Overcast Morning Lifestyle Beach Photoshoot: Sigma 85mm f/1.4 ART Prime Lens
Back in July 2024, I had the opportunity to work with male model Owen Rivers of the Aston Models agency for a lifestyle photoshoot at Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles. The coastal cities in the Pacific Palisades area tend to usually be foggy early in the morning, so I had prepared for the photoshoot to be overcast during the session.
In this blog, I will be sharing some of my favorite images from the morning photoshoot at the beach and explain composition and photography tips that I used to get some of the photos.
All photos featured in this blog post were taken on the Sony a7R III with the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN ART prime lens. The photos were edited in Adobe Lightroom Classic.
Creating The Mood Board
When I reached out to Aston Models, I had planned to do a beach lifestyle photoshoot with some of their models and created a general mood board to confirm the style I was going for. My style of photography when it comes to portraits and lifestyle is generally geared more towards natural and simple.
I asked that the models would bring simple clothing like a T-shirt and jeans without logos. Assuming that the weather was going to be overcast, I felt it would be better to have the clothing be muted and closer to neutral colors than bold vibrant colors for a more moody ambiance.
I discuss some of the benefits of creating a mood board in this blog post, but as a quick summary: a mood board is a great way to let the client and model know what to expect from the photoshoot before production day and confirms if everyone is on the same page. I also recommend bringing the mood board on the day of the photoshoot to reference.
Choosing Camera Gear (Sigma 85mm Prime Lens)
As a lifestyle photographer, I try to get a variety of different poses and movements from the model, rather than sticking to simple headshots. Photographing on the beach, I also knew that I would have plenty of space to move around to capture both close up images and full body photos.
85mm is a great focal length to switch between these two compositions as long as you have enough space. It provides very little distortion so you get a good representation of the models’ features, and you can still give direction to the model without having to back up too far away.
Sigma has been the main brand that I have used for all of my photoshoots when it comes to lenses because of the image quality. In a lifestyle photoshoot like this, having a fast 85mm lens serves as a huge benefit in getting the model in focus without having to bump up your ISO.
NATURAL LIGHT IN OVERCAST WEATHER
During this photoshoot, the weather remained overcast throughout the 2-hour session. One of the biggest benefits of photographing in overcast weather with portraits is that you get even natural light on the model’s face. For the style that I was going for, the weather helped make the photoshoot go more smoothly since the beach near the Santa Monica Pier doesn’t provide a lot of shade options to utilize.
One of the biggest drawbacks of even lighting, however, is that you can get less variety of photos if the lighting never changes - and given that the session was only 2 hours, I had to try and find different ways of changing up the composition to make up for it.
Another drawback of an overcast photoshoot in a spot like Santa Monica Beach is that the sky looks empty without any clouds or color, which can make for a boring background. A few tricks that I tried to implement is having the model sit on the sand and shoot downwards so you get the sand texture as a background rather than the blank sky. You can also use the pier itself as a background in the image.
Near the end of the photoshoot, the light started to become brighter (even though the weather was still overcast). Owen and I walked to the beams of the Pier and took some photos that allowed for there to be more contrast. You can see in the photos below that there is a bit more of a shadow on the right side of his face, while the left side of his face takes in more of the light.
If you’re ever taking portraits in overcast weather later on in the afternoon but want to create contrast, find a spot where there’s any kind of shade and use that to create a side light. I think these photos ended up looking more dynamic as far as lighting compared to the previous photos.
EDITING THE PHOTOS
I wanted to keep most of the photos slightly on the warmer side and a bit desaturated, so I steered away from any drastic changes. A lot of the final photos shown in this blog post were close to what I was shooting on the day of the actual shoot.
Additionally, I thought this photoshoot would be a good opportunity to explore a few black and white photos. I usually end up choosing color for the final images, but I find that sometimes on an overcast day, I prefer black and white images over the color versions. Ultimately it depends on your artistic eye, but it’s great to experiment with different editing styles for each photoshoot and see what works best for the kind of image you want to create.
FINAL WORDS
I am very grateful for Owen and Aston Models for providing me with the opportunity to be a part of this beach photoshoot. I have taken photos at Santa Monica Beach plenty of times, and because the weather can randomly change, there is only so much you can do to prepare for each shoot.
When it comes to overcast weather, coming up with ways to utilize the benefit of even lighting, but still discovering ideas to create contrast in the portraits is an essential pre-production step for me.
As a photographer who works outdoors, I always try to use the location to my advantage and utilize different compositions, even if there is a small amount of space that I have available for the photoshoot. For lifestyle photography specifically, making sure that the model has enough space to move around and feels comfortable is also essential in getting the final results that everyone will be happy with.
