BEACH PHOTOGRAPHY 



by 

 Rudolph P. Savage 

 Hydraulic Engineer, Research Division, Beach Erosion Board 

 Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army 



Introduction 



Photography has been proven to be a very useful tool in almost 

 every branch of science and engineering. With pictures, things can 

 be shown, illustrated, and compared with greater ease and brevity 

 than is generally possible with words and drawings. Thus, good 

 photography properly used is an asset to most scientific and engineer- 

 ing reports. 



In the course of his investigations, the coastal engineer can 

 profitably use photography to record and compare events and conditions, 

 both from time to time and place to place; and for report illustrations. 

 The beach, however, is a rather special photographic environment and 

 although the general rules of photography apply, the large areas of 

 sand and water create special problems. The purpose of this article is 

 to present some basic photographic information and its application to 

 the special photographic environment created by sandy beaches. 



Equipment for Beach Photography 



The basic equipment required for beach photography is a camera 

 and a light meter. The camera should be somewhat versatile in that it 

 should have variable lens openings, or f-stops, and variable shutter 

 speeds. F-stops should range from f-3.5 or f-4, 7 to f-16 or f-22 and 

 shutter speeds should range from l/25th to l/200th of a second. These 

 are considered to be the minimum ranges to properly expose most 

 commercial films but wider ranges of f-stops and shutter speeds are 

 desirable if available. A range finder, a lens which focuses from 6 

 feet to infinity, and a filter holder which acts as a sunshade are also 

 desirable. Most commercial light meters designed to measure reflected 

 light are adequate for beach photography. 



Accessory equipment may include wide-angle and telephoto lenses; 

 K-2, G, and A filters of the Wratten scale; and a polarizing screen. 

 As a minimum, the K-2 filter and polarizing screen are suggested since 

 they cover the basic necessities of filter action for both color and 

 black-and-white film. Wide-angle and telephoto lenses may be used in 

 special situations where the object to be photographed is either too 

 near or too far to be photographed properly with a normal lens. How- 

 ever, their expense and added inconvenience in carrying and using are 

 rarely justified in general beach photography. 



