Spending time on the beach in Northern Michigan is like a vacation to a tropical paradise. The only thing missing is the palm trees.
I had a photo shot with Megan Dunn who contacted me for images to put into her modeling portfolio.
Shooting on the beach offer special challenges to the photographer. First there are the elements. Sand and water are not friendly to the camera equipment so you must take special care to make sure your equipment stays in good condition. It’s a good idea to bring a sheet or a blanket to lay your equipment on when not in use.
Both of these photos were taken at 5:30 AM (I know, Crazy huh?) You can see in these photos the different effects you can get with a sunrise or sunset. Lighting plays a role in the final outcome of your shot. If you want to see the beautiful colors of the scene and also expose for the model you MUST use an artificial light source. I like the silhouette on the left but I knew by looking at the scene that Megan was going to appear black against the bright sky. If I would have pointed my spot meter on her she would have been in correct exposure but I would have lost the colors of the sunrise. The photo on the right is the best of both worlds. You get a good exposure on the model and dramatic colors in the background. The following few shots are more examples of these two effects. Notice how you can use the variations for creative effects.
The photo above shows Megan in correct exposure with the background. For that shot I used two Alienbees with softboxes. They were powered with one vagabond power pack. Using two lights on one power pack drained the power very rapidly.
That’s not too much of a problem however, when shooting a sunrise or sunset you are forced to work rapidly because the sun is constantly changing. You have to be out there and ready to go when the sun starts coming up otherwise you lose the scene and there are no second chances.
If the power pack works for 30-45 minutes then you will have plenty of time to get your shots. I have tried to use other light sources such as Canon’s 580EX or just a reflector held up in front of the model.
The smaller flashes are fine if you can’t afford a studio light or if you are in a hurry and don’t want to try to set up studio lighting on-location but you may not get the colors to look as dramatic as the ones above. The reason being that you would have to compensate for the lower light output by making the scene brighter in your camera settings.
The image on the left is a good example of the silhouette effect. When shooting silhouettes you want to pay attention to the outline of the body and the various aspects of the scene. I Think of those old-time Victorian silhouettes. You want the parts of the body to be clearly visible and easily read by the viewer.
Body parts that overlap each other will not be visible. It’s best to try to show all the contours of the body. Have your model pose in such a way as to show the arms and legs or the curves and textures. This shot would not have worked if the model was facing towards me or away from me. You would not have seen the contours of her hair or the curves of her body. The bikini string would have also blended in with the rest of the body.
The same principles apply when shooting later in the day. You never want to shoot on the beach in mid day sun. It’s better to shoot in the early morning or later in the afternoon.
This shot was taken on a different day at 5-6 O’clock in the evening. We went out to the Old Mission Peninsula because the sun was on the opposite side of the bay from the sunrise shoot. We were facing west instead of facing east. The beauty of shooting in Traverse City is that there are two bays to choose from. You can shoot both sunrise and sunset depending on where you go. You can also find beaches that are relatively private, which gives you an opportunity to practice without the additional pressure of onlookers and gawkers.
Notice the directional light on Megan’s body caused by the sun behind her. This time I didn’t have the Alienbees. I used a reflector held by an assistant. The water behind her is not as deep and dramatic as the sunrise shots above.
This shot was done using a wide aperture setting to get the blurring in the background. This particular lens goes to f2.8, which means that the opening in the lens is large and, therefore, lets in more available light. To compensate for all the extra light coming in to your camera you need to make your shutter speed faster than than your camera’s flash sync speed. Shooting with a flash is difficult in this situation. This photograph was shot at f2.8 at 1/320 sec. The sync speed of a Canon is 1/250 sec. If you shot at that lower speed you would have to “stop down” your aperture to compensate thereby increasing the depth of field. I also used a neutral density (ND) filter to cut down the light even further. The lighting in this image is done with the sun directly behind the model and a gold reflector to compensate.
The photos above where shot with Megan positioned so that the sun approximately 90 degrees to her left. I did this in order to create a side lighting effect. You don’t always need to have the sun behind your model. When the sun is lower in the sky it makes a great light source because it casts a directional light on your subject. You should always look for the interplay of available light on your scene and use whatever tools you have available to balance against that light source.
When you see the directional light use it to your advantage but don’t forget to balance that light on the other side with a flash or, in this case, a reflector.
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