photos on an overcast beach

[msdebiam]

I plan to visit Ano Nuevo next week and want to take pictures of the Elephant Seals on the beach. Weather will most likely be cloudy/foggy/overcast. Any suggestions on how to get the most out of my photos? Are there any filters that would lessen the "grey" that is typical of my winter photos on the CA coast?
Any tips on photographing the wildlife? Landscape?
I have a Minolta AF (film) with 28-90 & 70-300 lense plus a 2x teleconverter

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Overcast lighting is usually pretty good for people or animals etc. The clouds are like one big soft box. Although, I find that it makes for bland landscapes.

You might want to try a warming filter. Although it might steal some light which might be critical for getting fast shutter speeds for sharp shots.

A general tip for wildlife...try to get to their level...so you are not shooting down (or up) on them. That might be quite a task with elephant seals though. Also, the most important thing to keep in focus is usually the eyes.

 

[Rob]

Get as close as you can... without being eaten. Use a polariser if there's glare. Shoot on vivid film like Fuji Reala 100 or Superia 400. Try and avoid including lots of sky if the sky is boring!

Good luck and we'd love to see your shots when you're done!

Rob

 

[msdebiam]

thank you very much - I am learning a lot here!!!!

 

[Torus34]

If you're shooting B&W, a UV filter might provide some improvement, though not much. Be prepared for low contrast negatives. You will probably have to increase paper contrast grade by one full step or more.

You can also gain in contrast by overdevelopment of the film, but shoot a test roll on location and process it before you try it with those priceless latent images.