Photograph Lightning
If you’re feeling brave and patient, get out your umbrella, raincoat and tripod and set up shop right in front of where the lightning is striking. You’ll need a remote shutter release if you want to minimize camera shake. This is where it gets fun, and frustrating. It takes a little luck and a lot of waiting. But, when you get your first shot of a lightning bolt, it is all worth it. Try experimenting with longer shutter speeds and try to catch the lightning before it strikes.

Use the ambient lighting to your advantage
Usually, when you’re at the beach the bright sun can be a real problem. If it’s raining or cloudy, you have a unique opportunity to take photos without such harsh lighting. I like shooting shells, plants and other still life shots with this kind of lighting.

Try shooting in Black & White mode
If the colors look muted anyway, try out the black and white setting on your camera, or just do some post-processing afterwards to convert your photos to black and white. It really challenges you to create strong compositions and bolder contrasts of subjects when you can’t rely on colors as a crutch.

Don’t get too down if it’s rainy at the beach, there are plenty of opportunities even when things don’t go your way!

1. Colored Umbrellas
If you can find someone who’s pitched a brightly decorated sun umbrella in the ground you can frame it either alone or with people in the shot. Even on a bright day, you can use the colors to your advantage.

2. Seaweed
All kinds of plants can wash up on shore. Or even during low tide, unique vegetation can expose itself. Try arranging it in artful patterns, or get in really tight to get great macro shots.

3. Lifeguard Stations
No, I’m not necessarily evoking Baywatch photos, but either with or without the lifeguard present, the lifeguard stands represent a bastion of safety and order within the otherwise wild and dangerous beachfront,

4. Sea Foam
Certain areas can have a veritable meta-sea of sea foam. You can get in close if you’re brave, or you can shoot wider and go for the “walking on the clouds” look.

5. Food and Drink
Here’s something you might not typically think of. I think juxtaposing beach snack foods can be fun, and nothing is better than capturing those perfect moments with friends on the beach relaxing and eating tropical fruit or enjoying a nice cold one.

1. Have people face the sun at an angle
When you’re taking photos of people, instead of having them face directly at the sun, try positioning them such that they’re at a 45 to 90 degree angle looking at the sun. You don’t want them to be backlit with the sun behind them, either. Get it so that the sun is lighting their faces, and yet they don’t have to stare directly at the sun when looking at the camera. Be aware of shadows caused on faces by someone’s nose or by other people next to them, and try to mitigate their effects.

2. Use trees and buildings to your advantage
Many times, even on the beach you can find trees (palm and otherwise) that you can set subjects (people or objects) underneath so that the sun isn’t so harsh on them. Semi-leafy trees can be ideal so that some light is getting through, but not too much. Also, depending on the placement of structures, you can photograph people in the shadows and still find enough light to make a good photo.

3. Create interesting photos with unique shadows
Instead of fighting the sun, USE the sun to create artful patterns. Think of textures and unique figures you can create by figuring out where the sun falls. Instead of “painting with light,” try your hand at painting with shadows.

A Polarizing Filter: Sunglasses for your camera
Just as people wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from the solar rays of the sun, photographers can attach a polarizing filter to the lens in order to mitigate the sun’s glare. The key thing to do is to experiment and rotate the filter such that the glare is minimized as much as possible.

Glare can happen when you are photography any surface that reflects light. The ocean, windows, surfaces of cars or other objects and even people’s glasses or sunglasses. Keep in mind that the polarizing filter does the most good when you are at a 90 degree angle from the sun (say the sun is in the west and you’re facing north or south). If the sun is directly behind you (180 degrees), the help the polarizing filter can do for you is minimized.

Instead of photographing directly out at the ocean, try taking pictures from an angle. Be coginizant of the sun’s position and use it to your advantage while also utilizing your polarizing filter.

Remember that practice makes perfect and to keep experimenting on subsequent trips to the beach. You can also practice with local bodies of water like swimming pools and ponds as they present similar challenges to the ocean.

Frame the Horizon with the rule of thirds
When you place the horizon, divide the photo into thirds and be sure to place the horizon line such that it divides the frame so that the top two thirds is the sky and the bottom third is the water, or try the opposite. This will look much better than if you place the horizon dead center in the middle and will draw the audience’s interest more.

Try photographing it at different intervals
You can’t just take ONE photo of the sunset, and you don’t want to take 50 photos in one minute. You want to space it out, maybe take one every 5 minutes over a span of an hour. In my experience, I have found that usually the sunset gets better as time goes on.

Add some interest with other objects
Look around at the setting, what objects, people, buildings, trees/plants can you use to make the photo more interesting? if you place an object directly in front of the sunset you can get a completely black silhouette shot. Or try juxtaposing the sun with a local landmark on the side. Even better, don’t take a photo of the sun at all, and instead utilize the amazing lighting to photograph other subjects.

Use a Tripod
Usually most people reserve tripods for night shots. But since the light is diminishing, a tripod can be your best friend. Especially in the late sunset once it’s past the horizon. It’s during these times that the sun, now set, can brilliantly illuminate the clouds above. If the light is low, stabilize with a tripod and experiment with slightly longer shutter speeds to see how the light plays out.