Destin, Florida - Beach Tips

[OpticalPrime]

We are going on family vacation in about a month to Destin, Florida. This will be my first trip to the beach with my SLR. Would like some hints/tips on making the sky/water, etc look good. thanks ahead of time

[boxofrocks]

Two words:

Circular Polarizer

[OpticalPrime]

I do have one of those for my 28/50 primes. I just havent quite figured out how to use it effectively yet

[Digital Daddy]

One word; Ditto. O.K. a few more words.....They work better at right angles to the sun, but you just look through the viewfinder and rotate the ring untill you see what you like. It will darken a blue sky and remove reflections. It will also help to soak up a little of the daytime sun and improve contrast. Almost forgot, watch in camera metering as all that pretty white sand (read bright) will fool it. Try a gray card and manual exposure.

[RightAngle]

We went to Destin over spring break and I shot some senior pictures while I was there. Bring a polarizer for sure. Make sure you have a good tripod because the sunset and dusk shots can turn out amazing. I would make sure you pack safe, I brought a pelican case with my reflectors flashes lenses etc and then another pelican case inside of that one wit the body so that I could grab that and go to the beach and lock it. This way I could set it beside me while shooting and not worry so much about it walking plus it is weather sealed so no risk of water or something getting on my equipment.

Oh and I almost forgot... DUST ROCKET!!! you will get sand on your sensor so do yourself a favor and bring it with you.

[OpticalPrime]

what is a dust rocket?

[KeithAlanK]

To elaborate on what Barry said, your camera's exposure meter will try to make sand=18% grey, so if there's a lot of beach in a photo you'll end up underexposed.
Adjusting your EV control to +1 or even as much as +2 is the easiest way to deal with this.
A little blown-out sand is preferable to people and other subjects that are too dark.

[venchka]

Further to adjusting for sand: Use the palm of your hand as a substitute for your subject's skin. Do this before you go and adjust your exposure compensation for pleasing skin tones and good overall exposure. If there's a golf course handy you can practice on sand traps. Polarizer: don't overdue removing reflections. Turn the filter until the reflections are gone & back off a wee bit. Otherwise you can get dull lifeless pictures. Shoot early, like really early and late too. IDEA: I just made this up but it could work: if you mist change lenses on/near the beach, try doing it in a palstic bag. Practice at home first.

Enjoy!

[kenw]

better yet: avoid changing lenses on beach altogether.

Watch for lens/glass fogging in the morning after keeping the gear in nice dry AC overnight....

[venchka]

This series was shot on the beach about a half mile east of Sandestin and a couple hundred yards west of Jerry Jones' house (if he still owns it). The exposure was pretty good that day.

70-200/2.8 | Auto everything | That other sensor material | Prints scanned & glued together with free software | Post processing? What's that?

[venchka]

Originally Posted by kenw

better yet: avoid changing lenses on beach altogether.

Watch for lens/glass fogging in the morning after keeping the gear in nice dry AC overnight....

Mega-dittos on the A/C thing. I had to wait several hours for my 70-200 to unfog itself. After that, I left the lens on the screen porch.

Why buy an interchangeable lens camera if you can't change lenses? Eh!

[RightAngle]

Originally Posted by 00bolt

what is a dust rocket?

Just something to blow sand and dirty off your sensor or glass.

I ran into problem with peoples clothes flipping sand onto the lens or camera when we got back into the room. Changing lenses on the beach is a scary and dangerous frontier I would NOT suggest crossing.

[venchka]

Shakes his head muttering...

[RightAngle]

I tried to establish a no walking zone around my gear but little ones with flip flops always seemed to ignore that.

[CaptainTom]

Two words? SUNSCREEN