8 Tips To Shoot Seascape Without Tripod
I absolutely wanted to share with you some seascape photos and how I captured them some days ago.
The sunset was breathtaking, sadly, I broke my ND filter and polarizer for the second time in less than a year. The first time I didn’t hold my tripod while taking off my shoes. The wind blew hard and my camera fell down with the tripod facing the sand and small rocks. I was just lucky it was the filters and not the lens.
The second time, I forget the filters on the table back in my van, and when I drove, it fell down and broke into 2 pieces. I am currently travelling in New Zealand. It’s hard to get this filter size since my lens uses a special dimension, 112mm. I was very far from any city or a camera store and they are very pricy ($1400NZ). Also, the price in New Zealand is very high since many things are imported from so far. It’s a lot of money and I decided to not invest in that again. I couldn’t compose the long exposure I had in mind, but I had fun and I get better shots.
I spent the afternoon at the beach walking around, watching some birds and seals. When the sunset started, I pulled my jogging up to my knees and went for handheld shots close to the water. I like to feel connected to nature and the different elements: the waves, the sand, the cold temperature, and the wind.
To compose, I almost lay down on the sand, waiting for the waves to take the shots at different moments then quickly get up. I had water until my hips sometimes because the waves were big and went too far.
The main challenge there was mostly to not shake and go with the slower shutter speed I could to have a nice and sharp image. I started to freeze, the water, the sand and the wind were so cold.
I always shoot with image stabilization enabled (VR on Nikon System, IBIS on other brands), except for astrophotography and timelapse. I tried different settings to see which shutter speed will make my happiness according to the strength of the waves, then I adjusted the other settings from time to time since it was getting darker.
I have many nice shots but below are my 2 favourites:
Nikon Z7ii & 14-24mm f2.8 - Single exposure @18mm ISO 64 - f/18 - 1/10sec
Nikon Z7ii & 14-24mm f2.8 - Single exposure @14mm ISO800 - f/11 - 1/13sec
A nice tip to use while shooting under hard conditions like that (the cold), is to use the rafale mode. Then check on the screen which ones are sharp and nice, then keep shooting, trying different compositions and keep looking at what you captured. The option comes with the camera, so why not use it? This is not only for sports and wildlife ;)
to recap :
Have VR or IBIS enabled
Use the Electronic shutter
Enable Silent Mode (On Nikon Camera)
Find the desired shutter speed for the water flow (look at your screen and zoom to inspect the picture)
Use Rafale mode at 5 or 10 fps
Hold the camera in a sturdy position
Connect with the elements
Have fun and Fire up!
