Doing a shoot on the beach was a ton of fun but the results didn't come without their own challenges. IMG_4598 The biggest challenge was the very direct sunlight. You can see here that I back-lit the couple and then used a flash to fill in their faces so that way the background wouldn't be completely blown out.

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Above Left: For some of the images it took several tries to get the exposure just right. Here we used a sun shade diffuser over their faces and we turned off the flash. You can see that it left some beautiful shadows on the left side of their faces. You can see that the smile on our gentleman's face has faded a bit as I have tweaked the settings for about a minute of time here. Although I rehearsed the settings, turning the flash on and off and readjusting the aperture takes time and can leave the client with a faded facial expression.

Above Right: Here is the same pose with the diffuser but a flash fill to make the background less blown-out. You can see that when the flash is used there is typically shine issues on the subject's face. (Especially on warm days) 

In these next two photos you can see an example of how some post-production color editing can really change the mood of the photos. We call the coloring on the left our classic and the coloring on the right a warm vintage. The reason for the left one being classic is because that is much closer to how it looking on the camera or in the original state compared to the right photograph. 

For these two we took them out of the sunshine and into the shade under the pier. Some of the difficulties here included the very blown out background (from the sun vs shade exposure) and the many lines made from the support beams. One of the reasons I love putting my subjects in the shade is because of the effect it has on their eyes. 

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One of the other challenges from this shoot was the windy-messy-hair. The photo on the left was really a beautiful pose for their bodies, I love the exposure of the background, and the light in their eyes make it a keeper in my book. The downside to this photograph is that she will probably never really be happy with it because her hair is flying around.

The photo on the right demonstrates a posing problem I had with them on the uneven rocks. I turned my female to help the wind blow with the part and to have the guy block some of the wind but when I placed him on that side of the rock the pose took a forward lean. Meanwhile I was clamoring over the big slippery rocks hoping that I wouldn't lose the camera in a moment of unsteadiness. :)

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Although this shoot had its share of natural challenges, I had a wonderful couple to work with, a great partner to offer me a hand while I climbed over the rocks, and some really beautiful moments captured on camera. Overall I would call it a successful day! 
What do you think? I'd love some feedback!

Best of 2012