Los Angeles Cinematic Beach Fashion Portraits with Sigma 85mm
Based in Los Angeles, the beach is one of the most common locations that I use for cinematic portrait photography when working with models. Some of the beaches in Los Angeles offer a variety of different environments to interact with and textures which come to make a beautiful portrait session.
In my cinematic beach portraits, I like to keep each session as authentic as possible with natural light and minimal retouching in the post-production process. Through my experience of working with professional models and modeling agencies in Los Angeles, I have learned to give the talent and their agents what they want while still infusing my own style in the final images.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite cinematic fashion photography beach portraits taken in Los Angeles, captured with the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART prime lens. All of these photos were edited in Adobe Lightroom Classic.
Sigma 85mm Lens for Portraits
The Sigma 85mm ART prime lens works perfect for cinematic beach portraits because it’s a perfect focal length to capture close-up photos of the model, but also allows enough versatility for the photographer to get full-body photos without having to walk too far away from the subject. The Sigma 85mm lens is what I use for most of my commercial lifestyle and travel photography.
The lens itself produces incredibly sharp images and has fast autofocus when paired with the Sony a7R III camera body: this becomes useful for when you have the fashion model in movement (walking, turning, etc.)
If you plan on capturing cinematic portraits at the beach, the location isn’t the only thing to consider. The colors of the fashion model’s wardrobe is also an important factor to consider before photoshoot day.
I always create a mood board in advance of sample images and advice on what colors to bring in their wardrobe.
You can create cinematic beach portraits with vibrant bold colors on the model’s clothing or with more neutral colors. However, my advice is if the fashion model is going to be wearing more neutral colors (white, grey, beige) at the beach, try to find contrasts or utilize colors in your environment so that the model doesn’t fade into the background.
This is also something I think about when capturing black and white portraits. Even if the image is void of vibrant colors, you can still use natural light or contrasts of black and white in order to make the image look cinematic.
Natural Light in Cinematic Beach Fashion Portraits
Taking off from my last point, you don’t need to bring additional lighting equipment to the beach to get cinematic photos. An understanding of natural light will go a long way when capturing portraits outdoors. I wrote a blog post about tips on cinematic photography with natural light.
Speaking specifically about beach portraits, you don’t have to capture photos during golden hour to make your photos cinematic (sunrise and sunset photography is just my personal preference). I would recommend you try to take photos of your subject with front facing light, side-light, backlight, during overcast weather, and see which style you gravitate towards the most.
In Los Angeles, the sun rises on the opposite side of the ocean, and sets into the ocean. I’m personally not a fan of backlit portrait photography, so I will usually have the model side-lit during sunset, and facing the camera during sunrise so you can get the ocean well-exposed while the model’s face is lit up by the sun.
The Fashion Model’s Expression
The fashion model’s expression makes a huge difference on the type of cinematic portrait you’re going for. This is also a factor I take into consideration when I’m sending the mood board over to the model or the agency.
My personal style of travel and commercial lifestyle photography leans towards calm and ambient, so I usually will direct the model to look more serene and relaxed in their expressions, rather than upbeat and cheery.
Cinematic portrait photography doesn’t always have to look somber - it’s more about successfully telling the story or concept that you are aiming for with still images.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need a ton of lighting equipment to set up a cinematic outdoor portrait session at the beach. I have a minimalist set up using only my Sony camera body and Sigma lens to produce high-quality images. If you’re able to take advantage of the beach environment you’re shooting in and if you properly prepare yourself and the models for the photoshoot in advance, you can come up with a variety of beautiful outdoor photos.
I hope this blog post has helped you come up with possible ideas on how to produce cinematic beach portraits on your own time, and also showcase how an amazing prime lens like the Sigma 85mm lens is useful in getting these final fashion photography photos.
Thanks for reading and until next time.
If you like outdoor lifestyle photography, feel free to check out these behind-the-scene photography sessions I produced with on-camera talent:
Sunrise Outdoor Lifestyle Photoshoot in Santa Monica Beach
Luxury Watch Outdoor Lifestyle Photoshoot at Venice Beach, Los Angeles
Sunset Commercial Lifestyle Beach Campaign Photography in Santa Monica
Santa Monica Overcast Morning Lifestyle Beach Fashion Photoshoot
If you’d rather look at specific product photography galleries of my lifestyle work, check out the links below.
