Beaches are crammed full of interesting photo opportunities. Follow these tips to get the most out of them on your next holiday.
Whenever I go on holiday, one of the things I love to do most is just grab my camera and head out for a day snapping anything and everything in sight. This is a great way to familiarise yourself with a new place, and begin capturing your first impressions.
I particularly love beach photography, because there's such a wide range of fascinating subjects to be found in such a small area. From sand and rocks to shells and sea life, you'll never be short of something to photograph.
The key to beach photography is shooting these objects in a way which tells a story and captures some of the essence of the place. The following guidelines will help you find interesting subjects and frame them in a unique way.
Find an Interesting Subject
When photographing beaches it can be our first instinct to just point the camera at a large expanse of sand or sea and shoot away. While this might look great at the time, it usually produces a disappointing, flat-looking photo which lacks an interesting focal point.
Find a point of interest to base your photo around. Image by Paulo Brandao.
Therefore the first thing to do is find something of interest which will act as the main feature in your beach photo, and then base your composition around that. Here are some ideas:
