Waterscape Photography: Beautiful Waterscapes and Tricks of the Trade
Nature provides us with a never ending supply of inspiration, look no further than the coast for an array of majestic scenery. This article focuses on the point where land and sea meet, with 24 stunning waterscapes, essential tools of the trade.
Beauty of the Ocean
Taken in Jaffa, Israel using a 30 second exposure thereby freezing a slice of beautiful life.
Seaside road on an early morning shoot which results in an image that is both bold and vivid.
Shot in Kogelbay, South Africa it makes exceptional use of shutter speed to give an ethereal feel.
A stunning image that uses 4 different RAW conversions blended with various methods.
Shot in Sintra-Portugal using Photoshop to desaturate the tones to creating a dramatical feeling.
A beautifully shot sunset which has a superb contrast between the sky and pearlescent water.
Captured in Pellinge (an islet outside Porvoo in Finland), it’s both moody and vibrant.
An amazing capture of sunrise on the North East coast of Brazil, with very little post processing.
Shot in Finland at sunset, processed RAW in Photoshop then cropped, burned and dodged.
Captured in RAW in Portugal and then given small tweaks in contrast and vibrancy in Aperture.
An amazing capture of the movement of the waves and color variations in the sky in South Wales.
A beautiful image which perfectly captures the tones of Crystal Cove near Laguna Beach, California.
An 8 image stitch of sunset on a rainy afternoon at Redgate Beach in South Western Australia.
Sunrise over Pulpit Rock, Australia with the sky and water processed separately from one RAW file.
A beautiful capture of a cold winter dusk on Chios Island, Greece, it has a haunted somber feel.
A six image stitch of Coogee Bay with great movement in the water and drama in the sky.
Sunrise at Turimetta, Sydney, the contrast between the foreground and sky is just stunning.
Taken on Portugal’s south west coast with subtle adjustments to the vibrancy, colour and levels.
A beautiful evening at Troon, on the the Scottish coastline, with the Isle of Arran in the background.
An amazing shot as the sunsets behind the headland, casting beautiful light along the beach.
Captured in Jaffa, Israel with a short shutter speed, the exposure on the water is beautiful.
A two image stitch of Thistle Cove in Esperance with superb colors and detailed textures.
Captured in Noosa, Australia, the movement of water towards you is just stunning.
Capturing the beautiful light with an inspiring composition of The Sauzaie beach at Bretignolles.
Tools and Tips For Outstanding Waterscape Photography
One common practice in waterscape photography is learning to setup a good long-exposure shot. Done right, one can manipulate a waterscape into a near-mystical scene. An exposure of 3 seconds can lead to a photograph that captures the landscape and all of the action of a powerful ocean. A 30 second exposure can result in a peaceful, awe-inspiring capture that seems out of this world.
There are a few tools that are needed to take a fantastic waterscape photograph:
Treat Yourself to a High Quality DSLR Camera
A good camera accompanied by a high quality lens can go a long ways. If you’re interested in taking your photography to the next level, it may be time to invest in something other than an ordinary consumer handheld camera.
Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2MP ($632.88)
Another fine choice for starting photographers (includes the stock 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens).The additional $100 buys you several notable improvements from the XTi, plus an extra 2MP for slightly higher image resolution.
Nikon D90 12.3MP ($814.95)
The D90 made quite an entrance into the marketplace of Digital SLRs after it was announced that it included a High Definition (720p), smooth (24fps) video capture feature. It’s a Digital Camera, and Video Camera that performs incredibly well for its price tag. No lens included.
Get a Wide Angle Lens
When it comes to landscapes and waterscapes, a wide-angle lens is pretty much unparalleled in its ability to capture the essence of an environment. Anything in the 10-22 range is usually perfect, but these lenses often are expensive.
If you’re interested in learning more about lenses, check our article on Camera Lenses and Focal Length.
A Good Tripod
Since you’ll be working with long-exposures, it’s important that you keep the camera as still as possible during the capture. We don’t want anything except for the water to be moving to get the right effect in the picture.
You can learn some effective ways to reduce camera shake in your photographs, but in the end, a tripod is your best bet:
- Slik Tripod with 3-Way Panhead ($25)
- Velbon El Carmagne 530 Carbon Fiber Tripod with Pan Head and Case ($264)
- Manfrotto 055MF3 3-Section MagFiber Tripod without Head ($356)
- Slik Professional Universal Deluxe Tripod with 3-Way Panhead and Panoramic Photo Guide ($125)
- Sunpak 620-092 9002DX Tripod with 3-Way Quick-Release Pan Head ($35)
Graduated Neutral Density Filters
Consider this: When shooting landscapes, you’ve probably noticed that if you try to set your exposure based on the sky (in daylight), you’ll greatly underexpose the ground. Similarly, if you set your exposure based on the land/sea, the sky becomes very overexposed.
This is where a graduated neural density (ND) filter comes in handy. These filters are placed over the lens, and gradually get darker from top to bottom so that less light comes in on one side of the lends (it is adjustable by the user to control which side has more light coming through). Using a filter like this, it’s possible to get a decent exposure on both the land/water, and the sky without heavy post-processing.
Read up more about these filters, and many others in our photography filters guide.
Share Your Tips!
We’d love to hear how you take waterscape photographs. If you’ve got any advice, handy tools, or favorite items, please share them in the comments!
37 Comments
these are fantastic photos, i will try this out.
Flag as inappropriatelovely :)
Flag as inappropriateBreathtakingly beautiful in a surreal way. Will have to try it here, can’t say I have ever seen the seas around Brisbane look like that though.
Flag as inappropriateVery glad Portugal is “finally” on the map! :) amaizing shots. thank you for sharing!
Flag as inappropriateThanks for your post , Great post.38
Flag as inappropriateThanks for your post , Great post.31
Flag as inappropriatethanks for sharing. So mush116
Flag as inappropriatethanks for sharing. So mush
Flag as inappropriateIt would be nice if you credited the photographers.
Flag as inappropriateIt’s when I see work like this that I wonder to myself, should I throw it all in, buy a killer camera and run off to become a globe-trotting photographer…? Thanks for the inspiration.
Flag as inappropriateI’ll add to this inspiring article. If you would like to use a 30 second exposure you will need to use a neutral density filter, they come in different strengths (cutting light back 2 to even 10 stops) Using this filter will enable you to get 30 second exposures. To cut the reflection in the water or rocks to be able to see to the bottom you will need to use a polarizer filter (to get maximum results you will need to be facing 90 degrees from the sun).
Hopes this helps…great article.
Flag as inappropriateNo matter how many images you see, nothing ever beats stunning nature.
These are exceptional.
Flag as inappropriateAbsolutely beautiful waterscapes! Thanks for sharing!!x
Flag as inappropriateneed the filters and rigid tripod…
Flag as inappropriatei want to share one tips
check the tide of the location we will go
Flag as inappropriateprefer low tide cause it will show some rocks
more dramatically (imho)
Inspirational post – thanks.
Flag as inappropriateMhmmm, i love the pictures, especially the colors, but i didn’t learn anything really interesting about techniques… The ‘tips’ you give are pretty expansive and not really useful; it could be reduced to ‘use good tools’. Of course it helps, but i’m not sure that’s what people reading you are expecting ;)
An interesting trick i know about capturing water is that you can’t just use a long exposure. If you do so in daylight with a normal lens, you’ll get a blank picture totaly over exposed.
But to avoid that problem, you can use a polarizing filter or, A LOT less expansive, a glass of sunglasses :) Just hang it to your objective during the shot.
Long exposure + filter or sunglasses will allow you to take a shot with long exposure, will give you new colors and effects, like this weird effect we can see on water in the pictures here: it doesn’t look like normal water captured in motion, but more like a soft flow. I can’t find the proper word in english sorry, i hope you’ll see what I mean.
Hope that helps !
Regards,
Flag as inappropriateAnto.
I agree with Anto. These are beutiful shots, but the promised “Tips” are lacking, and what there is of them, are so vague as to be of almost no use to the novice photographer.
Flag as inappropriateThese are excellent shots.
Grab yourself a couple of ND filters (Cokin are an excellent budget brand to get started) along with a p-filter holder – then you can combine them with a graduated filter to help with the sky as slow your exposures down. But as the post above says – you really need to using at the very least an entry level DSLR (Nikon D3000 or Canon 400D – these are the most widely used) – also try to pick up a different lens from the bundles available that has an independent focusing ring – this will prevent the filters moving. Once you have you mitts on one of these, then start snapping away.
As for the shots above – dont think that by getting a DSLR you’ll get shots like these in your first week – these take patience and practice.
Remember, you have to do the work, not the camera.
Most of these above are post processed in lightroom or photoshop to bring out the best of what the camera has captured, (which is a whole different subject). Start reading up on HDR and dodge and burn techniques and you’ll be amazed what practice and patience can achieve.
Flag as inappropriateReally Ugly, sorry
Flag as inappropriateWow! Awesome cool photos.
Flag as inappropriateWow, such amazing shots and a few great tips too, next time i’m on a tropical island (haha!) i’ll make sure to try this out ;)
Flag as inappropriatethey are all amazing. :)
Flag as inappropriateThose are so beautiful. I hope my new GH1 can take pictures like that.
Flag as inappropriateThese are beautiful shots! And to think that the beach is only 15 minutes away from my house and I almost never go :-(. Thanks for the inspiration!
Flag as inappropriateReally. Really. Really nice shots. Thank you for the inspiration.
Flag as inappropriateIncredible photos, I need a new camera!
Flag as inappropriatewow. these are awesome. I wish I had a good enough camera to shoot photos like this.
Flag as inappropriateThere are some really good waterscapes @ http://www.ephotozine.com/gallery/tags/waterscape
Flag as inappropriateamazing photos..A calendar would be perfect,using these pictures..i love them
Flag as inappropriateWow, these are really beautiful and inspirational. It’s sad that there are no beaches like that where I live. Waterscapes have always been one of my favourite things to shoot when I travel.
Flag as inappropriateGreat article!