Beach Landscape Photography is normally associated with vacation photos, family memories, and portraits of people enjoying the sun. But did you know beaches can be beautiful at night too? Here are 10 Beach Landscape Photography Tips to help get you started on your way to photographing amazing beach nightscapes!
1) Have fun! When photographing along the coast, it’s important to enjoy yourself because there are a ton of photo opportunities no matter where you look. Look in any direction, and chances are there will be something interesting taking place with the waves, ships in the distance, clouds overhead, or running after a seagull. If you’re having a good time when shooting landscapes on location, it’s likely visitors nearby will notice and want their photos taken too.
2) Bring the right equipment. It never hurts to have a tripod on your camera when nightfall settles over the beach. This will allow time exposures of any length without the movement caused by holding your camera. Another helpful item is a flashlight so you can see what you’re doing, moving around in low light situations while changing settings or mounting your camera on your tripod head. Solar-powered lights are also available for this purpose and are useful if there’s no access to electricity near where you’re shooting.
3) Know where you’re going. If planning to shoot on a beach at night, take the time to scout the area during daylight hours to know exactly where it is you want to go. Do this for yourself so nothing will be missed by accident after dark, but also have an idea of what you want in your photo so any available light can be used successfully.
4) Keep your ISO lower. The higher the ISO number goes, the more noise appears in the image captured by your camera’s sensor. Although digital enhancements can remove some noise from photos, especially through programs like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, why not try keeping your ISO as low as possible? When shooting at night, there are typically no fast shutter speeds available to freeze motion, so having a low ISO will help keep the camera sensor from picking up all of that ambient light.
5) Experiment with long exposures. While some waves might be moving quickly at the time you’re photographing them, there are likely others in your shot that are not. A tripod enables you to capture one part of the dynamic scene before you (the wave racing toward shore) while allowing other parts (trees on the beach; people playing in the surf) to be stationary during the exposure. If using a wide-angle lens, shoot several photos using different shutter speeds and review them later to find out which length best captures what it is you were trying to show your viewers after processing your photo back at home later on.
In conclusion, all of these tips are based on the simple fact that beach photos can be taken day or night, and being creative with how you use natural light will help take your landscape photography skills up a notch!