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The beach is a powerful backdrop, filled with activity and distraction. To avoid distracting from your subject(s), keep your subject large and up front in your frame. In the NYI Course we have an entire lesson on techniques for drawing attention to your subject.

When you're photographing people on the beach, the biggest danger is squinting. You follow the old Kodak "rule": You set up with the bright sun streaming into the face of your subject from over your shoulder. Forgetting for the moment the problem this creates with dark shadows (which you open up with your fill flash), we think the biggest problem is that your subject has to squint. And most people don't look their best when squinting. In fact, most people look terrible squinting. How can you avoid this? Try moving your subject into the shade - for example, the shade of an umbrella. Perhaps, wait till a cloud obscures the direct sun. Or turn your subject so that the sun is behind him or her, and use fill flash to light the face. In other words, watch out for squinting and take steps to avoid it!

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