sunny beach question

hi, VERY new to it ALL!!!.....would like to take some pix of my grandchild on the hot sunny beach. i have xti rebel. no other lenses, etc. any suggestions i will be so grateful!!

Get a flash

You will need a lens.:p

I'm fairly new to this too and will take a stab at this, but hopefully a couple of more experienced shooters will step in. Two ways you could do this are: 1. Get up close to your grandchild, put the camera in full manual mode, set your ISO to 100, f-stop to what you want, aim your camera at his/her face and fill the frame with just the face and set the exposure needle to the zero (center). Your exposure is now set. Back up and start shooting trying to focus on the child's eyes everytime (using one your focus points). Also, if the sun is at the child's back, a flash will help with harsh shadows and you may want to use the sky to meter off of (example-set your f stop, iso to 100, point the camera to the sky without the sun in the frame and set the needle to 0) and use a flash.

2. Use Sunny 16 rule. On a sunny day you can start with the camera like this. f16 and set the shutter to the same as the ISO (ex. f16, ISO 400, shutter 400; or f16, ISO 100, shutter 100).

Hope this helps, again I'm learning too and this is how I would start, probably using my 1st example with or without flash. The flash will help tremendously if the sun is at the back of the child.

The two first responses were SOO helpful guys, c'mon.

Original poster, if you can find the book Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson, buy it. It is a great book if your trying to learn photography.

you may want to have a beach umbrella available to create some shade on the children for the shoot. you will still have the bright sun for some great lighting and also the shade to diffuse the light for some great shots. also remember if the sand is white you may need to slightly overexpose the shot so the sand comes out white.... like when you take pictures of snow... 1.5 to 2 f stops. it sounds like it will be a fun shoot. good luck.

Welcome to POTN! You probably should start here. Canon Rebel XT Newbie needs help!

Be sure to look at the "Similar Threads" links at the bottom-left of this page, & the "Sticky"s at the top of the forum indexes, too. You'll find everything we have found to be important in those threads.

Steve Wintrow wrote in post #9412013
you may want to have a beach umbrella available to create some shade on the children for the shoot. you will still have the bright sun for some great lighting and also the shade to diffuse the light for some great shots. also remember if the sand is white you may need to slightly overexpose the shot so the sand comes out white.... like when you take pictures of snow... 1.5 to 2 f stops. it sounds like it will be a fun shoot. good luck.

It's worth pointing out, if you put the subjects in shade then you will definitely need to light them with a flash.

I'd use a flash on the beach anyway as the shadows are typically very harsh. If the day is truly bright and sunny it's easy to set the exposure:

1/200, f/11 and ISO100. Add a flash to fill shadows.

T&E Run wrote in post #9411635
I'm fairly new to this too and will take a stab at this, but hopefully a couple of more experienced shooters will step in. Two ways you could do this are: 1. Get up close to your grandchild, put the camera in full manual mode, set your ISO to 100, f-stop to what you want, aim your camera at his/her face and fill the frame with just the face and set the exposure needle to the zero (center). Your exposure is now set. Back up and start shooting trying to focus on the child's eyes everytime (using one your focus points). Also, if the sun is at the child's back, a flash will help with harsh shadows and you may want to use the sky to meter off of (example-set your f stop, iso to 100, point the camera to the sky without the sun in the frame and set the needle to 0) and use a flash.

2. Use Sunny 16 rule. On a sunny day you can start with the camera like this. f16 and set the shutter to the same as the ISO (ex. f16, ISO 400, shutter 400; or f16, ISO 100, shutter 100).

Hope this helps, again I'm learning too and this is how I would start, probably using my 1st example with or without flash. The flash will help tremendously if the sun is at the back of the child.

1. Skin tone is dependent upon race and status of sun tan. More practical method is to set meter to -1EV while reading the palm of your hand. The palm is pretty consistent throughout the seasons, and regardless of racial backround!

2. On the beach (or snow) use Sunny 22, not Sunny 16!

Wilt wrote in post #9418293
2. On the beach (or snow) use Sunny 22, not Sunny 16!

I dunno Wilt. This is 1/200, f/11 and ISO 100 with flash. This is as bright as it gets here in July.

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T&E Run wrote in post #9411639
The two first responses were SOO helpful guys, c'mon.

Actually the first response was helpful. A beach on a bright sunny day is going to cause very harsh shadows on the face. A flash used for fill to eliminate those shadows is good advice.

JeffreyG wrote in post #9418432
I dunno Wilt. This is 1/200, f/11 and ISO 100 with flash. This is as bright as it gets here in July.

You're doubting the veracity of what Kodak, the Great Yellow God, said in recommendations provided for film cameras without meters!

Sunny 16 is really open for interpretation! I remember it as:

Bright sun on beach or snow Close 1 f /stop
Normal Bright Sun Sunny 16 Rule
Hazy sun, soft shadows Open 1 f /stop
Cloudy bright, no shadows Open 2 f /stops
Open shade, no sun Open 3 f /stops
Heavy overcast Open 3 f /stops

In the 1984 publication, The Users Guide to Photographic Film, it mentions Adjustments to Sunny 16:

"bright or hazy sun on bright sand, snow, or still waters: close down one stop or use next higher shutter speed." This jives with my own recollection.

Ansel Adams himself wrote, in The Negative, about emergency estimation of exposure,
"to refer to the 'tip sheet' packaged with the film...A second approach is...under bright sunlight conditions a 'normal' exposure is about f/16 at a shutter speed equal to 1/ASA-number.

The difference is 'bright sunlight' vs. 'bright sunlight on bright sand, snow'. Numerous reference in print, like John Shaw's Closeups in Nature refer to Sunny 16 and going outside on a bright sunny day and f/16, and snow or beaches is not a pre-req!


I just lowered exposure by -0.75EV in Lightroom, to illustrate exposure closer to Sunny 22 at the beach or snow, where the sand or snow reflects a lot of light onto the subject...

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If you can, shoot at later or earlier in the day. The bright sand/background may fool the camera and the face of the subjects may be too dark as a result.
Consider shooting in P mode and using Exposure Compensation to something like +1. It'll make the sand more washed out and brighter but the faces should be better exposed.

You can also use the pop up flash to fill in some of the shadows in Av and Tv mode but the flash limits the shutter speed to 1/200 and that may not be possible with a lot of light to get such a slow shutter speed.

You can also pick the AF point (usually the center one) and focus on the eyes and recompose the image so that the eyes are in focus and the subject isn't always dead center for a more dynamic composition.

If you are very new, I'd probably go with the portrait mode and try a shot with and without a pop up flash and see how things go.

Good luck and have fun.

Best shots - supply the light - not direct flash if possible, sunrise or sunset is best light.