Beaches are among the most relaxing places in the world. It is a paradise for everyone, especially during the summer. And a trip to the beach wouldn't be complete without great photos.
To be honest, the beach is a challenging location for photography due to the amount of light and its vastness. On the other hand, the beach also offers several wonderful opportunities to take stunning pictures. But how will you take advantage of these opportunities and overcome the challenges?
In this article, we'll give you ideas on how to get the most out of your beach photos using your iPhone and some useful plugins. So go ahead, read on, and next time turn in your beach pics.
Index
1. Add a focal point
With all your beach photos, how many of them actually meet your standards? How many times have you been disappointed with your beach photos because they all look the same? The problem is that the beaches only have a few outstanding features and a lot of empty space.
An important photographic rule is to always have a focal point in your image. This will provide a more interesting focal point while also giving viewers a place to rest their eyes. This can be challenging for first time recordings, but you'll be sure to get the hang of it soon enough.
First, take a look around you. Does something catch your attention? A focal point can be anything interesting you see on the beach: a boat, a rock, a person, footprints in the sand, a sand tower, literally anything that makes your photo more meaningful. Focal points should not dominate the entire scene. They are made to add meaning and power to your photos.
2. Bring objects to the front
Another great way to add interest to your beach photos is to bring objects to the foreground. This is because foreground objects make your image composition more dynamic and attractive.
In addition to these things, foreground objects also give viewers a glimpse of the beach surroundings, adding content to your images. A good technique you can use to add a close-up subject to your images is to crouch down and take the photos from a lower angle.
3. Use burst mode
The beaches are full of unpredictable events: people, birds, boats, crashing waves and much more. Therefore, using the burst mode feature of the iPhone camera can be your best weapon here to capture all the action at just the right time. Burst mode allows you to capture multiple shots in a fraction of a second.
To put your iPhone into continuous mode, all you have to do is hold down the shutter button while taking a photo for half a second or so. With the burst mode feature, you can capture the perfect moment in a split second. Hold the trigger as long as you want to use burst mode, and release it when you want to stop.
4. Create silhouettes
As big as it is, the beach is certainly a good place to take photos and capture impressive silhouettes, especially at sunset. To create a silhouette, the subject must be positioned between the camera and the light source. In this case, its light source is the sun. When taking silhouette images, you need to make sure that your image is exposed in the brightest part of the entire scene.
Next, you need to set the exposure based on the lightest parts of the background so that the subject appears dark. To set the exposure, click on the area of the camera screen where you want to set the exposure. You can also try taking the photo from a lower angle to make sure your subject stands out against the sky and not the sand or sea.
5. Look for interesting details
As mentioned above, when it comes to beach photography, all your photos can end up looking like the same old photos. The same old photo means that the image is the sand, the sky or the beach. But if you dig into the details, there are actually a lot of interesting things on the beach that make for a good topic.
Some of these cool things are pebbles, shells, footprints, driftwood, rope, seaweed, fishing nets, and much more. These are small details that can make your photos more interesting than ever. The beach is full of intricate details and textures, just be patient to find them.
6. Add a touch of color
A good explanation for why all the beach photos look about the same is that the images have muted colors: blue sky, blue beach, brown sand. Is that. If you want to add interest to your beach photos and make sure they stand out from the rest, try giving them a burst or pop of color.
Sure enough, there are plenty of colorful things to include at the beach when taking photos. Maybe a yellow beach chair, a colorful beach ball or a hat is all you need to make your photos less boring and more vibrant.
7. Avoid crowds
It's okay to include a few people in your beach photos, but including the whole crowd is not a good idea. To avoid crowds when taking photos on the beach, find out the times when most people are on the beach and avoid them. Bottom line, don't go at the busiest times on the beach.
The beach is usually busier in the morning. So you can go at sunrise or noon, but it's preferable to shoot during sunrise because of the golden light the sun produces. It is not recommended to take photos during midday as the light is too strong and there is a high probability of unwanted shadows.
Another way to avoid crowded beaches is to go to places that are not visited by many people, which means you may have to walk a bit more. Do not take photos near crowded parking lots, restaurants, bars, and other beach facilities.
8. Add lines to your images
One of the most powerful ways to create amazing beach photos with your iPhone is to add lines to your images. Some of the lines you can insert are curved, converging, straight, diagonal, parallel, or S-shaped. Preferably, these lines should be directed toward your subject or main focus. In addition, you can also use these lines as the main subject to create an abstract painting.
A great line to use on your images is the time border. Generally, if an image contains a line, the line should start from one of the bottom corners towards the subject.
9. Keep your camera steady
An underrated tool in almost all types of photography is a tripod. By using this you can capture amazing beach shots while the tripod stabilizes your camera. In a typical situation, setting up a tripod is very easy, but since you're shooting on a sandy beach with a sea breeze, it's not so easy.
Tripods have small tripod tips with a very high center of gravity; Therefore, they can easily fall off when hit by a strong wind. In addition, the tripod legs, which have a very small surface area, reduce the stability of the tripod, as they tend to easily sink into the sand.
To prevent all of this from happening, you need to add some weight to your tripod to make it more stable. You can fill an empty bag with sand or pebbles and hang it on the tripod. To prevent the tripod from sinking into the sandy bottom, place stones under the tripod or place old CDs under the cover.
10. Use sparkles
Flash more beach, does it make sense? Well it does. Where from? First, the flash reduces the appearance of shadows on the face by filling it with light. Secondly, the flash gives extra light when the light on the beach is weak or insufficient (sunrise or sunset). At noon the sunlight falls almost vertically; Thus, a shadow will be created, especially if your focus is on a person.
Remember that when taking photos on the beach, do not point the flash directly at the subject, otherwise you will get a very bright and unattractive image.
What you can do is aim the flash where the light will be redirected towards your subject. The use of a flash diffuser is a great help in achieving this. A small diffuser is preferred for beach photography as it is much easier to use on windy days.
11. Add a note image
A lookout image refers to photographs that show what the beach has to offer, including the beach facilities and water activities. They are images that allow them to stand out and give an idea to whoever sees their images of what differentiates the beach from other beaches or places.
Before taking an observation photo, it is very important that you put yourself in the viewer's shoes and ask yourself what they want to see. Do you find the beach facilities more interesting? Is it the fine white sand that characterizes the beach? Is it the crystal clear water or perhaps the umbrellas and sun loungers that attract you the most?
Whatever it is, just make sure your observation image helps people determine their expectations of the beach.
12. Use filters
Using filters when taking photos can be beneficial. In particular, UV and polarizing filters are most effective when it comes to beach photography. Because UV filters filter UV light and at the same time remove unwanted blue tones.
On the other hand, the use of polarizing filters reduces reflections, improves contrast and helps to obtain bluer, richer and more vibrant sky colors.
Beach photography is an adventure that everyone should try. Beaches are sanctuaries where people escape from everyday life. So if you get a chance to go there, go ahead and take as many photos as you like. It's not every day that opportunities like this knock on your door. Go and take lots of photos on the beach. Attract people with your photography skills.