beach wedding
Romantic -- Fun -- Candid -- Memorable -- Call 813-240-5357 today!
Full-time professional photographer Jason Collin makes the best SW Florida beach wedding photos in the Ft Myers, Sanibel, Cape Coral, Bonita and Naples areas using unique lighting techniques and years of sunset shooting experience. The results are strikingly vivid images that capture the couple's character, spirit and closeness. Reserve your candid beach wedding photography today.
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Photography Tip - when the sun is still strong in the sky, block it with the subject to soften its effect.
Making sunset portraits is a photography skill unto itself. When shooting on a beach at sunset the conditions are rarely the same. Thus, not only do you have the usual variables to deal with when shooting on location, and not only is there a ticking clock with the sun getting closer and closer to the horizon, there is also the unknown of how the sun will effect your shot according to its strength.
If you find the setting sun is overpowering your portrait, then a good photography tip to use is to block most or all of the brightest part of the sun with the subject. This will reduce lens flare too.
Of course unless you want the subjects to be silhouettes, you will need a speedlight or two off camera to light them up. The sun is then used as a backlight source complementing your portrait instead of dominating it if the subjects were not blocking any of the strong light coming from the setting sun.
Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th STROBIST: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power on light stand with reflective umbrella frame leftI have photographed dozens of beach weddings over the past few years, but this was only my second daytime (i.e. non-sunset time) wedding. The first was just over a year ago and lasted only an hour, but I still remember the heat from that one! This wedding was two hours and a little later in the year, so I prepared myself accordingly.
This wedding was for current DSLR Photography Lesson student Chris & his bride Valentina. I actually first met Chris briefly over a decade ago during my USF days. For the above photo Valentina wanted a shot that featured the back of her wedding dress. I thought black & white made the dress stand out from the background.
Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/500th Nikon SB-800 TTL mode hotshoe mountedShooting a ceremony that starts at 10:30am means basically shooting in direct, harsh sunlight, i.e. the least ideal conditions. Still, as a professional photographer one is expected to produce results. This starts with altering expectations as of course I will not be able to produce any of my trademark stunning sunset portraits. However, I can get very vivid blues still.
Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/320th SB-800 hotshoe mounted @ 1/4 powerI could also focus on my prefered candid style of shooting, like in the above shot of Valentina and Chris right after their first kiss as husband and wife. Despite the power of the sunlight, I did have the one advantage of the couple facing the sun during the ceremony allowing for the best possible exposure given the conditions.
Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/320th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight TTL mode hotshoe mounted This group shot is of everyone in attendance at the wedding. The goal is to make sure everyone's head is visible. I took a new approach this time asking people to please just stand still! I would get the left side of the group all aligned then go to do the right and turn around to see the people on the left mingling amongst themselves again. Finally I had to be firm and say please stand still or we will all melt in the sun! For all future group shots I will start out with this firmness as you may find it hard to believe but adults cannot stand still either, just like kids!
Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D80 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/640th Nikon SB-600 in TTL mode hotshoe mountedThe width of the Gulf of Mexico makes it tempting to only shoot landscape orientation shots, but I think it is important to produce a variety of shots, including ones like the above portrait orientation shot. I still concentrate the most on getting the horizon level be it landscape or portrait orientation as my photo students know I am a stickler for level horizons.
Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight TTL mode hotshoe mountedNo sunset in the background, but the Gulf of Mexico at any time of day still makes for a pretty good backdrop. I asked Chris if he could dip Valentina for me. Surprisingly, he chose this kind of dip rather than putting her into the Gulf!
Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D80 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th Nikon SB-600 Speedlight TTL mode hotshoe mountedThe reception was also out in mostly direct sunlight, but nearby was a shady refreshment stand the guests hung out in until the food was ready to be served. This is where I was able to get this candid shot of Valentina and her son.
Jason now serves the SW Florida area with the best beach wedding photography!
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Silhouette shots are VERY rare for me -- Nikon D80 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/1250thOne reason I think I have come to like Pass-A-Grille Beach at the tip of St. Petersburg so much is because I had never been there before in my previous Florida life. It is still very new to me. I like that it is at the tip of the Pinellas County peninsula too. The end of the line, not built up, not crowded, somewhat forgotten. It stands in opposition to the horror of Clearwater Beach.
Such was the scene for the last beach wedding of the year for me to photograph. Jennifer and John were a jovial couple, not ones to stare deep into the camera, but rather engage in playfulness as I, seemingly unaware to them, photographed them from various distances, such as the above silhouette shot. This type of image is a staple of sunset photography (because it is dead easy to make). Perhaps this is why I have basically never made a professional silhouette shot before this one as I try for very complex dual-strobe light sunset shots offering clients a uniquely creative image.
Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 on light stand to left & SB-600 on tripod to rightThe above shot is more my own "typical" sunset beach wedding shot. A two-strobe setup showing the vivid colors provided by west coast Florida sunsets. I suggested to John and Jennifer they do "the dip" and this was the result! This attempt provided the best smiles of the evening. For the record, Jennifer was never in any real danger of falling into the water.
Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 on light stand to left SB-600 on tripod to rightAfter "the dip" I suggested Jennifer have some of her own solo camera time. I believe John was doing something behind me to keep Jennifer laughing. I asked her to hold out her flowing dress, which made for a rather princess-like shot I would say.
Nikon D80 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 to left SB-600 to rightI am a big fan of the couple looking out to the Sea shot. No doubt this is because I, myself, was born looking out to the Sea by instinct. Therefore, it is only natural that I produce photographs that I would want of myself. Maybe this is what every photographer does? And since we all like different things, this creates different styles among photographers despite the fact we all use very similar photography equipment and shoot at similar locations. My purpose with the above shot for John & Jennifer is for them to look upon this photograph in 2030 and try and remember what they were thinking at, to try to remember what they say that evening looking upon the horizon.