Head to the coast and unleash your creative side this summer, with James Abbott’s expert guide to seascape photography
James Abbott
Everyone enjoys a trip to the seaside, but for landscape photographers, it’s not just the idea of chips and ice cream on the promenade that whets their appetite. The coast is an exciting location that can provide a huge amount of scope for eye-catching photography. So while you’re on holiday or having a day out at the coast, don’t forget to take your camera with you.
During the summer months, sunrise can be as early as 4.30am, with sunset as late as 9.30pm, which means you can be out shooting well before the day begins, with time for a nap before breakfast; or you could shoot after your evening meal. This makes seascapes the perfect subject on holiday, because the early and late golden hours won’t interfere with your day.
Seascape photography follows all of the same conventions of landscape photography, but with one key difference: most compositions feature water. Seascapes rely on the ability to use exposure to capture water in a multitude of ways; from crashing waves. frozen in time by fast shutter speeds, to silky smooth water created by long exposures, and everything in-between.
So whether you’re an absolute beginner who needs solid guidance to get started, or an expert looking for inspiration, you’ll find everything you need on these pages.
CONTENTS
Sky detail page 58
Dramatic light 60
Exposure skills 62
Cool compositions 64
Perfect timing 65
Go wide for impact 66
Get creative 67
Pastel sunset
New Brighton Beach, Wallasey
This long-exposure image was taken with the sun setting to the left of the lighthouse, which has resulted in soft side lighting and warm pastel hues being spread across the scene. This is a location that’s most commonly shot at low to mid tide, but shooting a long exposure at high tide allowed the sea defences to be used as a lead-in line.
Long-exposure images are often converted to black and white to avoid the difficulties of removing the colour casts created by ND filters. But it’s always worth trying to remove the colour cast using White Balance and Curves in Lightroom or other raw processing software: the results can be stunning.
USE YOUR FREE TIPS CARDS!
Take this issue’s card on shooting lighthouses on location