camera's viewfinder.

This is one of the secrets to making people look their best in portrait photography. This farther distance away from you, the photographer, also allow people to relax and it will include less clutter in the background becaue of the narrower angle of view.

choose your photo's background carefully

It's easy to focus on your subject and neglect to check the background before you trip the shutter. We've all made that mistake.

Position your camera in just the right spot so that the background compliments your subject and doesn't distract. In the photo of the three boys and the sailboat, I quickly dug a hole in the sand in just the right spot. The light was fading quickly, so I had to work fast.

I adjusted my camera height on my tripod so that the rock jetty behind my subjects acts as a framing device. The sun was already below the horizon, so the light was very soft.

Look back at the first beach portrait of the 3 boys in front of the steps. I moved my tripod to have the boardwalk and steps in just the right spot in the background.

have your subjects dress in good beach clothing

What to wear for beach photography? This clothing tip applies to all kinds of portraits, not just beach photography. Keep everybody in solid colors. Stripes and patterns are distracting and the emphasis should be on your subjects' faces.

Stay away from bright colors for beach posing. Neutral colors and pastels work great  with the lighter subdued colors of the ocean sand.

One of the most favorite clothing choice for pictures on the beach is khaki and white or denim and white for good reasons. For more on clothing tips go to portrait clothing. 

avoid crowded beaches

This is beach portrait tip #5. Try to find a beach that isn't full of people.

Other people have just as much right as you do to enjoy the sun and sand, but crowded beaches make it hard to shoot while keeping others from entering your composition in the background.

Yes, it may be possible to do some digital photo editing afterward, but it's a lot easier if you get your photo right when you take it. Try to find a beach that is more private or secluded when you're shooting beach portraits

Finding a beach off the beaten track may be a challenge. It will be helpful to scout out locations beforehand at the same time of day that you'll be shooting. Usually staying away from the boardwalk and business areas is a safe bet.

Don't forget to take the candid photos too. In this reflections beach photo, I took advantage of my DSLR and its 5 frames per second continuous speed shutter setting.

We were done shooting our posed portraits. The boys were running around and having a blast.

This would have cost me a fortune in film processing and proofing in the days of film. I shot over 80 frames in just a few minutes.

I set my ISO setting very high to allow me to use a high shutter speed in the fading light. Look at that beautiful sky and the reflections in the sand!

more tips on photography

PHOTO EXPOSURE. If you don't have a "beach" setting on your camera, you may have to adjust your settings to overexpose a little from the auto exposure your camera uses. The overall light colored sand and sky can fool your camera and beach photos sometimes come out a little darker than they should.

For additional digital photo tips related to your camera's ISO setting and how it affects exposure, you may have an interest in reading the article on exposure

BLURRY PICTURES. This is another challenge for newbie photographers. Knowing how to set your camera's shutter speed will help you avoid taking blurry pictures while doing your portrait photography. Here is more on shutter speeds.

Keep shooting. Keep learning. Keep improving.

p.s. You can apply these beginning beach photography tips in the winter time too, when no one is around to bother you.

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my beach camera

My beach photo lens

exposure compensation