I will be the first to tell you that I am no photography expert – not by far! But, I do absolutely adore beaches, and I always take my camera with me, grains of sand be darned. When you take about 1,000 photos of beaches in one year, you’re bound to get a few that turn out well. I’ve learned a lot about how to frame shots and how to not fall into the trap of “cliche” beach shots, though I still do take plenty of those. But on the other hand, who cares? Cliche shots can be very pretty.

I thought it would be neat to share what I’ve learned from a couple of my own photos and then include a bunch of really fabulous, creative beach photos I’ve found on Flickr. Some people really have a good eye — it’s all about realizing that a beach is more than just sun, sand and water.

First up – My husband and I watched the sun set on Eagle Beach for a good hour, and took about 300 pictures. I took a break for a bit and watched my husband catch the remaining light. I loved this one because it capture him doing one of the things he loves to do most – take pictures.

Taking a Photo of my Husband Taking a Photo

I seriously wish I could remember the name of this beach in New Zealand. It started to hail about five minutes after this shot was taken. I was really struck by the vivid colors (I didn’t touch up this photo at all!) The blue of the ocean bled into the dark gray sand which was framed by the bright green hillsides and the ominous dark storm clouds loomed behind. I learned about perspective when I took this shot.

A beach in New Zealand

Now on to other peoples’ photos. I love this shot of palapas – there’s symmetry, nice color and it’s just a very visually pleasing photo. Not the most unique out there, but just — pretty. Reminds you of what the beach is for: relaxing. Symmetry is relaxing for most people, and that’s the feeling this photo creates.

Palapas

This next shot reminds me of the architecture on a beach — it’s not just all sand dunes. The Huntington Beach pier frames the shot like twenty different picture frames, and I wonder what’s through the peep hole at the end. The ray of light on the left draws your eye up diagonally through the photo.

A nice pier shot

A cute take on a classic – the surfer. It almost looks as though the hand is putting down the sand for the surfer to walk on.

Surfer

I love, love, love beach storms. They just seem so much moodier and interesting than they do over land. Can’t you just sense the lightning in these clouds? The water seems remarkably calm for the storm brewing above it.

A storm approaches

Photos: Jenny Bengen-Albert, footloosiety, bosdos, ~ipoxstudios~, Meta-Man