A comprehensive guide to seascape photography
Seascape photography is a genre of landscape photography that captures the beauty of the sea or ocean and the coastal areas that surround it. It’s a fascinating and rewarding form of photography that requires a good understanding of light, composition, and… timing. Whether you’re a holiday-maker looking to take some great photos of your beach holiday destination or an intermediate photographer looking to take your skills to the next level, this comprehensive guide will provide you with everything you need to know to capture stunning seascapes that will take your breath away. From the basics of seascape photography to advanced techniques and tips for shooting in different seascapes, this guide will help you unlock your creative potential and take your seascape photography to new heights. So let’s jump in!
Essential gear for seascape photography
- Camera body
- The beauty of seascape photography is that any camera body can be used, whether it’s an entry-level or a pro-consumer camera.
- A camera with a “virtual horizon” feature can help ensure images are straight, but it’s not a requirement.
- See this article for the best camera gear for beginners.
- Lens
- Any lens can be used for seascape photography, a zoom lens provides flexibility for a range of compositions.
- A wide-angle lens is often preferred, however, using panoramic images taken with a longer focal lens is a great workaround.
- Generally, a fast low-aperture lens isn’t necessary as relatively small apertures are often used to ensure the entire scene is in focus.
- Tripod
- Ideally, use a stable tripod which can stay put in windy conditions on never ground. This is required when longer shutter speeds are used.
- A spirit-level bubble built into the tripod helps to position the tripod on uneven ground, facilitating straight panoramic images.
- Filters
- ND filter for extending shutter speeds for long exposure photography.
- Polariser for cutting glare and reflections.
Composition tips
Seascape photography offers many opportunities in terms of compositions. As with other genres of photography, seascapes require a focal point. Seascape scenes offer an abundance of options for focal points such as rocks, lighthouses, cliffs, water and waves.
Although sunny weather and blue skies can make for pleasing images, these conditions often only work if the water is striking blue or there’s a stand out and impressive focal point. It’s often dramatic weather which can work best for seascape images. Examples include cloud formations, rough seas and dramatic lighting.
Read more about the composition techniques used for Maldives beach photography.
Working with filters and long exposures
One of the best ways to create interest and drama in seascape shots is by capturing the movement of the water. This can be done by using a longer shutter speed. The exact settings will depend on the conditions, but here are some general rules.
Conditions that you shoot long exposures can generally be classified into two groups:
- Low light conditions/ fast water movement
- Aperture: Stop down your lens to a small aperture (Higher f/ stop) to let less light in and slow down your shutter speed.
- Shutter speed: 0.5-3 seconds – Experiment within this range.
- ND Filter: Often not required as the low light and smaller aperture are enough to reduce your shutter speed sufficiently.
- Bright light conditions with slow water movement
- Aperture: Ideally, aim for around f/8-f/11 to get the most from your lens and get the scene all in focus.
- Shutter speed: 3-30 seconds
- ND Filter: A variable, 6-stop or 10-stop ND filter allows a further increase in shutter speed as it blocks an amount of light reaching the sensor.
Of course, conditions change. For example, you may have a combination of the above conditions, but generally, if the conditions are bright, you’re almost certainly going to need an ND filter to slow down your shutter speed.
The small cove with a ledge in Mallorca was the perfect place to capture the waves running off the ledge and the water movement around the small cove.
ND Filter options
There are many options when it comes to ND (Neutral Density) filters. The filter depends on the light conditions and desired shutter speed, as explained in the previous section.
There are two types of ND filters, filters which block a fixed amount of light or variable ND filters which offer additional flexibility.
Filters are labelled in different ways, e.g a 6-stop ND filter is called an ND64. ND64 refers to the number of times the shutter speed should be increased to let in the same amount of light. e.g if your shutter speed is 1/8000 it will be 1/125 using a 6-stop ND filter (ND64).
The table below summarises the shutter speed/exposure time with the addition of a 6 or 10-stop ND filter.
When out in the field using these filters, it’s often best to set your exposure with the filter off, then mount the filter and use a phone app to calculate the required shutter speed. Or you can manually make adjustments using trial and error. However, using long shutter speeds can be time-consuming. Lower f/ stop ND filters can usually be used on your camera and your camera will provide a suggested shutter speed based on the internal light metering.
| Exposure time without ND filter | Exposure time with 6 Stop (ND64) | Exposure time with 10 Stop (ND1000) |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8000 | 1/125 | 1/8 |
| 1/4000 | 1/60 | 1/4 |
| 1/2000 | 1/30 | 1/2 |
| 1/1000 | 1/15 | 1 |
| 1/500 | 1/8 | 2 |
| 1/250 | 1/4 | 4 |
| 1/125 | 1/2 | 8 |
| 1/60 | 1 | 16 |
| 1/30 | 2 | 32 |
Tips for capturing waves and water movement
The tips in the previous sections provide general guidelines in terms of equipment and settings. As with any type of photography, the composition is also key.
Water movement can make or break a composition, and it can be a challenge to predict how it will come out in the final photo. For this reason, long-exposure photography can take time, the following steps can help to increase your success:
- Look for a focal point such as a rock or area with fast water.
- Study the water movement and look for leading lines.
- Estimate the best shutter speed based on the lighting conditioning and water movement speed.
- Use a secure tripod and remote shutter to ensure no camera movement.
- Take a number of test shots to check both composition and exposure.
- Set up your final settings and take multiple shots, every shot will be different, therefore it’s good to have options.
The Algarve in Portugal with its rocky coastline is a great place to experiment with long-exposure photography.
Long exposures can bring interest to simple compositions such as this view at sunrise looking out to sea in Cancun, Mexico.
Lighting and mood in seascape photography
Lighting and shadows are a great way to bring to life what could be a standard holiday snap photo. The shadows of the palm trees on this beach lead the eye toward the palm trees along this tranquil beach in the Dominican Republic.
At sunrise and sunset look out for low clouds with a gap on the horizon, this is normally a great combination for a great sunset with colours and textures in the clouds.
How to capture more creative and abstract seascapes
Long exposure shots can also be taken from moving ships which provides a unique view of the wake and clouds in the distance.
Planes coming into land at St. Maarten when paired with the crowds on the beach is an iconic scene not to be missed when visiting the Caribbean.
Panoramic seascapes
A panorama is a great way to capture a wide scene such as a bay or cove. If you don’t own a wide-angle lens, multiple images can be taken and stitched together. This results in a high-resolution photo which can be cropped in if needed.
Guidance
Follow the steps below as a guide to taking panoramic photos:
- Use a tripod which ideally has a level bubble to ensure it’s positioned flat.
- Use your camera’s virtual horizon feature to ensure the camera is parallel to the horizon. Check this by panning your camera along the horizon.
- Ensure the ball head is fully tightened and the tripod is secure, but loosen the panning part. Ideally, keep some tension so it’s not wobbling about!
- Double check the horizon is straight and then open up your histogram or check your exposure across your planned set of images. Ensure you’re not over or underexposing.
- Set a two-second timer or use a remote shutter to reduce any camera shake (especially important for slow shutter speeds).
- I then take a photo of my hand over the lens, this makes it easy to identify the start and end of a series of shots when back in Lightroom.
- Start to take your shots, ideally as fast as possible, especially if there is moving clouds or water in your images. But be careful not to move the camera ball head or tripod, only focus on panning.
- It’s usually best to take your shots in portrait orientation, this allows you to capture both the foreground and sky, but it depends on the scene.
- Overlap each image by around 50% over the previous image to ensure the software has no issues stitching.
- Check all your images for focus and exposure, it’s also worth repeating to make sure you have no issues. Take more images, you can always crop in or decide not to stitch them.
Post processing
See below examples of portrait panorama images that were taken on a tripod, making sure to have significant overlap between each image as per the above guidelines.
The final panoramic image can be assembled using the following process:
Lightroom –> Select photos –> Photo –> Photo Merge –> Panorama –> Merge.
or Right click on selected photos –> Photo Merge –> Panorama –> Merge.
Although panoramic images can be stitched together using images shot handheld, it’s far more likely to have a successful stitched image if you’re using photos which were shot on a flat, stable tripod.
Bottom Line
In conclusion, seascape photography is a captivating genre that requires a combination of technical skills and creative vision to capture stunning images. If you have travelling to coastal destinations, taking the right great, understanding exposure and lighting, and using effective composition techniques can take your seascape photography to the next level. Experimenting with filters and long exposures, capturing creative angles and perspectives, and trying out different post-processing techniques can help you add interest and drama to your images. Finally, by paying attention to the weather and location, you can capture unique and breathtaking seascapes that tell a story and evoke emotion.
