Ocean Photography

Ocean landscape photography is my favorite of them all.   The ocean scenery is always changing based on light, weather, and the shoreline.   Springtime is a wonderful time because the coastal vegetation blooms beautiful flowers that add color with the blue ocean.  The shoreline also offers lovey foreground rocks and other formations which add to the photograph.  Beaches are great because there is sometimes a pier and always sailboats in the water to add to the scenery. 

What I Do

When planning my day for this kind of photography, I usually go out early in the morning or late in the day when the light helps enrich the colors. When the local fog comes in, I will usually wait for the fog to break up enough to make it work in the photography along the shore.  I always use my Canon 6D ii full frame camera and usually the Canon 24-70 F/2.8 lens because it covers most of what I am after.   In addition, I will use the Canon 100-400 ii telephoto and the Canon 11-24 F/4 wide angle lens.   Most of the time I use a tripod, however, there are times I will do handheld because there is enough light.

When the sun is setting, I usually get ready about an hour before sunset and position myself to capture the composition.   There are a lot of interesting effects I watch for that occur with a setting sun over water.   Detraction of the sun occurs all the time and with a telephoto lens I capture different shapes of the sun and what is called the green flash.  The green flash is quick, so I set my camera in high speed shooting to get the best results.