Beach shots

glavoie

Hi there!

I will be going on a family beach trip and plan on using my tripod and taking a family photo on the beach. Any tips? I bought the cheat sheets for both my lenses 18-135 and 50 mm 1.8.

PBked

Hi @GLAVOIE
Hopefully your trip will be in bright, sunny weather. Both lenses you mention are good for family or individual shots. What I would advise is the purchase of a circular polarizing filter which you should fit to your lens instead of a UV filter.
If it's a very sandy beach, a CPL will not only help protect your lens from sand, but it will help with your exposures as sunlight on bright sand can mess up your metering system. A CPL can also give you those deep blue skies that you see in travel ads.
Another positive for a CPL is that it can help take the glare away from the surface of the water (they are great for taking pictures into rock pools). There are many good short tutorials on the web about how to use a CPL, but basically try to shoot at 90 degrees to the sun eg. if the sun is right in front of you, turn left or right 90 degrees and place your subjects in that plane.
Another little trick is to use your built-in flash as a fill light even if it is a very bright day. The reason for this is that it will fill in any shadows on faces and really makes your pictures pop.
I could go on for hours about different things to try, but in the end it is a case of suck it and see. Takes lots and lots of shots.
I would suggest that you choose 1 lens to use. If you really want to swap out lenses at any point, try to do it in some kind of sheltered place. You would be amazed at how much sand can find it's way into your camera even if there doesn't appear to be any breeze. When working near water, make sure you handhold your camera securely or your tripod is really secure.
Best regards and happy shooting
PBked