Beach surroundings are great natural backdrops for a portrait photo shoot. The shoot can be dynamic and fun, romantic, pensive, and sexy — you just need to choose the right image and think about shot options.
Inspired beach session
- Accessories. Items that are associated with a colorful summer vacation are begging to be in the frame! Take everything — a big hat, a delicate pareo, a colorful bag, a striped towel. You can add the necessary accents at the processing stage. For example, in the editor retouchme.com/service/add-glasses-to-photo, it is easy to try on the hero of the photo session stylish sunglasses. Don’t be shy of “childish” attributes: inflatable circles and mattresses, balls and buckets are suitable for a cheerful or lyrical photo session.
- Underwater shooting. Such a portrait can be shot both with equipment (mask, tube) and without additional props. To catch successful shots the photographer and model will have to dive, but the result is worth it.
- Interaction with sand. You can build with sand, draw on it, write words on it, and pour it through your fingers. Grains of sand look beautiful on the skin, making the final portrait direct and sincere.
- Active rest. The beach is not only a place for lying on a chaise lounge and swimming, here you can realize many dynamic subjects of portrait photo session. These include playing badminton or volleyball, surfing, and kiting. Even riding on a banana can give a lot of emotions, which the photographer will only have to catch in the lens.
- Bright cocktail. Since portrait photography involves close-ups, a glass with a drink can be harmoniously inscribed in the composition. Fogged glass walls, ringing ice, and an explosive combination of colors will become the highlight of the frame. Want to emphasize that the tropics are all around you? Treat yourself to a fruit cocktail with a straw sticking straight out of a coconut, passion fruit, or papaya.
- Silhouettes and shadows. The sheer amount of light a photographer works with during a beach photo shoot opens up the possibilities for interesting optical effects. Shooting against the sun and shaped shadows on the model’s skin are just some of them.
- Looking for reflections. The surface of the water, sunglasses, a glass with a drink — an unusual look for the model can be found everywhere. To develop this theme, you can bring mirrors of different sizes and shapes to the beach, and build a portrait composition using them.
Your perfect photos on the beach: 4 secrets
- Avoid the crowd. It is unlikely that a portrait will win if the silhouettes of other people are visible in the background. They can be removed at the editing stage, but it’s unnecessary work. It is much more reasonable to choose a place or time with fewer visitors on the beach in advance.
- Shoot during the “golden hour.” The open afternoon sun is not the photographer’s best friend: it gives backlights, distorts shadows, and affects the model’s facial expressions. The optimal time is 9–10 am and 5–6 pm. Dawn and sunset also look great in the frame, but they set a certain color tone and general mood, which should be in harmony with the images of the photo session
- Use a polarizing filter. It will avoid unnecessary glare and overlighting, and will give saturated colors on the photo.
- Shoot at slow shutter speeds with a tripod. A slow shutter will allow you to catch the lively movement of waves and clouds, the finished frame will be very expressive and multiplanar.
Beach photography is a challenge for the photographer, but also an interesting and rewarding experience.
