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 offers special challenges to the photographer. Water and sand are enemies of your camera equipment. You must take special care to make sure your equipment stays in good condition. Even cameras with weather sealing have difficulties on the beach. Heat from the sun is also something you must consider when planning a shoot on the beach. Bring a couple of towels with you to lay your gear on and to cover it from the sun’s rays.
We shot these photos 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 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. I used a vagabond to power the system. 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 must work rapidly because the sun is constantly changing. Your equipment should be set up before 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. If you point your camera into the sunset and get a reading of f5.6 at 1/160 sec (for instance) as your ambient exposure you need to get that much brightness out of your flash to expose your model. f5.6 is not to difficult with a small flash depending on the distance to subject.
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 clearly visible and easily read by the viewer.
Body parts that overlap each other combine into one. It’s best to try to show all the contours of the body. Have your model pose in such a way as to accent the arms and legs and the curves. This will give you a dramatic silhouette. This also applies to a regular shoot. You get a better shot if you show the curves.
The same lighting principles apply when shooting later in the day.
We shot this on a different day later in the afternoon. We went out to the Old Mission Peninsula because the sun was setting instead of rising. 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 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.
I shot this using a wide aperture setting of f2.8 to get the bokeh in the background. To compensate for all the extra light coming in to your camera you need to speed up your shutter. If you decide to use flash you must work within your camera’s flash sync speed. Shooting with a flash is difficult in this situation. I shot this at f2.8 at 1/320 sec. The sync speed of a Canon is 1/200 sec. If you slowed your shutter you would have to “stop down” your aperture to compensate thereby increasing the depth of field. You may want to use a neutral density (ND) filter to cut down the light even further. The sun was directly behind the model. I used the gold side of the reflector to balance the gold of the sun.
The photos above where shot with Megan positioned with the sun about 90 degrees to her left. I did this 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. This would also be a great time to break out the polarizer filter.
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.
by todd
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