Beach Outing

DavidS

A friend of mine wants me to take some portraits of his kids at the beach. I have never shot at the beach before, so I practiced on my family first. Here are some of the shots. I want to do a good job for him, so please let me know what can be improved, and if I did anything right let me know what that is as well.

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8.

digismile

Dave,

Here's my few thoughts on your photos. I've looked at the whole gallery and you have captured a wide variety of poses that I think would give your friend lots of great options.

1. I'm guessing from the EXIF, but it appears that you probably used your 28-135mm the whole time, and mostly up close. I think that some of the photos would have benefited from a more shallow depth of field, taken from a longer distance. Try your telephoto in the 150-200mm range. I'm not saying take all of them like that, but give yourself/your friend a variety.

2. Most of your shots were shot with flash. I can't tell from the EXIF what the flash EV settings were, but I think you could decrease the fill flash a bit. Some shots with great side lighting still look at little too "flash" like to me. I don't know how it's done on a 420EX, but dialing back the power on a 580 is easy. I would expect it to be as or almost as easy on yours.

3. I also think you need to be anticipating "8x10" crops. Take photo #6 for example. You would be likely be partly headless or chopped at the ankles on this photo if you wanted it 8 x 10. I am assuming your friend is asking you to do this for more than a wallet size or 3x5! I always allow some space on the long edge of the photo, regardless of the orientation. Just gives you room later to crop.

On the photos that you posted, I'd like to call out a difference between 5 and 6. In 5, I don't feel the background really does much here. Lots of bland sky with not much else going on. In #6, you were at a higher angle, reducing the horizon and at least to me, making the picture more interesting. #5 might have been a good candidate for a long telephoto shot with a shallow DOF.

#7 wet bum. Remember to have something for people to sit on if the ground is wet (or do these last).

#8. I like this photo. Framing is pretty good, the waning light gives a nice color. Just watch out for pesky details like the boat by your daughter's head (clone it out if you have to).

just my few thoughts and ideas,
regards,

DavidS

Brad, thank you for looking at my shots and taking the time to give me some very detailed and helpful feedback.

Tackylady1

Wow, I think they are all professional quality. I think you will do a great photoshoot. I actually like the wet butt picture. It makes me think she had a great time playing. It gives more memory to the photo.

jeffreaux2

digismile wrote:

Dave,

Here's my few thoughts on your photos. I've looked at the whole gallery and you have captured a wide variety of poses that I think would give your friend lots of great options.

1. I'm guessing from the EXIF, but it appears that you probably used your 28-135mm the whole time, and mostly up close. I think that some of the photos would have benefited from a more shallow depth of field, taken from a longer distance. Try your telephoto in the 150-200mm range. I'm not saying take all of them like that, but give yourself/your friend a variety.

2. Most of your shots were shot with flash. I can't tell from the EXIF what the flash EV settings were, but I think you could decrease the fill flash a bit. Some shots with great side lighting still look at little too "flash" like to me. I don't know how it's done on a 420EX, but dialing back the power on a 580 is easy. I would expect it to be as or almost as easy on yours.

3. I also think you need to be anticipating "8x10" crops. Take photo #6 for example. You would be likely be partly headless or chopped at the ankles on this photo if you wanted it 8 x 10. I am assuming your friend is asking you to do this for more than a wallet size or 3x5! I always allow some space on the long edge of the photo, regardless of the orientation. Just gives you room later to crop.

On the photos that you posted, I'd like to call out a difference between 5 and 6. In 5, I don't feel the background really does much here. Lots of bland sky with not much else going on. In #6, you were at a higher angle, reducing the horizon and at least to me, making the picture more interesting. #5 might have been a good candidate for a long telephoto shot with a shallow DOF.

#7 wet bum. Remember to have something for people to sit on if the ground is wet (or do these last).

#8. I like this photo. Framing is pretty good, the waning light gives a nice color. Just watch out for pesky details like the boat by your daughter's head (clone it out if you have to).

just my few thoughts and ideas,
regards,

I agree with all of this.....and would add that you may want to take better advantage of reflections. If you changed your viewpoint slightly in 1 and 7 they would have been far more dramatic.

phi75

nice shots and great lighting!
the 3rd is amazing, it seems you used a flash!! did you?
great light, every time I'm in Us , I'm vry surprised by the light .
nice job.
congrats

System

david-

good looking family!-

nice photos and it looks like you got some real good advice-

DavidS

digismile wrote:

Dave,

Here's my few thoughts on your photos. I've looked at the whole gallery and you have captured a wide variety of poses that I think would give your friend lots of great options.

1. I'm guessing from the EXIF, but it appears that you probably used your 28-135mm the whole time, and mostly up close. I think that some of the photos would have benefited from a more shallow depth of field, taken from a longer distance. Try your telephoto in the 150-200mm range. I'm not saying take all of them like that, but give yourself/your friend a variety.

2. Most of your shots were shot with flash. I can't tell from the EXIF what the flash EV settings were, but I think you could decrease the fill flash a bit. Some shots with great side lighting still look at little too "flash" like to me. I don't know how it's done on a 420EX, but dialing back the power on a 580 is easy. I would expect it to be as or almost as easy on yours.

3. I also think you need to be anticipating "8x10" crops. Take photo #6 for example. You would be likely be partly headless or chopped at the ankles on this photo if you wanted it 8 x 10. I am assuming your friend is asking you to do this for more than a wallet size or 3x5! I always allow some space on the long edge of the photo, regardless of the orientation. Just gives you room later to crop.

On the photos that you posted, I'd like to call out a difference between 5 and 6. In 5, I don't feel the background really does much here. Lots of bland sky with not much else going on. In #6, you were at a higher angle, reducing the horizon and at least to me, making the picture more interesting. #5 might have been a good candidate for a long telephoto shot with a shallow DOF.

#7 wet bum. Remember to have something for people to sit on if the ground is wet (or do these last).

#8. I like this photo. Framing is pretty good, the waning light gives a nice color. Just watch out for pesky details like the boat by your daughter's head (clone it out if you have to).

just my few thoughts and ideas,
regards,

I tried to find the exif on my flash EV, but couldn't find it anywhere. I do recall that I had accidentally left it on +1 EV most of the session and was pretty upset about that. I usually shoot - 2/3 EV outside in most conditions. I did see from the exif that I inadvertently bumped a dial halfway through the session and set my ambient on - 1/3 EV. Is aperature priority okay or should I shoot manual? If manual should I meter on the sky, water or subject? Is -2/3 EV okay for the flash? I worry about shooting manual in changing light conditions, that I may forget to change my settings. Thanks again for your input. I hope I am not asking too many questions.

DavidS

Thanks Jeff, Phi75 and George for the comments and feedback.

Mitchell

David,
Nice job on these. I think you handled the fill nicely without looking too "flashy".

I've shot quite a few beach portraits. I always find that my best shots are unposed and taken at 200mm. I usually have the family or couple up the beach from me and ask them to slowly walk towards me. They generally wind up laughing and smiling with some really nice, natural portraits.



Several of your shots have the horizen position right through your subject's heads. As a rule, you should try to avoid this. Change your vantage point or lower yourself to avoid this.


Can you get out at sunrise or sunset? The dramatic change in lighting can really give you some great opportunities.



If they are willing, I usually shoot a few walking into the surf at the end of the shoot.


Hope this helps!

DavidS

Thanks for the advise, Mitch and sharing some of your shots. Your reply was very helpful. How do you meter and expose your shots?

Montesa

Great job!
I think you did very well!

Someone made a good point about framing for 8X10s... that's something I often forget. I have always tended to crop tightly and sometimes that can bite me later with my digital.

I'd love to see how your friends session comes out! I suspect they are great!

Montesa

Mitchell

DavidS wrote:

Thanks for the advise, Mitch and sharing some of your shots. Your reply was very helpful. How do you meter and expose your shots?

I generally shoot with matrix metering on my Nikon D2Xs. I keep a close eye on the blown highlights and adjust my EV accordingly. Most people choose to wear white at the beach which is a photography nightmare!

I've taken to bringing two umbrellas with lights with me for fill as the sun goes down. I can generally decrease the shadows with this setup.

DavidS

Mitchell wrote:

I generally shoot with matrix metering on my Nikon D2Xs. I keep a close eye on the blown highlights and adjust my EV accordingly. Most people choose to wear white at the beach which is a photography nightmare!

I've taken to bringing two umbrellas with lights with me for fill as the sun goes down. I can generally decrease the shadows with this setup.

Since you are using matrix metering, I am assuming that you are metering the entire scene. Is that correct?

Are using studio type lights, or the flash units that go on a camera, with your umbrellas.

Mitchell

DavidS wrote:

Since you are using matrix metering, I am assuming that you are metering the entire scene. Is that correct?

Are using studio type lights, or the flash units that go on a camera, with your umbrellas.

I shoot with SB800 flashes in umbrellas which are wirelessly triggered by an SU800 commander on my camera. This is the one area where Nikon really excels. Very easy and intuitive to use.

Yes, the matrix meters from the entire scene with some weighting on the focus point.

saurora

Nice job David. I recently shot some more beach shots too and ran into the same problems you show - cropping too tight and horizons running through heads. It's hard to keep an eye on your histogram with the lighting outdoors, or at least it is for me. When I'm worried about that I forget the other details! You'll do well just back up a bit and look at your horizon!

Mitchell

saurora wrote:

Nice job David. I recently shot some more beach shots too and ran into the same problems you show - cropping too tight and horizons running through heads. It's hard to keep an eye on your histogram with the lighting outdoors, or at least it is for me. When I'm worried about that I forget the other details! You'll do well just back up a bit and look at your horizon!

The biggest problem I've had at the beach is not being able to see the LCD well enough. I think this is one setting where one of those shades or an LCD loupe would be very helpful. I think I will set up a small canopy next time to provide some shade for me to chimp a little.

DavidS

Thanks for the feedback Saurora.

Mitch,

Do you adjust your ambient and flash EV? If so how much?