Beach Pictures

[Jocko]

Does anyone have any tips/tricks to share about taking pictures at the beach?
Thanks!

[pradeep1]

1. Have sun behind you or use a fill flash to illuminate people/things if you are facing into the sun and taking pictures.

2. If you are taking pictures of sunsets, expose for the sun, that way you will get the nice clouds in the sky.

3. If you have an interesting foreground and a nice sunset, do two exposures on a tripod (if possible). One exposed for the sun, where the foreground will be dark and washed out, and one exposed for the foreground, where the sky will be washed out. Combine pictures in paintshop and have the properly exposed sun and the properly exposed foreground in one picture. See sdommin's post here for ideas:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19344

4. Be careful of salt water getting in to your camera.

5. If sand is pure white or pure black, considering using an 18% gray card to do your exposure metering. Also, if you are relatively white person, you can use the back of your hand to do this. I am not that white, but still works for me. By doing this, you can avoid those blah photos where all the sand is gray and bland.

6. Use a polarizing filter to get good sky photos.

7. Consider using the neutral density filter built into your G3.

That's all I can think of now...

[dog010]

Try not to change CF cards or open the battery compartment whilst on the beach to keep the gritty sand out of the innards. If you've got a lens adapter and UV filter leave that on; will make cleaning the lens much easier as you'll only have to clean the filter.

[Silverman]

Dog010, you said that lens adapter for g3 protects it?
is that right? Cos i've just bought a LADC58B lens adapter, with that, is the camera protected against scratches, dust???

thanks in advance

Silverman

[Jocko]

Thanks pradeep1m and dog010. These were really nice tips. I'm going to Hawaii in December and this time I expect to get some nice shots on the beach. Last time I wasn't 'lucky' to capture good ones.

[jeffyr163]

Silverman,

The adapter will protect the lens IF you have a filter attached.

Jocko,

One tip for exposure that I didn't catch antone else mentioning is checking the histogram after an initial exposure. This will show you if areas are clipped on the image with a flashing area, and show you where your detail lies within the histogram. On a sunny beacch expect that a bulk of the info will lie on the highlight side, but you should have spikes throughout. Adjust exposure accordingly to retain as much detail as possible....the histogram doesn't lie and is not subjective.

Ohh....and shooting RAW files if possible will give you the most flexability in post to adjust the images since they have not been compressed with the JPEG algorithm.
I will come with you on the trip as a consultant if my way is paid ! hehe.

jeffyr

[Silverman]

jeffyr163,

Can i buy a generic UV filter(SK), or is it gotta be a hoya or other? What UV filter you recommend?

Thanks

Silverman

[jeffyr163]

Any UV will do, but a more $ UV filter will be made of better materials. I use Hoyas and Tiffens mostly, but I have a Canon too. I like having a metal ring filter so installing and removing the wide angle (metal) doesn't crossthread and strip the filter.

jeffyr