Words and images by Jeff Morgan.

We’re fortunate in the UK, where Digital Camera World is based, because we have such easy proximity to thousands of miles of beautiful coastal scenery, and most of us are within a couple of hours’ drive of the shore.

The advantage of costal photography is that such a huge variety of weather conditions can produce great images; dark and stormy overcast days can look great in monochrome, while puffy white clouds look fantastic in colour.

However, whatever the conditions, seascapes are invariably at their best when taken with a long exposure. Static waves and sea spray become a smooth, milky blur that has a dream-like quality.

Fast-moving clouds turn into impressive streaks that give the sky real texture, and distractions like birds – and even people walking along the beach – simply disappear.

But getting a satisfactory exposure is difficult in all but the lowest-light conditions and narrowest apertures, because effective exposures often need to be several seconds or minutes long.

To achieve this without resulting in over-exposed shots, the level of light hitting your camera’s sensor needs to be cut down using a neutral density (ND) filter – which is semi-opaque to reduce the amount of light without altering its colour.

While these have been available in varying strengths for many years, a more recent innovation is the super-strong 10-stop ND filter, which reduces the light hitting your sensor by a thousandth – or put another way, would increase a 1 sec exposure to more than 15 minutes! These filters are available from a number of manufacturers.

As well as an ND filter, you’ll need a tripod and midrange zoom (your kit lens is ideal). We went to Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall, for a long-exposure Masterclass. Here’s how we got on…

Seaside Photography Tips – 01 Break the rules!

We often talk about the ‘rule of thirds’ and the importance of placing the horizon at the top or bottom thirds of the frame.

However, reflections are the exception that proves the rule!

Putting your horizon dead centre makes for a dynamic composition as we’re creating interest in both the sea and sky.

The rule you don’t want to break, however, is not getting an even horizon. Use a hotshoe spirit level or Live View with the grid display to ensure your horizons are perfectly level.

PAGE 1: Seaside Photography Tips – 01 Break the rules!
PAGE 2: Seaside Photography Tips – 02 Camera settings
PAGE 3: Seaside Photography Tips – 03 Attach the filter
PAGE 4: Seaside Photography Tips – 04 How to calculate exposure (free cheat sheet)
PAGE 5: Seaside Photography Tips – 05 Beach challenges
PAGE 6: Seaside Photography Tips – 06 When to shoot?
PAGE 7: Which filter to use for long-exposure seascapes

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Meet our professional photographer

Tom Mackie is a world-class landscape photographer with over 30 years’ professional experience. Since 1985 he’s lived in East Anglia, and enjoys capturing the beautiful British coastline and countryside with his pro Canon kit. Tom also runs photographic workshops in the UK, Europe and US. For more info and to see his gallery, go to www.tommackie.com.

Meet our apprentice

Jim Huntsman is a support worker who’s been a keen amateur photographer for the past seven years. Not long ago he upgraded to his first DSLR, an EOS 400D, and enjoys photographing landscapes. He’s asked for our help to improve his scenic and night shots of Blackpool – his hometown.

Technique Assessment

Jim began shooting as he would normally, then Tom suggested a few ways he could improve his DSLR techniques

Use raw power
“Jim was shooting in JPEG, so I encouraged him to shoot in raw format as it’s the best image quality, and ideal for landscape shots when you may want to accurately adjust exposure and tones afterwards in Adobe Camera Raw software,” says Tom.

“As Jim hadn’t processed raw files before, we set his 400D to capture both raw and JPG files, so he had both formats of each shot to work with.”

Control the DoF
“Jim was relying on his Full Auto mode, which sets everything automatically and restricts him from controlling the depth of field (DoF). I got Jim to use the Av (Aperture Priority) mode, as it enabled him to control the aperture, while his camera took care of the shutter speed,” says Tom. “Then, by setting a narrow aperture (f/16-f/22), he controlled the DoF to ensure his shots were sharp from foreground to horizon.”

PAGE 1: Meet our professional photographer and apprentice
PAGE 2: Seaside sunset photography tips from our professional photographer
PAGE 3: Final tips from our professional photographer
PAGE 4: Our professional photographer’s recommended gear
PAGE 5: Shot of the Day

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See the light like a pro: everything you were afraid to ask about using natural light

From rain or mist, to spray from the sea or waterfalls, there’s often a danger of water getting onto, or even into, your camera or lens. But there’s no need to miss out on photo opportunities by becoming a fair-weather photographer.

In extreme conditions, you could protect your camera with a fully waterproof housing made for underwater photography, but these are pricey, bulky and a bit over the top if you just want to get a few shots when the weather turns.

So, below are four simple and cheap ways to protect your camera in most shooting conditions, from DIY photography ideas like simply covering the camera with an umbrella or plastic bag, to a full rain cover designed specifically for the job.

Even when using a rain cover to protect your kit, there are still a few things to watch out for. If the cover has openings to allow you to carry on shooting, there’s still a danger of spray or rain getting on the front of the lens or filter.

It’s also possible for condensation to form inside the cover, especially if you need to put your hands inside it to operate the camera.

Make a DIY rain guard
It may not look very professional, but a simple plastic bag can work well as a temporary rain cover. Large food storage bags are ideal for this, as unlike some bags, they don’t have holes that will let the water in. Just don’t expect to maintain easy access to the camera controls.

Hold an umbrella
Another good DIY photography approach is to simply use an umbrella to protect your camera and lens. Now, there’s some difference of opinion on how far to go with using an umbrella, but they are an effective way of staying dry. It’s not much use against spray, or in windy conditions, but it’s perfect if you are shooting in showery conditions as a quick and easy way to keep the rain away from your kit.

Buy a budget rain cover
While these simple rain covers look a bit like an over-sized plastic bag, they do offer real advantages over the DIY approach. There’s a drawstring opening for your lens, and just enough room to still access the camera’s controls, plus they only cost around £6 for a pack of two.

Try a pro cover instead
Costing around £40 or more, these covers offer a more durable, versatile and practical solution. Some have sleeves allowing access to the camera’s controls, so are perfect if you want to keep shooting in all conditions, but you still need to watch out for spray hitting your lens.

See our four camera tips in action! We put together the short video below to better illustrate how simple these methods really are.

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You’ll never bag a great photo with dirty lenses and dusty gear, so keeping your camera and lenses clean and protected is crucial. The front line of defence against dirt and grime is constant cleaning. This isn’t easy if you have to carry around cans of compressed air, blower brushes, fluids and other bulky equipment. Professionals actually tend to use ordinary paintbrushes for camera and lens cleaning, so save yourself money and space with this guide to making a handy cleaning brush that clips onto your belt.

01 Dust trap
To help stop dust before it settles on your lens’s elements, place a double-sided sticky pad inside your front and back lens caps. This helps to trap particles, fibres and dust as they float around your gadget bag.

02 Hacked off
Get a 25mm paintbrush with white bristles, so they’re easy to spot should  said bristles fall onto your equipment. Use a hacksaw to cut the bulk of the handle off, then round it off with a file.

03 You know the drill
Drill a hole through the stub of the paintbrush where you sawed off the handle. Countersink the hole on each side, using a larger drill-bit to help the split-ring to sit more comfortably when fitted.

04 Time to split
Fit the split-ring through the hole in the paintbrush and attach a small carabiner (loop) to it. Don’t leave the brush in your bag – keep it handy when out shooting and clip it somewhere you can use it constantly.

05 The brush-off
You don’t need to be embedded in Afghanistan to suffer a build-up of dust and dirt. Using your brush to regularly sweep your camera, especially when changing lenses, will pay off with cleaner images.

06 Spot the difference
It’s really worth using the brush to keep your gear clean. You’ll avoid flare and poor contrast, and stop dust getting onto your camera’s sensor – which will save you a lot of tedious cloning duties in Photoshop.

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Timing is key to shooting great seascapes. You need to be there at the right time of day, but just as important is the timing of the exposure. For a raging, stormy sea, a fast shutter speed can be appropriate, but with calmer waters, the best approach is to take it slow. Very slow. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to take control of your camera to take long exposure pictures of the sea you can be proud of.

Shutter speeds that are seconds long turn even the gentlest waters into a smooth, silky blur, and the expanse of water takes on a milky white appearance that contrasts with the static rocks (find out some of the common mistakes at every shutter speed – and the best settings to use).

All landscapes will tend to look their best if you get up at first light, or stay out until dusk. But these dimmer parts of the day are particularly appropriate for milky seascapes, and the low light will give you longer exposures than shooting in the middle of the day.

However, a little bit of blur in the water isn’t enough to give you the effect you want, which means you either need to shoot after sunset or just before dawn, when the only light is reflected from the sky.

Alternatively, give your camera a helping hand by fitting an ND (neutral density) filter. These dark grey filters (not to be muddled up with graduated neutral density filters, or ND grads) block a percentage of the light entering the camera and enable you to use shutter speeds that are seconds long, even in the middle of the day.

ND filters are available in a variety of strengths. A three-stop ND will increase a shutter speed of 1/4 sec to 2 secs. A 10-stop ND will increase a 1/4 sec exposure to a full four minutes!

As these filters make your camera’s viewfinder very dark, they aren’t the easiest accessories to use, but our step-by-step guide will show you how to make sure you always come home with a great seascape.

NEXT PAGE: Step-by-step how to take long exposure pictures of the sea

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Levels by Rob Cherry

We love this moody, minimalist seascape from Rob Cherry. Using a long exposure, Rob has created a misty, blur effect on the tide, and has also softened the clouds overhead. This complements the crisp, perfectly straight horizon, which is satisfyingly off-centre. Great stuff, Rob.

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“I got my start in photography while I was touring with a band I played in at the time. It was a way for me to document and explore all of the places I had been traveling to. After I stopped touring, I began to take photography more seriously and expand what I was shooting. Living near the ocean, I focused on seascapes for about a year before I really started to experiment with shooting the night sky. More recently I’ve returned to the ocean, but this time at night. Being able to sit out on the beach under a star filled sky and capture that is very exciting for me. There’s something peaceful and beautiful about it that pulled me in and has only grown since.

I travel pretty light as far as equipment goes. I currently shoot with a Canon 7D and carry two different wide angle lenses and a few filters with me at all times. If I’m trying to capture as much light as possible at night, I’ll use my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. For any other situation, I’m more than likely to shoot with a Canon 17-40 f/4L. I carry a few different Singh-Ray graduated ND filters and a B&W ND110 for any shooting during the day that I might end up doing. I have a Slik Pro 500dx tripod that I use for both day and night shoots. I’ve found it to be a good middle group between sturdy and light weight, making it a good choice to travel with.

I try to get out and shoot as often as I possibly can. Shooting the stars is something that requires a good deal of planning, but also flexibility. A clear sky that wasn’t in the forecast often means a lot of last minute changes to your sleeping schedule. In addition to keeping an eye on the weather, the moon phase and air quality for the evening play a huge part as well. Living on the east coast of the United States means dealing with a lot of humid evenings in the summer months that make shooting at night a difficult task. In the end, every sleepless night spent out chasing dark skies is completely worth it and certainly a bit addictive as well.”

Taken in Hawaii

Visit Jack’s website, follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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You can’t help but not be staggered by the drama of this picture. It looks like the photographer had to be quite brave to be this close to the stormy see to capture this shot!

View more images by ‘Barri‘

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Essential tips for great coast photos

01 Location: The first thing to think about is the best time of day to visit your chosen location. If you’re after sunrises you need to be on an east-facing beach; if you’re after sunsets you need to be on a west- facing beach. Even during the day the angle of the sun will play a huge part in the look of your images. Try to plan a visit when the sun is reasonably low in the sky and will provide some side lighting to bring out the detail and textures of the landscape.

02 Composition: Once you’re there, it’s all about composition. Remember some of the simple rules, such as using foreground interest and lines to draw in the eye, and you won’t go too far wrong, but don’t be afraid to experiment with new viewpoints. Getting down low among the rocks or sand will make the most of interesting foreground subjects and cloud formations, while getting up high on cliff tops will give you a much more comprehensive view of the beach and sea.

03 Polariser: A polariser is pretty much essential for making the most of blue skies and water. By rotating the filter  you can darken blue skies, making the clouds stand out and adding impact to your shots. You’ll also find the polariser useful for reducing the glare from the sea, making it look darker and more colourful.

04 Keep it even: One potential problem you need to be aware of is when using extreme wide-angle lenses you can get uneven blue skies. Watch out for dark bands if you’re shooting with a lens shorter than 18mm on a Four Thirds or APS-C sensor, or 24mm on a full-frame sensor.

05 Tide: With any type of coastal photography you need to keep an eye on the tide. What seems like a safe location can soon get cut off by a fast incoming tide, so check the tide times for the location and time that you’re visiting, and when venturing out onto the shore look out for low-lying areas between you and the safety of dry land that could be covered in water.

06 Exposure: Watch out for dark foregrounds and bleached-out skies

07 Aperture: Choose a small aperture such as f/16 to maximise depth of field

08 Manual: Switch to manual focus, then focus around a third of the way into the scene to ensure that the entire scene is sharp from front to back

09 Foreground: Look out for objects and textures in the foreground to add depth and balance to your wide-angle shots

10 Balance: For a well-balanced composition, try to position the horizon around a third from the top of the frame if there’s strong foreground interest in the scene, or around a third from the bottom of the frame if there’s a dramatic and interesting sky

11 Patterns: Linear features such as rocks, patterns in the sand or clouds can be used to give your landscapes a sense of depth that seascapes often lack

12 Scale: Without a recognisable object it can be difficult for the viewer to get an idea of the scale of a seascape. Try to include figures on the beach, a house or a ship to give the viewer a better sense of the vastness of the landscape

Rock On

13 Rock Pools: Rock pools can often make interesting subjects in their entirety, or you can get in close to shoot details of the flora, fauna an rocks using a telephoto or macro lens. Shooting these subjects is much easier if you have a polarising filter to cut through the glare from the surface of the water, allowing you to get a clear view of this underwater world.

Coastal Flowers

14 Macro or wide: Use traditional macro techniques to get in close when shooting coastal flowers. Alternatively, you can try putting the flowers into context by shooting wide.

15 Windy weather: When shooting coastal flowers, beware of subject movement caused by the wind. To avoid this, you could try to choose a still, windless day, but unless you’re really lucky you’ll have to find a way of minimising this movement. The easiest way is to form some sort of windbreak using your camera bag or reflector, or you could get a helper to hold a coat on the side the wind is blowing from.

It’s a Family Affair

A family day out at the seaside is the perfect excuse for trying out your portrait skills. Most of the family will be happy to pose in bright sunshine, but it’s not ideal for shooting portraits. Get your subjects to face into the sun and they’ll end up squinting, making it impossible to get great-looking shots, but as soon as you get them to turn away from the light you’ll get shadows across their faces. There are a couple of simple tricks that can help you out in these situations, though.

16 Lighten shadows: Get your subject to face slightly away from the sun, then use a reflector or a flashgun to add some light to fill in the shadows across the face. You need to position the flash or reflector on the side opposite to the sunlight, and add just enough light to lighten the shadows, rather than get rid of them entirely.

Page 2

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What the judges are looking for in the Landscapes category: “Whether it’s the natural, urban, wild or coastal landscape that inspires you the most, the important thing is to capture the true sense of a location in an original, yet technically superb, way. ”

• View the Landscapes shortlist
• View the Action and Movement shortlist
• View the Creative Licence shortlist
• View the Documentary shortlist
• View the Family and Friendship shortlist
• View the Fashion shortlist
• View the Gardens and Plants shortlist
• View the Portraits shortlist
• View the Travel shortlist
• View the Wildlife shortlist