Many people enjoy vacations along the ocean, with days full of water sports, sunbathing and people watching. For those of us who enjoy photography, these same locations present completely different vacation opportunities. This article features a selection of oceanside compositions at Castlepoint, New Zealand.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

Lighthouses may act as warning beacons to ships… but have strong attraction to photographers.

I enjoy including walkways and stairs into oceanside compositions as they can often help to document one’s journey to the lighthouse.

Decks and outlooks can also bring different perspectives into play.

Combining rocks, sky and water can lead to somewhat complex compositions…

Some things catch my eye due to their simplicity and the questions they pose about how nature came to place some objects.

I love wandering among rocks and sand, letting my eye find interesting combinations of shapes and colours.

Some compositions can reinforce how living things somehow can find a way to survive in harsh environments.

While others remind us of the power of nature and how the relentless motion of wind and waves can carve and shape even the hardest of surfaces.

Incorporating man-made objects can give our oceanside compositions a sense of scale.

Getting in close to an object in the foreground with a wide angle lens can bring a sense of intimacy to an oceanside composition.

Remembering to monitor shutter speeds by adjusting ISO in windy conditions can help avoid foliage blur.

Positioning our cameras down low can help accentuate undulations in the sand and plant life.

The footprints of people who have trekked on the beach before us can act as natural leading lines in oceanside compositions.

If you enjoyed this article and are interested in reading more information about New Zealand you may enjoy our eBook, New Zealand Tip-to-Tip, which is available for purchase and download at a cost of $12.99 Canadian.

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Technical Note:
All photographs in this article were captured hand-held in available light using Nikon 1 gear as per the EXIF data. All images were produced from RAW files using my standard process of DxO PhotoLab, CS6 and the Nik Collection.

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