Prepare for Myrtle Beach Photography Session

Large Family portrait Myrtle Beach

How to Prepare for a Photography Sitting

Appearance:

Hair

The average wind speed at the beach is 10 to 15 miles per hour.  You hair is going to blow and you need to make sure that it is secure before going to your session.  Even if you never use hair spray or other products to hold hair in place, it is a good idea to use it before coming to the beach for the beach portrait. Even a small breeze can blow hair in front of eyes and cause people to keep moving their arms and hands to remove it. My advice is to use some before you arrive or bring it along in case you need it. Hair bands and ponytails are another good alternative.  The photographer is very busy out there and it is very important that you pay attention to you hair as he/she can’t reasonably fix everyones hair.

Sweat

No one wants to talk about it but it is hot on the beach.  It may be wise to bring a small towel to the beach with you to wipe away sweat.  Sweat causes shine on the face and dark spots on clothing.  If you sweat a lot, you can purchase underarm pads that will reduce the sweat on clothing.  Sweat also causes the sand to stick to your body parts that touch the sand.  Be aware of this and wipe away the sand upon standing up.  Sandy legs make for an unpleasant image.  Each person is responsible for making themselves as neat as possible.  Our graphics department can remove sand but it is a very difficult process and can get costly for the customer, graphically.

Short Skirts and Baggy Shorts

While we are on the topic of unpleasant things.  Women often wear skirts to the beach.  Many times you will be up on a dune and the photographer will be shooting up at you.  While the area between the skirt hem and you leg often will show your undergarments.  It may look blacked out to the photographer’s naked eye, once the flash goes off, that area will be  illuminated.  Be aware of your leg position and try and wear skirts that will cover those areas while seated.  Same message goes for men in baggy shorts.  Guys sometimes sit with their knees up and open.  This same thing can happen with you.  Be aware!

Transition Lenses/Sun Glasses

Please be aware of your eye wear.  Transition lenses become very dark on the beach and even if you need them to see, consider taking them off for your photograph.  Same goes for sun glasses.

Shoes and Socks

Many times older people refuse to remove their foot wear.  Please discuss this in advance and decide if socks and shoes on one or two people is the look you want for your family portrait.

Personal Belongings

Don’t just toss your personal belongings such as purses, glasses, keys etc. down beside you.  Be sure that these items are not in the photographers shot.

Props

Small Children sometimes have a favorite beach toy that they like. It sometimes makes a great shot if they are allowed to hold it. Depending upon the child, it is sometimes the only way to get them to sit still for a shot.
Older children may want to bring a surfboard or skim board, or some other favorite beach item. It all adds to the personality of the shot.  We do have props available upon request.  (some charges may apply)

Clothing

Clothing is as important to the success of the shot as location, lighting and posing.

Classic Beach Portrait

For the look of the classic beach portrait everyone should dress in coordinated outfits. Young girls look beautiful with white dresses, and young men look smart with tans, pressed collared white shirts and old worn blue jeans. If all the women dress similarly and all the men dress similarly then the photo has a more formal professional look. During cooler weather, hooded sweatshirts  work well

Some Alternatives:
All white dresses for women and little girls and straw hats can add another dimension to this classic look.

To make it different you can choose a pastel or light color instead of the white for shirts and tops like sky blue, light pink or pale creamy orange. The alternative to pastel for shirts is bright highly saturated colors like red, and pink.

Another alternative is red or navy shirts and tops and white pants and shorts. Red is perfect if you intend to use one of the photos for a Christmas card.

Another way to make this classic look a little different is if all of the men and boys wear a darker color on top, like a Denim shirt, or Navy or Black Polo shirts.

Another alternative is for everyone to wear Blue Jeans instead of Khakis.

Multiple Families

When shooting multiple families together – if you would like to differentiate each family, each sub family can wear a matching color shirts.

Clothing and Accessories for Women

Women look best in v-neck and scoop neck tops. Short sleeve and sleeveless make this look very summery. Keep Jewelry simple.  Try and cover the parts of your body that you don’t want to show the world.

Clothing and Accessories for Men

Men should wear shirts with either crew or polo open neck shirts. Avoid button down shirts unless they can be pressed crisply for a clean look and avoid pleated front pants as they are not flattering on most people. Short sleeve shirts look more summery than long sleeve shirts. Remove large dark colored watches.

Shoes
For summer portraits, we suggest everyone to be barefoot. This uniformity works best and also creates a more summery image.

Cool Weather Cover Ups
Sometimes after a storm in the summer there may be a cool breeze on the beach. If the weather is cool please bring sweatshirts and sweaters in colors that work well with the outfits that you have chosen.

Infants and Small Children

It is helpful if they are rested and fed before they arrive for the photo shoot.

Dogs
We can work with dogs, but would like the owners to have realistic expectations about how much time a real pet portrait takes. The activity of a lot of people moving about around the dog on the beach is usually to distracting to get the dog to sit still and look in the direction of the photographer for very long.

Absolutely No Personal Cameras

One of our biggest challenges is customers bringing their personal cameras to the beach and shooting behind our photographer.  We reserve the right to end the photo shoot without refund if this happens.  It is not only rude but distracting to the subjects as well as the photographer.  The photographers uses his/her knowledge to pose, position according to the sun, and for someone to stand behind him/her with a personal camera and shoot is not acceptable.

Bring the Photographer’s Phone # With You

Please be sure to ask for the photographers phone number if we forget to give it to you.  Many times, customers and even photographers become stuck in traffic or get lost.  It is necessary to inform the photographer if this happens as they will do the same for you.  Our roads are named by numbers and North Myrtle Beach has the same number system as Myrtle Beach so be sure and be aware of the location of your shoot.  Make sure you ask our reservation department if you are unsure of your location.  Don’t depend on GPS because it sometimes becomes confused if you are not exactly sure about the location.