A friend on Facebook has a whole series of beach shots, and in one of them she asked how to add more light to a scene. She had photographed the female model facing away from the sun, with the shallow water in the background where small waves were rolling in.
She was so close to getting the photos to look so good, but clearly had one element missing: An external flash.
In a heart-beat, I had determined what I would do, plus had a few other ideas in mind. But because most of my skill has been learnt from trial and error, not from any online nor institutional training, I couldn’t explain easily.
Instead, I went googling for articles that would give a better overall explanation of how to add more light to a beach photograph. The following articles and videos are some of the best I could find at short notice. I do hope they explain it for you.
The biggest tip/trick these video’s teach is how to use umbrella’s, diffusers and your external flash to your advantage. Mostly they say don’t aim the flash at the model – aim at the umbrella or diffuser. The sun becomes your secondary or ambient-light. The sun gives you the golden-colour, whereas your external flash pumps up the brightness. Here is another one…
Creativity & Artwork of Stephen Mitchell 
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