Creating Seascape Photos at Sunrise

Hey, what's up guys, landscape photographer David Johnson here on location in Seaside, Florida, shooting sunrise seascape photography this morning. I just wanted to share a couple of tips on how do you frame up seascape photography especially at sunrise when you have tons of color going on in the sky and reflections off of the water, how do you frame that up perfectly? What I like to do is use a wide angle lens like this one. This is a Rokinon 12mm f/2, and get out and shoot huge skies and huge seas. Because when people think about seascape photography they really think about how big the sky is because you just have a flat horizon in front of you.

How do you use that? Will you implement the sky best as possible? A lot of clouds, a lot of dynamic color framing that up is really gonna help you a lot in your photography. Also, what do you do when you don't have a lot of big skies? That can be a challenge too, because a lot of times if you don't have a big sky like huge sunrise colors and vibrant oranges and yellows, how do you frame up an interesting shot?

Well, I think in seascape photography in particular you kind of have to use some man-made elements sometimes. Is there a fishing pier nearby? Is there a walkway that you can use as a leading line element going out into the ocean leading the viewer to the subject of where you are? Or also different things like little fences that you can come up on dunes. How do you use those properly?

Using those to point towards the sky is a really great way to kinda lead people to the direction that they're seeking in your photography. So, I think really working with the elements in seascape photography, composition wise and working with the weather that you're given even if you have a huge, amazing sunrise or if it kinda falls flat, how do you use that properly? So, framing things up and working with the weather really goes a long way in seascape photography that I've found. And I know that if you implement this into your own photography and stay flexible with the compositions that you can get, you can take some amazing photos at the beach. Also, don't forget the small minor details that you may not see.

I know seascape photography is big on skies and oceans but when you look at something like water going out into the sea, a lot of times you going to get some really cool intricate details on the earth that you can photograph with your wide angle lens, looking like it's really high up in the air but all you're doing is shooting small details on the ground.