What You Need to Know About Beach Family Photos

It is hard to believe that it is Memorial Day weekend. Although this weekend is the unofficial start of Summer, my season of beach family photos has already begun. I started shooting on the beach in early May and I have been loving every second of it. The beach truly is the perfect place for family photos. It allows for interactive images, whether it be fun and playful or cozy and connected. Although the beach is a popular location for beach photos, there are some things you need to know ahead of time about scheduling your family photo session at the beach.

Beach Photo Sessions Must be Scheduled at Sunset or Sunrise

This is the most important fact you need to know before you book your photo session. I schedule all sessions about an hour before sunset or 10-15 minutes before sunrise. I do this because this is golden hour, which is the time of day when light is soft, golden, glowy, and flattering. It also creates a specific mood and feel that I am going for in my images. If I shot these sessions mid day or even two to three hours earlier, the light would be completely different and so will your images.

As you know, sunset in the early months of Summer is not until 8:00 or 8:30 pm. This means your photo session will start one hour before that time at 7:00 or 7:30. While this time of day is fine for most families, those with young toddlers and babies can find this time fo day challenging as it conflicts with bedtime and is typically the cranky time of day.

Is Sunset Right for Your Family?

Many clients ask me my opinion about scheduling a photo session at this time of day and it all depends on the personality of the child. I have been doing this for over a decade and have photographed a lot of kids over the years. The vast majority of kids are fine at sunset and if they do get cranky, it is at the end of the session. Some clients simply just go for it and shift their child’s nap schedule. For many, this approach works and the kids are rock stars through the session. However, there are some children that are really cranky throughout the session. This crankiness can simply be the child’s personality or that particular kid may be the type that can’t deviate from the usual routine. It truly varies based on the child. I defer to the parent here. Ultimately, you know your child best and what will work for them.

Options if Sunset doesn’t work for Your Family

1) Schedule a sunrise session. Sunrise sessions are scheduled 10-15 minutes before sunrise. This is a start time of anywhere from 5:30am to 6:00 am, depending on the date. The light is gorgeous at this hour, the beaches are empty and I can’t think of a better way to start the day.

2) Schedule you beach family session in August or September. Sunset is earlier in these months and the start time is usually between 6:00-6:30pm. Many clients find this much more manageable. My August dates are always the first to book for this reason. I highly suggest joining my mailing list so that you can book once my calendar opens.

3) If you don’t have your heart set on the ocean beaches, you can choose an alternate location. I have a few lake front locations that allow me to schedule your session in the early morning or two hours prior to sunset.

What does a sunset session look like?

You can check out all of my past beach sessions here. In the meantime, this is the most recent session. This was taken on a May evening. Because of the smoke from the recent Canada wildfires, the light was simply gorgeous on this evening. It had a hazy golden glow that was just beautiful for this session. This baby is eight months old and the start time for this session was 7:15 pm. She was sleepy towards the end of the session, but I just love those cuddly and connected images, especially when a child is this young. I love the soft, neutral earth toned palette this mom selected and her lace cardigan added the perfect texture and dimension to her images, as did the chunky knit rust sweater her daughter wore.

Here are a few of my favorites from the evening.