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Doind a photo shoot at the beach IM not a professional so I need good tips please!?

A friend asked me to take her family photos at the beach. Ive been into photography for a while but haven't done a photo shoot I wanted to take some classes before doing something like that. I have four children so classes will have to wait! Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Public Comments

1. If your camera has exposure bracketing I would switch it on, the beach can be tricky to expose properly with water, bright sand and harsh sunlight. Bracketing will mean it takes a few extra shots every time you take a shot at exposures a little above and below what you (or the camera) originally chose. Check you camera manual for how to set it up.
2. The bright sand will trick your camera into thinking that the scene is too bright, so you should bracket, but plan to underexpose the shot by a 1/3 or 1/2 step. Also, to make sure that you don't get dark shadows on your children's faces, turn on your fill flash option. This won't overexpose the shot, but instead will add light to the shadows so you can see their faces and eyes, which can sometimes be very dark. Of course a good way to manage heavy shadows is by going to the beach very early or very late in the day when the sun isn't very high in the sky. If you wait until about 1/2 hour before sunset, you can get some great light, and even have the setting sun in the background. Again, you should plan to use fill flash to make sure there aren't dark shadows. A note of caution on sunset shots--don't aim your digital camera right at the sun. It can burn your sensor and ruin your camera. Instead aim the camera just off the sun. It will still come out fine.