How to Shoot Seascapes

Tom Berg captures the scenic New Jersey shoreline with the Tamron SP 10-24mm wide-angle lens.

Article by Jenn Gidman

Images by Tom Berg

Tom uses a variety of Tamron lenses for his work, including the 60mm Macro and the 18-270mm VC PZD lenses, but it's the Tamron SP 10-24mm wide-angle lens that lets him capture his most breathtaking seascapes. "That's the lens I mostly use when I'm on the beach," he says. With its 2.4X zoom and ability to capture the "big picture," the 10-24 allows Tom to develop his own personal photographic style and showcase the shore like it's never been seen before.

Although he's careful with his equipment when he heads down to the dunes, Tom doesn't spend a lot of time fortifying against the elements. "If it's too misty or wet, I won't be able to shoot anyway," he says. "I usually just bring a lens cloth so I can clean the lens. I'm always prepared, though, to get wet. Sometimes I'm in water up to my knees! Only in calm water, though - if the water is too rough, I'll get too much camera shake."

Avoiding that camera shake is one of the critical aspects of successfully capturing his seascape scenics. "I have to use a tripod, mainly because of the long exposures I use," he explains. "They're sometimes up to seven minutes long. In low-light shots, I'll also prefocus and use a shutter release to cut down on unwanted blur."

Pre-sunrise and sunset are Tom's preferred shooting times. "I'm up at 5 a.m. pretty much every weekend, and I like to head out to the beach whenever I can as the sun's about to go down," he says. "Those are the ideal times of day for really taking advantage of the shadows on the rocks and sand, and it allows for longer exposures than I could use at other times of the day."

Tom's white balance is usually set to Auto, but he'll often play around with it to see what other effects he can achieve. "For instance, I heard that putting your white balance on the Direct Sunlight setting in the morning when the sun's coming up gives your image a beautiful glow, so I'll experiment with that," he explains.

Tom uses neutral density filters while scoping out the shore, which cut down the amount of light reaching the lens and enable him to shoot at slower shutter speeds. "I have a 3-stop and a 10-stop neutral density filter that I experiment with," he says. "For instance, to capture the motion in the water, I'll head down before sunrise when it's still pretty dark out and throw the 10-stop filter on and use a five- or seven-minute exposure. Once the sun comes up, I'll bring it down to a minute, a minute and 30 seconds; then I'll throw the 3-stop filter on for maybe three seconds. You really get to see the lines and motion of the water that way."

Making his seascapes stand out is one of Tom's goals. "I try to look for anything different I can incorporate into the shot so it doesn't look like I'm shooting the same thing over and over," he says. "One way I do this is by placing different elements in the foreground to bring depth into the images. Piers are great, for instance, or jutting rocks. It's important not to cut anything off - make sure the whole picture is in the frame. That's where the 10-24 comes in so handy. You're able to really show the entire scene and tell a story so it's not just more waves crashing on the beach."

Using the lines of the scene, such as the horizon or a long dock, is also useful to draw the viewer into the image, as is incorporating the sky whenever possible. "Clouds are definitely important," Tom says. "When they're really dramatic, they often make the shot.'

To see more of Tom Berg's work, go to http://www.tombergphotography.com/.