Enewsletter
July 2007

“Photography is all about controlling light, and there are a number of ways to get the most from the light during a trip to the beach,” he explains. “I recommend starting with a sturdy tripod. A tripod allows you to carefully frame a scene and then control the focus, depth of field, and in many cases, the movement of different objects that will appear in the frame. One example of how stillness and motion were captured in an image using a tripod is the horseshoe crabs. The crabs were not moving very quickly, but the water was flowing at a pretty rapid pace. It was shot at 17mm, F/11 at 1/2 second and ISO 100. At 1/2 second, there was a nice balance of stillness and motion in the scene. I used the Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8, which produces very sharp images across the entire zoom range. I also made sure that I had the lens hood on that comes with the lens, which helps to minimize flare and increases overall contrast. The 17-50mm is ideal for times like this when my tripod is firmly in a few inches of sand. By zooming in and out of the scene, I was able to get a variety of shots.”

Another example of how Hubbard used a tripod to create a creative balance is in this photo, shot at sunset on Fire Island. “I wanted the sky and walkway to be sharp, but at the same time, I wanted to achieve a feeling of motion in the image, which can be seen in the blurred wild grasses on either side of the walkway,” Hubbard recalls. “It was shot with the 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II. The aperture was F/11, with an exposure of two seconds at ISO 100, and a focal length of 38mm.”

In a third example, Hubbard used a tripod and a Nikon SB-600 flash to produce a unique image at sunset in a field of wild grasses. “This image was shot at F/19, 1/3 of a second and ISO 400 at a focal length of 26mm. To begin with, I switched to manual exposure mode and metered for the sky. Once I had that exposure, I adjusted my F-stop, aperture and ISO so that the shutter speed would be approximately 1/3 of a second. I then adjusted the flash exposure compensation (FEC) to –1 EV (one stop less light than a normal flash exposure), which was enough power to freeze the wild grasses in some spots, but create an overall feeling of motion. If the flash had been fired at full power, the grasses would have been overexposed."

Tip Box

Tip 1:
Bring a reflector or improvise. When you are on the beach photographing people (especially close-ups), one of the best ways to balance bright sunlight or sunlight through scattered clouds is to use a reflector. A commercially available collapsible reflector, piece of foam, or even a white towel, when placed on the side opposite where the light is strongest, can soften the harshness of the sun’s rays, and help to brighten faces. Though subtle, in this photograph, the towel around the girl demonstrates how it acted as a reflector. The light from the towel reduced the overall contrast and also added soft catch lights in her eyes.

Tip 2:
Experiment with the white balance on digital cameras. The light at the beach is constantly changing, so you may not always want to create a custom white balance throughout the day. One approach I use is to shoot a scene using two different white balances, including auto white balance and a white balance that matches the scene–such as Daylight. Of course, you can easily change the white balance setting later (RAW files are particularly well-suited to be adjusted without creating a loss of quality), but I prefer to get the white balance I want in camera while I’m shooting, instead of while editing.

Tip 3:
Use a tripod. In addition to the reasons described in the first part of this article, a tripod can help turn what looks like a dark night sky into a beautiful backdrop for natural or man-made subjects. One example of this can be seen in the photo of the Fire Island Lighthouse. I was standing on the wooden walkway when I took this photo, and the sky was a much darker shade of blue (almost black) in reality. The exposure was 20 seconds at F/9.5 and ISO 400 at 22mm and it was photographed with a Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 Di-II lens. The lens’ F/2.8 maximum aperture and bright viewfinder image helped me to frame the scene, even in very low light.

Tip 4:
Bring a flashlight. Because some of the most dramatic images can be captured after sundown, you will definitely want to carry a flashlight (or two) with you when you are out shooting in the evening. Flashlights can also be used to illuminate parts of a scene during time exposures with your camera on a tripod.

Tip 5:
Set aside an extra day for photography when you go on business trips. Many people travel to locations filled with photographic opportunities, but all too often they don’t set time aside to explore because they are “on business.” If you can fit in a few hours to explore with your camera–or even better–an extra day or two, you will build a portfolio of images from your travels. Having a lightweight DSLR camera and a compact zoom, such as the Tamron 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II will give you a wide zoom range that won’t weigh you down when you are traveling to and from meetings or trade shows.