Farmer Fotography: Portraits on the Beach

So I've been meaning to shoot some portraits of our sons for my wife so she'll have them for Mother's Day but have just been too busy. We caught a nice (although hot) day and we had some time so we put some decent clothes on the boys and hopped in the car and headed to Sandy Hook in NJ to get some shots on the beach. I'm more of an, "on location," kinda guy rather than a studio guy even though there are a lot of variables which need to be accounted for when on location. The problem is, these variables tend to be dynamic when outside due to things like lighting conditions. But that's half the fun!

We couldn't go early in the morning due to previous engagements so I figured we go in the afternoon and let the boys play on the sand a bit while we waited for better light. Luckily, there was no traffic--something you must endure if you want to go, "down the shore," as we say here in NJ--because it was all on its way out of the park. Just the way I like it! No problem parking either since everyone was on their way home by the time we got there.

Unfortunately, we still got there a little too early for the light. I decided to snap a few shots anyway, just to play around and keep from, well, getting bored. The sunlight, as you will see in the photos, was just too harsh. I was able to over-power the sunlight with my flash but it's very hard on the subject since they're looking into the sun as it was to my back. Got a lot of squinting shots...not very good for portraits I think you'll agree.

Here are a couple of shots from when the sun was too harsh:

However, this just shows you how nice a job an on-camera flash can do in such a situation. The sun was bright. Lots of extra light reflecting off the sand as well. A lot of people don't shoot flash in this situation because, well, it's bright. The problem is, as any photog knows, this harsh sun throws unflattering shadows everywhere...especially on your subjects in the face. The flash gets rid of those shadows and gives a much more flattering photo.

So we packed up and drove to another beach area in Sandy Hook. Killed a little more time so the light was getting better. This beach had some nice rocks stacked up which I thought would help make an interesting photo opportunity. So we trudged down the beach to find the, "right," rock. Of course I drove the wife and kids crazy as they just figured any old rock would do but I knew better.

Again, even though the light was better at this point, a flash should still be used for the same reasons I mentioned above. Flash is your friend, not a foe whom you must beat into submission. I started out (in my hobby days) shunning flash. I didn't like flash or how it looked. Always washed out my photos. If it was took dark to shoot, I just didn't shoot. However, that was because I didn't know what I was doing. A flash--or flashes--when used properly, really enhance photos. When you're shooting with a DSLR like so many of us, you have a lot more control over your exposure, which is something you can take advantage of with a flash--even the little built-in flash on so many DSLRs.

In this situation, I'm not using my flash as my main light source. My main light source is the sun in this situation. In fact, I have no less than three light sources in these photos (and the ones above). Yes, I said three...the sun is one, my flash is another and the reflected sun off the sand is a third. Actually, this is a form of over/under lighting which is used in fashion photography where they have a light up high and one down low. It's extremely flattering lighting--when not too harsh that is.

When using a flash in this situation it's called using it as a fill flash. Now, there are lots of different techniques you can use in order to do proper fill flash but I'm not going into that today. Just suffice to say, fill flash is used quite a bit by photogs in order to enhance available light. It's also not terribly hard to do once you understand the basics of flash photography. Again, I'm not going into that in this blog entry but will in a future entry. Just letting you know about fill flash so you can learn a little about it and see how it's used in a situation where many people would never think to use a flash.

So, back to the rocks...

Once I fount the rock for my subjects, I took a few test shots to make sure my exposure was correct and started snapping away. Of course, shooting children can be challenging at times--especially my younger son as he just wants to do his own thing. Very difficult to get him to look at the camera even though he loves to be photographed. Also next to impossible to keep him still but these are the hazards of shooting a 4 year old.

I also got mom in on some shots. Luckily, she was an easy model to work with. Anyway, after all of that, here's what I captured: