Digital Camera World (2019-06)

Six ways to shoot...

At the beach

1

Move the camera!

Intentional camera

movement is a great

technique at the beach.

The simplified shapes

of the land, sea and sky

can create interesting

effects when you show

your shutter speed

right down and move

deliberately move

your camera during

the exposure. Expect

hit-and-miss results –

but the hits can

be spectacular.

2

Wave action

The constant ebb and

flow of the tide gives

you lots of potential

for slow-shutter-speed

images. Use a tripod

and shoot with a cable

release to keep the

camera still, then time

the waves coming in

or receding. Shutter

speeds of between

1/15 sec and several

minutes can be

worth trying.

3

Patterns

Beaches were made

for abstract imagery

lovers. Everything from

water patterns in the

sand to texture on the

rocks can be found

when exploring the

coastline. Use a short

telephoto lens to

compose tight details,

and explore your angles

to find the most

effective framing.

4

People

Beach candids can

make wonderful

images, and there’s

always something

happening down at

the beach, from people

kite-surfing to walking

the dog or even

exercising a horse.

Throw in a bit of

atmospheric sea

mist, and you might

get something special.

5

Wildlife

Depending on the time

of year, beaches offer

ample wildlife

opportunities. You’ll

need a telephoto lens

of around 300mm for

animals such as seals,

both to keep you safe

and make sure they

aren’t disturbed. Shoot

from a low position to

create impact, and

include plenty of

the environment

as a backdrop.

6

Black and white

The simplicity of

a beach landscape is

perfect for turning into

artistic monochromatic

prints. Shoot early

or late to get long

shadows to define

forms, and look

for strong shapes and

contrast in the scene.

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com JUNE 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^97

Extreme streets

Q

How do I cope with

contrast extremes

when I am shooting

street scenes?

Lesley Drew

A

There is more than one way to
tackle your issue, Lesley. The
first would be to use physical
filters such as neutral-density
grads, carefully angling them over brighter
areas to try and balance the exposure
and allow extra detail to be captured
across both highlights and shadows.
You can also try bracketing exposures,
effectively taking shots throughout the
brightness range to retain details in
highlights and shadows, then merging
them together as an HDR image. As a rule
of thumb, it’s better to do this on a tripod,
and when there are no ‘moving’ parts to
your scene, such as people or cars. This
is because the moving elements will not
merge seamlessly and spoil the resulting

composite. If you are shooting handheld,

you can still bracket the images and

effectively get a range of potential raw files

to choose from. Select the one that is giving

you the most detail in both highlights and

shadows, then process it to your tastes.

This is what I did with this street scene in

Cuba. Shooting handheld and directly into

the light meant there was a big dynamic

range, so I took five bracketed shots fired in

rapid succession. This shot has been

processed using a single raw; while I don’t

have much detail in the shadow area in front

of the car, it’s retained enough detail in the

sky and on buildings to make the image

work. I could bring more detail out of that

shadow area but I don’t think it would look

natural. I am happy that there are still

some contrast extremes: the important

areas are exposed as I want them.

This high-contrast scene gets detail in

the crucial areas on a single exposure.