Beach Portrait Fail

[Ashlorraine]

Ok, so maybe COMPLETE failure is overreacting, but I'm definitely sad about them. This is my first time taking photos of people on the beach, and usually before I know I am going to photograph something specific I do research to learn how. However this time I was walking with my parents and they told me to get my camera from the car. I only had about 15 minutes, so I couldn't practice enough to get it right, but that's life right?

The problem is that all the backgrounds are really overexposed. My quick attempt at fixing this was exposing for the background then adding a flash, but even the lightest flash reflected off the ocean. It would be great to get advice for dealing with this situation, and also....

...tips to fix these photos! I really want to be able to give my parents at least one, decent photo. Which is the most workable? Everything below is unedited besides minor cropping. Oh, and if I crop these should I keep them perfectly centered? Any other general critiques are welcome! Thankyou so so much!!!

I used: Nikon D60 35mm f1.8

Photo One

Photo Two

Photo Three

Photo Four

Photo Five

Photo Six (lol, I thought I could fix it by putting it in b&w)

 

[Noxire]

I think 3# and 6# should be fixable since the background isn't completely blown out.

Besides, crop 3# closer they have the whole "heart-pose" going on

Also, I don't think that it was the flash that reflected back from the ocean but rather the camera changing to 1/200s shutter when you activated the flash hence overexposing even more.

 

[Ashlorraine]

Also, I don't think that it was the flash that reflected back from the ocean but rather the camera changing to 1/200s shutter when you activated the flash hence overexposing even more.

Ohhh yeah I completely forgot that the shutter changes to 1/200 w/ the flash! haha now that make sense! Thanks so much for the input

 

[StringThing]

I don't have any advice on how to prevent this as I am still learning and probably would have had the same thing happen to me. So, FWIW, I like the crop in #2 and I like #6, it tells some sort of story. BTW, beautiful couple! Very photogenic.

 

[Compaq]

Even if the water is over exposed in #5, I think if you cropped into portrait it would be nice. I like the splashing behind them.

Splashing water is pretty white to start with, so exposing for anything that reflects less light that white (nothing) would over expose the water.

 

[DiskoJoe]

if you have ps the just lower the exposure in the raw converter and add some fill light. The pics probably wont come out perfect but they would be a little less overexposed. but despite that the poses looked nice and the happiness is genuine. Thats much more important then the exposure being perfect.