Shooting on the beach

During the summer time especially, many of us take photos on the beach or on lake shores. On an overcast day this seldom presents a problem. Often we take these photos while on holidays and in sunshine, the story changes.



What most of us forget is that sand reflects sunlight, unless it's very wet. When you pose your subject with a lot of sand in the background, it's like having a white wall or a light behind your subject. The light from the Sun bounces back towards the camera and fools the meter.



Your camera meter tries to achieve what is known as 18% gray. When Eastman invented roll film, he figured out that the average brightness of a scene is equal to 18% gray. I don't know whether he was right or wrong but the camera and film industries agreed with him and today all cameras are designed to balance their exposure to achieve that level of brightness.



What that means is, that when there's a large bright area in a scene, your camera will underexpose it, to achieve as near as possible to 18% gray. This of course means that the rest of the scene is also underexposed and parts of normal or average brightness are recorded as dark.



So, lets go back to your friend posing for you on the beach. If the Sun is to the side or behind her, the sand will reflect a lot of light but your friend will either be partly or fully in shadow. When you press your shutter half way down, your camera measures the light and tries to balance it as explained above. Lets say that you are taking a head and shoulder shot of your friend and she occupies about two thirds or three quarters of the frame. The camera will see this area as the most important and will expose to get it correct.



Next you want to take another shot, this time to show off your friend's sun tan, so you move back and include all of her in the frame. Now, you have to consider the colour of the sand. The lighter the colour of the sand the more light it reflects.



Dark sand presents no problem, at least not for this photo. However, if your friend has just arrived on last night's flight and is still the pasty white we Irish usually are, the problem will be the same as if she were tanned on a white strand, only in reverse.



So, we're on the white sand beach, your friend has been toasting herself for the last ten days and very proud of her deep tan. She's a dark figure, in front of a bright surface. Remember what I said about 18% gray? Your camera will try and reduce the sand to this brightness, meaning your friend will come out almost as a silhouette. She wont be a happy camper, neither will you.



There are several things you could do. If she's young, has a good figure and small bikini, you'll probably have plenty of local guys wanting to pose with her and you can use them to block the reflections from the sand. But, I'm assuming that wouldn't be your first choice.



You could use the +/- button on your camera and get it to overexpose by +0.3 or if it's very bright +0.7. You have to be very careful here. If you over expose too much the light reflecting from the sand will wrap around your friend and create a ghosting effect. It's a kind of a cloudy effect, the more your overexpose the worse it gets, until your friend disappears altogether. Don't worry, it's only in the photo(can't get rid of the wife that easily). No happy campers here either, I'm afraid.



If your camera allows, you could choose 'center weighted metering'. This will measure the light at the center of the frame and expose for that. I explained in my first blog how to use this and still frame for a better looking image, so I wont go into it here. You could end up with the same problem as above however.



Both of these solutions work, where the sand isn't reflecting huge amounts of light. For example, if the sand is a brown or darker colour or where the sun isn't very high in the sky or is partly blocked by cloud. If, however, you have a very bright day, a cloudless sky and light coloured sand, it may be very difficult to get these to work for you. The solution then is in how you pose your subject and the angle you take the photo from.



For example, you could pose your friend on her towel and shoot from slightly over head. Stand back and zoom in. If you stand too close to her and use the wide end of your lens, it will look like her head is out of proportion to her body. Don't shoot from her feet either, this will also distort her appearance. Shooting from the side is best. Avoid limbs pointing directly into the lens.



The more your friend and her towel fills the frame, the less likely it is that reflections from the sand will effect the meter. If there are grassy sand dunes, these are good for photography also. Concrete can cause problems and while black tarmac doesn't fool your meter, it will cause other problems on a hot day.



Another option is to find some trees or an overhanging canopy and shoot under them. Parasols are also good. Shade gives a more flattering light and compliments your subject, while reducing reflections. You will still need to reduce the amount of sand and other reflective objects in the background.



Early mornings and late evenings don't present the same problems. Why? Light reflects at the same angle as it hits the surface. During mid-day the Sun is almost directly overhead and the light is reflecting directly back up at you. When the Sun is lower in the sky the light hits the sand and other surfaces at an oblique angle. For example, if the sun light hits the sand at 30 degrees, it will reflect at 30 degrees in the opposite direction. As long as your subject isn't directly in front of the Sun, these reflections shouldn't be a problem. If they are, change the angle that your are shooting at, until they are not.



The colour of the light in the morning and evening is also more flattering to your subject. The closer to Sun set or Sun rise the nicer it is. At these times the light will improve Sun tans. Now you're talking happy campers.



Water both reflects and absorbs light. It all depends of the angle of the water. Perfectly smooth water absorbs almost all the light that hits it but when have you last seen perfectly smooth water? It acts like glass and allows about 95% of light to pass through and reflects the other 5%. That's how we see reflections of the sky on lakes and rivers.



When water isn't so smooth, some of it is at an angle that is just perfect to reflect the light right down the barrel of your lens and present the same problems as white sand. Experiment with your exposure, as explained above and you could get some lovely results. Move a little to one side and it can help also. However, if the reflections are still causing a problem or you don't want in you image, move so that the reflections are coming from the side.



So, that's it for now. I hope you have a great Summer and get some great shots. I haven't decided what to write about the next time but it might be a little different. I'm thinking about doing something along the lines of describing a photo shoot. Anyway, until next time take care of yourself and happy snapping.