shooting at the beach in midday sun

P

Peter Osinaki

New member
hello,

I have a shoot coming up that is just a single shot in mid day sun. It is a promo for a convention being held in a beach town and the idea is to shoot a corona style promo. The shot will go from medium and zoom out to a wide shot. I thought of using a canopy like this one

http://www.buyshade.com/?gclid=CL6a9Mafoa8CFYbe4Aodjm6IWA

the problem is that I don't know if that will allow me to shoot wide enough. Should I just attempt to key it out in post, or is there an alternative? I would prefer not to shoot in direct sunlight. This is going to be shot on the east coast of the USA so I need to wait until mid day so that the morning sun doesn't reflect off of the water.

Any tips would be appreciated

thank you
 
Hi Peter - what's the actual shot of? Sorry, Im just not fully getting what you're asking here.
 
We carry a beach umbrella at all times for this type of situation. It would be substantially less expensive than buying a canopy, and much easier to move if you have to . . . unless you have a really big camera. Set the camera up close to the front of the shaded area and unless you are shooting with a fisheye lens you won't have any problem with shooting the covering itself. Some stores carry smaller beach umbrellas that attach to the arm rest of a folding lawn chair. We have one of these, too, that we attach to the pan stick of the tripod. It pans and tilts with the camera and is quite easy to set up and use.
As to mid-day shooting, I would think that earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon would give better texture to your shot. The sun reflections off of the water in the morning and shadows in the waves would add great visual interest. You won't have the clear, green water of the Corona commercials so some texture might help the water a bit.
I shot an ESPN Special during Datona Bike Week not long ago and shot bikes running on Datona Beach at dawn . . . with the sunrise in the background, and it was just beautiful. But that was for a very dramatic 10 minute intro sequence to the show.

Unless you have expensive actors you might want to shoot your shot in the morning, at mid-day and in the afternoon . . . just to cover yourself.
Good luck,

Ken
 
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Shadows on the deck chair suggest the sun is off the frame edge top right - yet the side of the left hand character often flattens out that way and doesn't bleach out, suggesting equally large amounts of light from the camera side but not being seen. Sunlight at high angles doesn't produce nice shadows. Mind you with lots of reflectors you can get extra light in for beach shots. Look at the areas in shadow - they are are not black - and on a bright sunny day, shadows are really dark and contrasty.
 
Peter Osinaki said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn212pNzym8&feature=related

the framing is more like that. Do you think i will be ok with a canopy, polarizing filter, and some work in post? Thank you

edit: I actually am starting to think it will be fine without one. I have seen a bunch of really amateur parody's online and the lighting on those is just about acceptable for what were are doing
Click to expand...

The bloke is a long way from the girl - way to large an area to put into shade (without some serious holly wood gear)

Id go for reflectors lots of them, even a white sheet on the ground will provide some fill at very little cost Id add that too

S
 
This is pretty simple. Forget the canopy. As Paul suggests the sun is on the right. Shoot with a flat setting in cam. Use the sun as key. Get a bank (5 or 6) of 4x4 mirror reflectors shooting thru a 12x butterfly as the fill just off camera. Even a 12x silk alone would provide enough bounce for fill...but if you want it a bit more punchy shoot the reflectors through it. And sandbags...lots of sandbags. Polarizer also. Punch the colours in post. You don't HAVE to shoot flat...you can always get it in cam...but that's what I usually do.
 
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