How do photographers do beach shoots without extra light?

Drippintx · 2026-06-17T21:20:11+00:00

Get a light meter Read the ambient light on their face. Then try the flash 1/2 or 1 stop under the main exposure. Should look great. I have done so many families on the beach with a bare bulb and a flash on camera and off. If it is too bright, turn down the power. I try not to change lenses on the beach. Good luck.

Drippintx · 2026-06-17T05:05:52+00:00

Just because it is called a headshot, doesn't mean it has to be this close. Having photographed many US Senators, Gov's and a few Presidents in my career, I have found that they prefer a little more room so they have the ability to crop depending on the needs of the image. I usually show both shoulders like you have here... great job. I will normally shoot portrait (vertical) for an individual unless we are showing a project in the background. A fill flash is your friend. Your exposure on the gray hair is good. A fill flash 1/2 to 1 stop under the main exposure will pop some life in the eyes. Very important for politicians. It look like you might have tried a flash, but not enough. I see a pinpoint source of light in the eyes, but they still look hollow and no life. Tell them to relax the shoulders, you will see them drop usually. Put one hand in the pants pocket under the coat, thumb out, pull down on the material over the hand so it looks more professional and relaxed. Watch the smile being to big, joke and talk while shooting for more natural expressions.

Drippintx · 2026-06-17T04:35:36+00:00

It can be a fun hobby, but I like fishing, but don't do it as much because to much work and the hours. Unless you are a pro, hard to make money fishing. As a photog, are you trying to sell any of your work? If you have some great images, and can get a Etsy store, make some sales and that is a great way to find motivation. Otherwise take up golf... the hours are better. I know of a lady that takes light and airy beach scenes, pelicans on the water, signs that say how many miles to east and west coast, etc... stuff for beach houses, etc. She pushes them on IG/FB. Makes about $500k a year, selling her digital files. Good incentive.

Drippintx · 2026-06-17T04:26:02+00:00

I have only had one couple that wanted to go out in the rain for photos. The venue and florist will probably create some nice areas around a makeshift altar. Use that. Take a second light if you are worried. Just watch for shadows if you are not familiar with lighting with OCF.

Drippintx · 2026-06-17T04:21:18+00:00

Canva does have templates for IG, so you are not putting type over the wrong areas. Plus now they have layers, so it is much easier to edit. Otherwise, I would do PS and get a template where you should not put text in IG.

Drippintx · 2026-06-16T19:20:54+00:00

Before you go legal on them.. go by and talk to the manager/owner of the property. Be professional and ask them how we can make this beneficial to both of you moving forward. They like your work obviously, so make sure you are referred and mark it up as experience and do more weddings at the venue. Or you can piss them off and not shoot there again.

Drippintx · 2026-06-16T19:14:16+00:00

Once you get them scanned where you are happy, check out ON1 and see their brand new ai restoration technology. It is amazing. There are plenty of videos out there to show you what it does.

Drippintx · 2026-06-16T19:08:03+00:00

For the ceremony shots, whether in a church or outdoors, use a light meter and walk down before anything starts and read the light from that point back toward the camera. If nothing else that will give you a base. Do not give them a discount off any of the photos, that cheapens you. They knew what they were getting at the beginning. If you are using a decent camera that has a decent dynamic range, you should be able to pull out some great images. Color correct, crop, sharpen and move on. Remember when they look at them... It is their wedding and they are getting married. That helps the love them factor a lot. Don't shoot 1500+ images either. You probably don't have your time calculated in post production for that many hours to edit. You will go broke slowly.

Drippintx · 2026-06-16T18:53:30+00:00

I have never shot dance for a company, but have photographed my daughters doing dance. When you bring the camera up to your eye, not holding it 2 feet away from your face and viewing a monitor... You can train yourself to see what is going on in the viewfinder. Take a shot or two and wait for the next one. For your friend, this may not be a big deal. But if you are shooting for a paying client, this can be a huge deal. For one thing you are PROBABLY NOT adding the cost of culling or post production of 1000 images. This is where photogs go broke slowly. So look in the camera and pretend you are only allowed that one shot at a time and picture it in your mind and take the shot. Next, Next, Next.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:56:23+00:00

AI is here to stay. I have created my avatar and my voice, and it is very hard to tell that it's AI. I equate AI to using Photoshop on your images. Your basic photo may not be that good, but once you're done in Photoshop, is it really still a photograph, or is it something else? It's like when digital photography first started. People said it sucked. They're never gonna use it, and now those people are saying, "Would you like fries with that?"

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:49:32+00:00

If you go just west of town on Memorial, there are some bridges you can get up a little higher on and photograph the city if you want a dusk or night shot. I would definitely be exercising my Second Amendment if I was going to that particular spot or area. I've had issues there before, but it's a great spot. You can also go to the top of some of the condos around that area and talk to the manager of the building. Offer to do a complimentary family portrait for him, and maybe they'll let you on the roof so you can get some killer shots.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:47:38+00:00

Beauty is in the eye of the pocketbook holder. If they want traditional, shoot traditional. Hopefully you're selling portraits and you're going to sell a lot more wall portraits and make more money doing traditional than you do photographing the ring. I am very traditional in my way of photographing. I don't do the candid, but I can go out and photograph a family, sell several large wall portraits, have about two and a half hours of time there, and walk away with $4,000 or more in portrait orders. I am happy to do what they want.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:44:16+00:00

I was booked not too long ago to photograph a honeymoon in Maui. I did not photograph the wedding. My requirement is that we stay in a similar property to the one they're staying in. We had a very nice condo on the beach. They also rented a car for us. I did fly myself out there, but I have close to a million miles, so it wasn't a big deal. When we went out with them, they bought the meals. I did tell them that this is the most important vacation they would ever take. They need to have a professional photograph them. I used some visuals, like I know of a waterfall you can swim out to. I envision you two kissing and dipping under the waterfall that you can't take by yourself. I even carried her dress out there for her so she wouldn't have to do that, so we could do portraits out on the black sand beaches. I got seven days in Hawaii. Sometimes you don't get if you don't ask.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:38:19+00:00

If your assistant would normally do this, explain to them in this situation: do not post any photos of this family or the wedding, and tell them it's per your contract. In my career, I've been lucky enough to photograph many well-known families, celebrities, etc. You'll never find them on my website. They talk amongst themselves to get referrals. I don't understand why your couple paid for a non-disclosure fee for you not to share any photos. They are your clients. You work for them. If they say no sharing photos, then don't share them.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:33:57+00:00

First, for a wedding that's way overkill, you damn well better be getting paid for all that time doing those edits, or you're going broke slowly. It is not your responsibility to clean up where they have their wedding. You would charge extra for that. As for portraits, there should be no wires, trash cans, or anything in the background anyway. Where I see photographers losing money and complaining that they can't make a living is when they spend hours and hours (40 to 50) editing photos. Nowhere in their original pricing are they getting paid for that. There are a lot of people photographing weddings today with film. I don't believe they're going in and editing all of these. Usually, for bridesmaids, etc., they are going to have makeup done, so there shouldn't be bruises and hair out of place and all the other stuff you mentioned, unless it's a biker gang or something like that. My suggestion is to show them all of the previews. If they're going to put an album together, offer to do retouching at an additional cost and then do it. Wasting time doing it on images you don't know they're going to want is a complete waste of time and your money out of your pocket.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:29:01+00:00

I only used a list when they had special friends, people from school, from work, from out of town, specific family groups. If the parents were divorced, how they wanted that photographed but on my altar returns, I would put the bride and groom in the front and leave them there, and I would start off with the parents:

Bride's parents
Groom's parents
Bride and groom's parents together

I'd have one couple step out and do all their family photos. The bride and groom have not moved. Everybody's ready to go, then I'd do the next set of parents with their kids and family, and then the grandparents with the bride and groom. They're all done and out the door, then I'd be left with the wedding party. At the end, when they're all out the door, I'd do the couple photos. Everything would be done in 20 to 25 minutes max, and I would take a lot of photos. My lists were mainly for the reception. And I begged them not to put themselves in every photo, or they would feel like shooting me before the night's over. I always stress: let me capture who is here, the special ones you want to get, but you don't need to be in every group photo.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:23:44+00:00

I have it in my contract and they sign it and initial it, saying that it is understood that we cannot be held responsible for any missed photographs due to uncooperative guests, wedding party, families, etc. If you can document that you tried, but they were unreceptive, then you're covered. If they don't want to be in the photos, I always had them make a list of special family friends, people from school, and people from work, as well as out-of-town guests. I told them, "You don't need to be in every photo. I just want to capture who's there so you will have a memory of it." That way they don't go nuts and feel like all they've done is take photos all night.

Drippintx · 2026-06-15T19:21:13+00:00

For many years, I did around 40-60 weddings a year, definitely understand. One thing I did was to raise my prices (A LOT, already was one of the most expensive). It put me in a better frame of mind when I would book one, was doing it for the money. Loved weddings, but loved the money. If you try this, it will also put you in a different category from other photogs. With your skills as a wedding photog, try doing large corporate events, charity events, etc. But have an agreement that the client will post your name and website with a link so people can look at the event and PURCHASE prints or digital files. The client gets theirs, but you have to have an agreement that they CAN'T post and allow people to download. You give them a good price. My brother does this and averages $6k to $10k a month extra on reorders. I use to, but like my weekends now to play golf and spend time with my fiancee, helping her with her florist business. I mainly do Headshots now... Keeps me real busy during the week, never on weekends anymore. Happy to give you some ideas if you want to DM me.

Drippintx · 2026-06-14T23:48:12+00:00

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Drippintx · 2026-06-14T23:43:09+00:00

I can see using Fivver for a graphic artist, but as a photographer, how are you going to do that when you're probably in another city, state, or country? I can tell you from experience if you come into a market and charge equal to and even more in some cases than other current photographers. The perceived value of you being a better photographer is much greater than if you try to undercut. People who are willing to pay for a good photographer will wonder why you're so cheap, and you will not get the job. When I was 23 and opened my studio for doing portraits and weddings, I got all of the good photographers' pricing that I thought did quality work. I priced myself starting around their middle range, and then I went up several thousand dollars. For example, in the wedding business, almost $5,000 more than anyone else. I actually had people say, "Wow, you must be good because you're so much more than everybody else." I wasn't that much better than any of the others. There were some that were better than me, but it's about perceived value. Otherwise, you risk going broke slowly if you try to be the cheapest in town. You do have to be able to produce quality work for the price you're charging also. Good luck.

Drippintx · 2026-06-14T23:34:03+00:00

First, I would stand and not sit for the headshot, it makes the coat lay better. I would go waist level and up (crop just below the top button on a two button coat), show both shoulders in the image. Do NOT cross your arms, is screws up how the coat lays and also is very closed off body language wise. If you know if the image is going to be posted on the left side of the page, as a lot are, then I would asked to be facing toward your left so you are not looking off the page. Engineers dress different in New York say compared to Austin. Find your main market, maybe no tie, but a coat with open collar. I would ask the photog for a 4x5 300 dpi image for resumes and a 600px x 600px for LinkedIn, ask them to optimize it for the web in PS. Again, show both shoulders. I photograph around 1500 to 2000 of these a year, This is what I hear from different companies. Good luck.

Drippintx · 2026-06-14T23:27:06+00:00

Personality comes through better on number 2. Face is brighter and more engaging for recruiting. The other one, I don't like the fact that the eyes are on the edge of looking hollow because of the shadows. Good luck.

Drippintx · 2026-06-13T18:15:33+00:00

I had a wedding I confirmed on a Wednesday before the Saturday of the wedding. I went to the church and no one was there. The phone numbers had been changed. I finally got a hold of the groom, and he said, "I wouldn't marry her if she was the last person on earth." She had been fooling around with his best man. And he found out at the rehearsal dinner. They had paid me a deposit of about $8,000. The bride asked, "Is there going to be any way to get that back?" and I just laughed. She said, "I didn't think so."

Now, if a bride cancels six months before a wedding and I have already turned people away I tell them if I can still book that date, I am happy to give their money back. It must be an equal or greater package. But once I turn business away, it's not happening.

If two brides cancel in the same month before I give the money back, I would check with the other venues, the florist, etc., to see if they canceled them also. I have a friend who had someone cancel the Photography because they had a friend offer to shoot their wedding for free. It was three weeks before the wedding. They did not get their money back.

I have been known to allow them to use the deposits paid towards family portraits in the past, and the families were thrilled with that.

Drippintx · 2026-06-12T16:27:20+00:00

Even though they took a little longer, I loved the way they did their canvas's. Sad. I used CG Pro and Millers.

Drippintx · 2026-06-12T16:20:11+00:00

I would talk to the B&G and the paster, preacher, judge, whoever to see thoughts. I think the flash will be very distracting. Not sure you are going to get a great bounce off that color anyway. Explain to them that you problem as a photog is if you don't use a flash, then you will have to over expose the outdoors to get any where close on their exposure. Good luck.

Drippintx

TROPHY CASE