When Should You Schedule a Beach Family Photo Session?
The beach is a popular place at which to schedule family photos in the St Augustine Florida area. It truly is a stunning location that lends itself to relaxed and connected family photos, but it can also be a challenging location to shoot at. Contrary to what many people think, there is a limited window of time during which the lighting is ideal at the beach. Furthermore, there tends to be a lot of activity at the beach, so scheduling a session here requires some strategic planning. Here are a few things to consider before scheduling your next beach family portrait session.
What is the best time of day for a beach family photo session?
Most people don’t realize that lighting at the beach is not ideal during most of the day. When it comes to photography, too much sun can create unflattering lighting. For most of the day, the light is too harsh at the beach and there is no shade available to filter the light. The best time to take outdoor portraits is when the sun is low in the sky. This is typically at sunrise or as the sun sets in the evening during golden hour. At these times of the day, the lighting is soft and creates beautiful lighting conditions for portraits. If the weather happens to be overcast, this is also great lighting, but it may be hard to predict if the weather being overcast.
Weekdays are always best
As you know, the beach is a popular destination here in St Augustine. This is especially true on the weekends and crowds can make it especially difficult to capture intimate family portraits. For that reason, I prefer to schedule all beach sessions on weekday evenings. Not only will the beach be less crowded, but chances are that you will also have more availability during the week. Sunset is late in the Summer, so there is no need to even take a day off from work. Although I can’t guarantee that the beach will be desolate on the day of your session, I do choose locations that tend to be less crowded during the week.
What months are best for beach family photo session?
Well, that all depends on your personality, family dynamic, and goals for the session. I start schooting on the beach mid May and go all the way through October.
June, July & August are great months if you want to have guaranteed warm weather for your session. I also feel that the beach tends to be less windy during these months. The downside is that weather can be erratic at sunset and thunderstorms can roll in last minute, but this also means there is a possibility for a rainbow! I will always suggest sunrise during these months to avoid having to reschedule. Also, sunset is very late during these months,, which may be difficult with toddlers. Sunrise is always an option in that case.
September-October is great if you are looking warm weather, but slightly cooler weather.. The beaches will be nearly during this month. The weather tends to be gorgeous and the sun starts to set very close to the ocean during this month. Even better, sunset is earlier so for those of you with little ones, this would be the best month to schedule your session.
March, April & May are also great months to schedule your session. The weather is cooler in these months, but there still tend to be less people on the beach. I find the sunsets are amazing and soft in these months and I can start a little earlier at select locations with higher dunes. There tends to be a less chance os storms at sunset too.
November-February The sunsets are stunning and the beaches tend to be empty at sunset, even on the weekends. It can be a little breezier and slightly cooler on the beach chilly and windy at sunset. I will always tell you to dress in layers for a beach session during this month. There is very little chance of a storm at sunset.
Recent Family Photo Session in July
I had so much fun with the family featured in this blog post. Their session took place on a late July evening. The night was quite simply a 10/10. There was little to no wind, the weather was absolutely perfect with no humidity and the sunset was breathtaking. We played lots of games and I love every single on of the captures from their session, but here are a few of my favorites.
Are you ready to start planning your ST AUgustine beach family photo session?
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