SHOOTING COLORFUL SEASCAPES WITH FRANCESCO GOLA
1.PLAN YOUR SHOT
The first element you need to capture a colored seascape is a nice location.
You can maximize the chances to frame something great if you know in advance where the sun will be at sunrise or sunset, according to the moment you decided to capture the image. As sun position can be accurately predicted, you can decide your location and composition well in advance. Pro tip: use an application like PhotoPills!
2. CHECK THE WEATHER
A great location and a perfect composition is not enough if the light is not on your side. For this reason, weather can play a decisive role.
To maximize the chances of a colorful sunset or sunrise, you will need some clouds in the sky. A great way to understand how the situation is going to evolve is to take advantage of technology using some Apps. My favorite one is Windy that let me track not only the cloud coverage but also the direction where they are moving!
3. GO WIDE!
When the sky starts to lit you’ll want to capture all the marvelous light around you. For this reason, I suggest you use a focal length between 14mm and 21mm. Moreover in a seascape image a wide angle lens will let you get more details in the scene, allowing for example to capture at the same time the beautiful clouds and their reflections in the sea.
4. USE A TRIPOD
At sunset and sunrise light conditions may require you to extend the shutter speed. In order to avoid blurry shots I recommend the use of a tripod. While the camera is on the tripod remember to deactivate on your lens or on your camera body the anti vibration mechanism otherwise the risk is that you’ll get a blurry shot anyway. If you're shooting with a DSLR use also the mirror lock up function: you will reduce even more the chances of not having a super sharp shot!
5. USE FILTERS
Your eyes see much more details than your camera as they have a better dynamic range. For this reason if you want to capture the colored details in both the bright areas and the dark ones of the scene, use Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filters: they will work like sunglasses for your camera! Another great filter is the Polarizer: it will let you to remove reflections on the surfaces, the haze effect in the sky and to naturally saturate the scene. But be careful: if you remove the reflection from the water, all the nice color of the sunrise or sunset will be gone!
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