Suggestions for shooting on a beach

[truephotoga]

Hello,
I will be doing a shoot on a beach and was wondering if using a ND or polarizing filter would be a good idea? What have others done to cut down the sunlight while taking pics of people on a beach? I do have a reflector, canon 430 ex ii speedlight, and an umbrella for fill. Any other general suggestions for doing a model type shoot on a beach? Thanks.

 

[tirediron]

Both may be useful; it depends on how bright it is, the direction and elevation of the sun and the effects you are trying to acheive. I would certainly have them with me.

When you say, 'cutting down on the sunlight', what exactly do you mean? Do you want longer shutter speeds, larger apertures, or?

The reflector will probably be essential; the speedlight and umbrella may help, BUT s small speedlight on a bright beach day may not be a lot of help.

 

[truephotoga]

Probably will be more concerned with aperture than shutter speed. I was thinking of renting a 70-200mm lens since I only have my 18-55 kit lens. Should I consider a different size lens?

 

[Derrel]

Neutral Density filtration or a polarizer can cut down on ambient light, and effectively make a 1/200 or 1/250 X-synch speed camera a bit more flexible in a beach setting.

Keep in mind, much fill-flash is done with Minus exposure compensation, meaning the flash output is set to Minus 2 to Minus 2.7 f/stops for "fill", with the KEY light being provided by natural sunlight. With all the water, and the sand, even with ND filtration, fill light from flash does not need to be all "that strong" with a 1-stop or 2-stop ND filter, or a polarizer over the lens. Especially if the flash is close to the subjects. The point here is that the ND filter will be cutting a "full power" flash output DOWN to something less,. or much less than a "full power" flash--which is the desired effect when using flash for FILL-In lighting. You need to keep that in mind if the flash is in a TTL exposure mode; at close ranges it may "try" to over-flash the living chit out of things because the filter is so dark--and that is not the look you want from flash designed to serve as fill-in lighting!!! Depends....just be aware...

Polarizing at the beach can be a double-edged sword; at times, cutting or removing ALL of the glare from the ocean's surface gives a very weird, unnatural look...we are conditioned to see large expanses of water with "some kind" of reflections on tip of the water. You have to realize that removing all the glare from the sky can make ocean water, or lake water, look very,very weird at times. Not always, but at times.