Photographing Seascapes

This article on photographing seascapes forms the second part of our series on coastal landscape photography.

As well as sweeping panoramic landscapes, there are so many other details you can find in the coastal landscape. Rocks, sand patterns and tidal pools give you endless opportunities to capture the finer details even if the weather isn’t favourable for panoramic shots.

Top tips to add creativity in coastal details

• Go in close – capture details such as shells, starfish and sea creatures found in rock pools. Rock pools make good foreground interest when the tide is out as they are then teaming with life.
• Reflections in rock and tidal pools – you can really start to use your creative skills here.
• Find shapes and patterns in the sand – a receding tide will leave behind interesting patterns, colours and textures.
• Shoot into the light – pebbles and shingle are also good subjects for shooting into the light as the highlights dance off the surfaces.
• Find shingled or pebbled stretches of beach – these can offer the chance to capture some good shots with water lapping over a shingle or pebbled shoreline.
• Wait until the tide is out – beaches that appear featureless when the tide is in may prove interesting when the tide is out. Newly formed tidal pools, patterns and shapes in the sand suddenly emerge.
• Find some strong subjects for composition – sea defences, piers, boulders and groynes can provide a strong composition. Setting long exposures to capture crashing waves around rocks and groynes can provide some dramatic results.
• Try shooting in black and white – if the weather deteriorates strong subjects such as boulders and groynes will appear more atmospheric in black and white.
• Scour the landscape for signs of coastal erosion along cliffs and rocky outcrops for interesting shapes and colours.
• Cliffs can provide you with a chance to create some powerful images with strong lines and textures. Find a high vantage point to shoot a rugged coastline of rocks jutting out to sea when photographing seascapes. Or shoot upwards from the base of the cliff for an alternative viewpoint.

Top 5 tips for successful seascape photography

1. Capture movement

To capture movement when photographing seascapes try experimenting with exposure times. These will create different effects. Always attach a shutter cable release to your camera when doing long exposures.

• Switch to a short shutter speed of around 1/2 sec. This is to record a slight movement in waves. It will also be just fast enough to freeze the action of crashing waves against a rocky coastline and create a sense of movement without stripping out all the detail.
• Make use of a very slow shutter speed for a long exposure. Times of up to several minutes can create smooth, placid water. This achieves a minimal look and blurs water and clouds.
• For the ultimate degree of blur create a really milky effect of the water. Use a very slow shutter speed by using a 10 stop ND filter to enable shutter speeds of several minutes.
• Attach an ND filter in bright conditions. Making a long exposure is often tricky in bright conditions so use a ND filter to block out more of the light and create a greater degree of blur.
• It is crucial to get your composition and focusing correct before you attach a filter. Especially when using a 10 stop for long exposures, as you won’t be able to see through the viewfinder!
• For exposures longer than 30 seconds, try switching to bulb mode which allows you to time exposures of any length and you can control when to stop the exposure with a stopwatch.

It is important to remember when using long exposures to shoot the tide when it is receding as if the tide is advancing you will constantly have to move your tripod to avoid the approaching water.

You can make full use of the water’s ebb and flow without getting distracted if you are able to time shooting for when the tide is on the turn.

2. Create atmosphere

To create atmosphere in a coastal landscape scene try to use some of the following:

• Use the low light of early morning or late evening when using short exposures to capture backlit, crashing waves.
• Photograph with an early morning mist or fog for added atmosphere.
• Blur out the water to create a milky effect by using a very long exposure.
• Use reflections in the water of dramatic cloud formations.
• Use other effects such as time stacking – an increasingly popular technique to master to add atmosphere particularly with sunset skies full of clouds and colour. Multiple exposures are taken every few seconds and then overlapped in post editing to produce a ‘stacked effect’.

3. Find a strong composition

Use rocks or large boulders in the foreground to lead the eye into the scene. Newly washed rock formations offer a more intense colour and sheen and newly formed patterns in the sand are good choices to provide strong foreground interest.

• Use groynes or other subjects such as piers or a jetty for strong leading lines.
• Features such as sea stacks provide a great sharp focal point.
• Find a strong feature such as a lighthouse for a single focal point.
• Look for a subject such as boats to give strong foreground interest.

4. Use a wide-angle lens

The use of a wide-angled lens can offer the chance to exaggerate the foreground interest and the depth of the beach scene.

5. Switch to a lower angle

Lower your tripod down at the water’s edge to capture the shoreline from a lower angle for a greater depth of field.

To find out more about photographing seascapes, look out for our future blogs coming up on Landscapes and Water and How to Create Movement in a Landscape.

If you are inspired by unusual coastal photography check out this video on photographing seascapes taken at lighthouse at Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex.