Hawaii Beach Session at Sunset with Maddy & Garrett in Oahu, Hawaii

Almost everyone, when they think about having a session on a beach in Hawaii, imagines being alone on an exclusive beach, with the perfect sand, waves, and natural backdrop. Unfortunately, finding that exclusive beach can be difficult because well… It’s Hawaii and people are almost always at the various beaches. Don’t let this worry you though. You can still have an exclusive beach session without it being an exclusive beach. That was exactly what happened during this sunset beach session with Maddy and Garrett on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.

If you’re wondering how to create those amazingly exclusive and intimate beach photographs on a beach that is anything but exclusive or intimate… then keep reading. In this post we’re going to give three tips to creating the perfect Hawaii beach session at a beach full of people.

#1 A Beach Session at Sunset

The busiest time at the beach will be midday to late afternoon. That means that if you are planning your beach session during sunset’s golden hour you’re most likely going to have other people on the beach. Don’t worry though! People love to watch the majestic sunsets in Hawaii. So when choosing a beach for your session, try and choose one that has less traffic during sunset. Because the sun sets in the west, try picking a beach on the east or north shores. You might have to schedule your session a little earlier, but the lighting will be perfect and the beach typically will be a little less crowded.

#2 Pick a Spot and Angles Strategically

When you arrive at the beach, find a spot that seems less crowded and trafficked. This will give you some privacy and allow your couple to be more relaxed and themselves. Once you have your spot picked out, be strategic with the angles of your photographs. You can naturally crop out people and things just by changing the camera angle a bit. Doing this makes the beach look exclusive and saves you time later in editing. And this brings up the third tip…

#3 Use Photoshop to Create an Exclusive Beach

Plan on using Photoshop to edit out people and things that are going to be in the background of your photographs. By using photoshop you can digitally create an exclusive beach where you are the only ones there! This is amazing! Some of the photoshop tools are the content-aware fill, clone stamp, and the layer mask and brush tools to name a few. You will have an exclusive beach with a few clicks of the mouse!

There are few locations more stunning than a Hawaii beach at sunset. Having a beach session is so much fun and we absolutely recommend sunset for the perfect lighting. And with these three tips you can make sure that your photographs show an exclusive beach all to yourself, even if reality was a little different.

Check out the photographs from Maddy and Garrett’s beach session at sunset where we used these three tips! Let us know what you think. What other tips would you give?

If you loved the way that this session was captured and want your upcoming session to be capture like this, please contact us at bythereeses@gmail.com

Until next time,

Tyler Reese