Seascape Photography Tutorial

Seascape Photography can be very dynamic. With waves crashing on the shore the scene is constantly changing. To make the most of it and also to ensure my camera equipment stays dry I follow a certain workflow, which I want to share with you in this seascape photography tutorial.

Workflow

Over the years I’ve implemented a routine, which I follow when I’m out taking seascape photos. In parts it is similar to my normal landscape photography workflow. But photographing close to the water requires some special preparation.

In the video tutorial below I explain the five key elements of my seascape photography workflow. Those are:

• Scouting – It’s always important, if I want to get the most out of a location. But when photographing at the coast, in addition to helping me find good compositions, it also helps me to stay safe when I’m out in the dark before sunrise.
• Tides – Both for safety and photographic reasons, knowing the tides is essential. I usually use Tides4Fishing to get my tide tables for the places I visit.
• Composition – Scouting does not only mean looking around for interesting subjects. One additional step that comes before every photo shoot is scouting with the camera while leaving the tripod behind. Without the tripod I’m much more flexible to explore different angles.
• Setup – I take my time to setup my equipment well away from the water. I make sure everything is in place and I leave the backpack and all I don’t need behind in an elevated position far from the waters edge.
• Photo Shoot – Seascape scenes are often very dynamic and require multiple exposures to capture all the details. So first of all I have to stabilize the tripod so it does not sink into the sand while I take all those photos. I want to get photos, which will later exactly overlap to make the blending easier. For this reason I firmly push the tripod into the sand with the lower legs extended. After 10 – 20cm it usually stops moving.

And even if your photographic routine in the field looks different than mine, it’s good to have one. Especially the setup should follow some kind of standard because then you can be sure not to forget anything. Just imagine standing in the waves, taking photos of an awesome sunset and then having a wave splash your filters. To then recognize that you left your filter cloth behind can be very annoying.

Seascape Photography Guides

I’ll end this tutorial with links to additional guides about seascape photography, which I have available on this homepage. In those I also explain how I prepare for a seascape photography trip, I share more information on scouting and the actual photo shoot, as well as providing information on how I edit seascape photos:

• Preparation and Scouting
• Equipment, Timing and Technique
• Combining Exposures