How to take good portraits at the beach?

In the hot summer, we often go to the beach for leisure and vacation. Facing the endless sea, we always want to take pictures of this beautiful moment. The light at the seaside is quite unique. How to take portrait photos at the seaside? This requires attention to a few aspects.

(Background selection must be appropriate)

First, the selection of background. On a sunny day, we can use the sea and blue sky as the background, and we can also use the rolling waves as the background to make it look more beautiful. However, when the light is not good, the photos taken with the sea as the background will not look good. At this time, we can use sea water or waves as the background to make the gray sky not appear on the picture as much as possible or rarely appear on the picture. , you can also use the beach as the background to take portrait photos on the beach.

Second, use props. In addition to the sea, blue sky, sun umbrellas, beach chairs, and even the tropical drinks you drink during the break, you can give people the feeling of a sea beach. You can even try to use these props to take photos without the sea in the picture but with a strong sense of the sea.

(If the weather is bad, use the beach as the background)

Third, exposure. Portraits at the beach are most likely to be overexposed. Overexposure will make the sea and blue sky white and lose details, so accurate exposure is very important. When taking portraits at the seaside, you need to use spot metering to determine the exposure value based on weather conditions. When backlighting, pay attention to filling in the person's face. You can use a camera-mounted flash from a distance to fill in the light, or you can add 1-2 stops of exposure compensation to deliberately overexpose to avoid darkening the person's face.

When taking portraits at the seaside, color control is also a difficult problem. Although the weather is good, we often find that the color of the photos is not ideal. This requires us to adjust the white balance settings according to the light conditions, and be careful not to overexpose, otherwise the colors of the sea water and blue sky will not be reflected.

In addition to using waves and beaches as the background, you can also try to change the perspective and use a telephoto lens for close-ups. The blurred sea in the background can better set off the atmosphere.

When capturing children playing, first choose a location with better lighting. If you don’t want to run around, you can use a zoom lens at this location to capture the subject by sitting still and waiting. You can mostly shoot from the side, which is helpful for recording the overall atmosphere and three-dimensional performance.