digital-photography-school.com — Beaches present digital camera owners with a number of wonderful opportunities as they are places of natural beauty, color and interesting light. However they also present a variety of challenges including camera damage, privacy issues and making large open spaces interesting.
May 30, 2007 View in Crawl 4
joshuarrMay 31, 2007
Because a mac is the only comp worth doing digital photography on maybe?(Yes, I am ready to be buried.)
bwaulderMay 31, 2007
Those are very good tips, but they apply to other areas of outdoor photography just the same. By the way, following them still won't get you that kind of pictures, it takes much more than the magic ten tips.
crash128May 31, 2007
1. Beware of sand damage. If it gets in your lens you will need to have it repaired. A uv filter is a start, but should also try to cover up the lens rings (cylinders that turn).2. Beware of sand damage. Wrap it in a baggie if you can.3. Sand - it's bad for cameras. Never put a camera in the sand or on a blanket unprotected. Carrying case or (see above) plastic bag.4. Ocean water - has lots of sand-like salt in it (kidding).5. Sharks. If you go in the surf to get pix from the water, especially avoid the sand sharks.
bcorderMay 31, 2007
Nice article, timely. I'm heading to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks in about a month... 30D and all.
qwertyliciousMay 31, 2007
Watch out for sand damage. Luckily, the only camera I have had damaged was a s**tty disposable one when sand got into the mechanism and it wouldn't allow any more pictures being taken, and I'm sure this could also happen with proper cameras....
gawtmilkMay 31, 2007
What's so great about this article? It's just some basic tips, complete with photos taken on the beach. 1) You should always, always, always look for a focal point. Photos are just boring if it's a photo of "the beach" or "a wave". Take a photo of "a surfer" ON "a wave". It'll make the photo more interesting, there'll be more to look at.2) Once again, timing is always important. This is especially true with lighting. You've got a five minute time period at sun rise and sunset to get good color, other than that it's much harder. Also, you cannot take a photo of "a surfer on the wave" if he falls underwater as you press the shutter.3) Your horizon is never going to be completely flat. Factor in camera shake and barrel / pincushion distortion, and you've got a constantly curvy horizon. Just use Photoshop / Picasa / GIMP / iPhoto to straighten them out, and possibly correct the lens distortion (in Photoshop go to Filter -> Distort -> Lens Correction, not sure about other three).4) One of my favorite photos ever was the polar opposite of this step. It's all about knowing what to look for. Crowds aren't always a bad thing...<a class="user" href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/content/articles/721/images/000%20crowd.jpg">http://www.opendemocracy.net/content/articles/721/images/000%20crowd.jpg</a>5) Exposure bracketing is only necessary when you've got contrasty photos. Rather than take four photos at a time, just set your camera down a stop or two. 6) Spot metering is terrible for beginners. Matrix metering, the standard for the past forty years, was developed for a reason. You're never going to get highlight detail back once you overexpose, but shadow detail is easy to get back by turning up the brightness (there are hundreds of methods). Matrix metering will get the brightest area correctly exposed, and work from there. If your photos are turning black, just use fill flash as mentioned next. Using spot metering is bad because you're never going to get a perfect exposure if the lighting is bad, and by metering a midtone from someone's face, the sky will be bright and white.7) Good advice. Many people think, "why use a flash? It's so bright out!". This is wrong...fill-in flash, when used in the "TTL" or "Through The Lens" mode (the standard on point and shoots, but you have to select on a dSLR) is automatic.8) You should *ALWAYS* have at least one filter covering your glass. UVs are good because they offer no negative effects (they won't block out nearly as much light as others, not even a stop).9) Keep in mind polarizing filters stop down your camera. I had a $10 circular-polarizing filter which stopped my photos down by 2/3. That's a lot. Just keep that in mind. Another thing about polarizing filters is that it's easy to do in Photoshop...so don't even think about "shooting through your sunglasses". No one in their right mind would do that. I stopped using my polarizing filters due to the amount of light they block out. Instead, I started using Photoshop to accurately emulate the effect. Here's a simple tutorial.<a class="user" href="http://www.dpgr.gr/usergalleries/albums/userpics/10471/photoshop_polarizer.jpg">http://www.dpgr.gr/usergalleries/albums/userpics/10471/photoshop_polarizer.jpg</a>10) Black and white is good, it's also a great way to focus more on tones than color. If your sky is too bright, switching to black and white lets you darken without ruining any colors.---Sorry for sounding a bit elitist. I'm doing this for you guys, not to be a pompous assh**e. Hope I helped.
nosaltMay 31, 2007
"as they are places of natural beauty, color and interesting light"AND ... hotties of the female persuasion wearing little bikinis!!!