Make sure you have a good camera strap and be sure it is firmly attached. You may wind up knee deep in the surf, so wear shorts and shoes that you don’t mind getting wet. I use a waterproof pouch for my phone, key fob and wallet. Keep a microfiber cloth handy for condensation or in case your lens gets splashed. A large floppy hat protects your face and ears, but also decreases glare in the viewfinder. It’s best if you don’t change lenses because there is always sand blowing around at the beach. This is one place I absolutely use my 28-300 all in one lens. You could use a 70-200, but you won’t get the big colorful sky. A 24-105 would work, but you won’t get the dramatic frame filling shots.

To me the shoots have four distinct parts and require different settings and techniques. For the first twenty minutes or so the horses and riders come by one at a time and move pretty slowly. This is the time to get great color in the sky, and also a good time for slow shutter speed and panning. If you aren’t experienced with panning, take some time to practice at shutter speeds of 1/8 to 1/30 sec before going to your first shoot. Not every panning shot will be good, but when everything works just right they can be great. For the first couple of years I concentrated on good color in the sky, and let the horse and rider become silhouettes. Modern sensors and software make it possible to bring out detail in the riders while keeping deep color in the sky.

As the light increases, the horses will begin to pick up the pace and start to gallop. Experienced horse photographers will tell you the money shot for horses is to have all four hooves in the air. This won’t happen until they are at a gallop or faster. At this point you have the option of panning with a slow shutter speed or trying to freeze motion with a higher shutter speed and higher ISO. This might be a good time to try Auto ISO. To get all four hooves in the air, shoot at least 8 to 10 frames/sec and delete the rejects. Usually you’ll find that one shot in each burst or two. Also your success rate improves with experience.

Most of the group leaders will try to do a shot of all of the horses and riders in the water in front of the rising sun. Contrast is very high and gets worse by the minute as the sun rises.

Usually the riders will take a break after the group shot to let the horses cool down. This is the time to get some portraits of horses and riders. The light is a bit harsh for good portraits, but if you pay attention to the light and have the riders move for the best light you’ll get some good shots.

After the cool down/portrait time it’s time for some high speed passes with the horses coming at you. This is the time for high shutter speeds and high frame rates. The light is harsh, so you may have to work a bit in post.

If four hooves in the air is good, eight is even better.

Always keep your eyes open and be aware of what’s going on around you. This is important for safety, but also there are those unexpected actions that happen in a split second. With luck you may be in just the right place at the right time.

Once you shoot horses on the beach, I think you’ll be as hooked as I am. There may be other places to shoot horses on the beach, so keep an eye out for events on your travels.

In Shutter priority, as light decreases the camera will select wider apertures until it reaches the lens’ widest aperture and then begin increasing ISO. There is no adjustment you need to make other than setting high and low ISO. In Shutter priority you can still dial in exposure compensation as you normally would.

When I use Auto ISO, I almost always use manual mode, so that I have the most control. I set shutter speed, aperture and the camera adjusts ISO using the minimum and maximum I have set. The biggest draw back on most of my cameras is using exposure compensation. Normally in manual we add over or under exposure by watching our meter in the view finder. But in Auto ISO the camera always adjusts for a “normal exposure”. If you want to increase or decrease exposure you have to go to the camera’s menu and select exposure comp/AEB and dial it in there. That can be pretty slow when things are happening quickly. On my R5 there is a third control wheel and I can adjust compensation quickly while looking through the viewfinder.

Here are a couple of shoots where I feel Auto ISO really helped me get consistently good shots. Back in 2018 I went to the Photographer’s weekend at the Durango Silverton Railroad. For two days the train would go to scenic locations, let the photographers off and back the train up and make a pass or sometimes two. I knew the light would be constantly changing, but that I wanted 1/250 to freeze the motion of the train and f/8 for adequate depth of field. For two days and over 1000 images I had very consistent images that required minimal processing. ISO ranged from 200 to 6400.

I shot my second rodeo in 2022 in Dunlap, and knew I’d be dealing with very fast action and pretty low light. I set my shutter at 1/1000 for motion and my lens’ widest aperture of f/2.8 and Auto ISO. ISO varied from 100 when there was still daylight to 16,000 when there was only LED lighting. I was shooting an older 7D Mark II and there was very obvious noise, but with Topaz DeNoise I was able to get very nice images.

This spring (2025) I went to the Okefenokee Swamp and took two sunset boat excursions. I was in a moving boat and often had to shoot between other passengers, so I had less than a second to compose and shoot. I was using my 28-300mm Tamron lens, so I set 1/320 sec and f/8 with Auto ISO. For the boat excursions ISO was between 100 and 4000. However, while I was waiting for the boat I shot a rack of life preservers in very heavy shade and wound up at an ISO of 51,200. The original was very noisy and flat, but after two minutes of editing and noise removal it was a very nice image.

In short, I don’t need to use Auto ISO all of the time, but there are those times when it is invaluable. Give it a test run so that you understand how to set it up, how it works and its limitations. Then when you have one of those difficult situations you’ll be prepared.

I worked on a couple of new layers so I could use masking and opacity. The spatter brushes create random patterns and sizes so you may have to try several times to get a look you like.

And here is the final image with her freckles added in.

Lip Gloss – Most models seem to be constantly applying and re-applying lip gloss, but sometimes they forget or it dries out. The lips in this image are okay, but they lack the shine of lip gloss.

Here is my set of lip gloss for top lips. There is a separate set for lower lips. I always put these on a separate layer because even with brush sizing they almost always have to be adjusted with free transform to fit the lips just right. Always paint with white since these are highlights, and adjust the opacity until it looks right.

And here is the after with top and bottom lip gloss added.

Eyelashes – Some people just have small fine eye lashes and all the mascara at the cosmetics counter won’t fix it.

I have several sets of eye lash brushes, and they come in upper and lower lashes and right and left. Each eyelash goes on its own layer and it usually takes a lot of free transform to warp the eye lash to the eye. Once I’ve done the top lash on one eye, I’ll copy that layer, flip the lash with transform, move and warp it to fit the other eye. After getting everything positioned I can dial down the opacity a bit to blend them in.

And here is the final image with eye lashes added. I might have chosen some more subtle eye lashes, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, I wanted the eyelashes to be so obvious you couldn’t possibly miss them.

Perhaps the biggest downside to using brushes is that no one believes you when you actually don’t add items to your image. This flock of pelicans flew by at just the right time and place, but everyone assumes I put them there.

Bats – Maybe sometimes plain old birds just don’t send the right message and you need Bats. To me they were perfect for this Halloween image. Here I put the bats on their own layer and merged the image when everything looked right.

Stars – I often use various star brushes to emphasize lights. It’s the digital answer to the star filters we used in the 70’s and 80’s. Here’s the Pemaquid Lighthouse in early evening before the light was activated.

I’ll turn the light on in a couple of steps. First I duplicated the layer, set it to screen mode and added a black mask. I painted just the inside of the light in white on the mask and that lightened the light. I repeated this layer until it looked bright enough.

Then I selected a four-point star brush, resized it, and painted in white on a new layer. This allows me to tone down the effect by decreasing the opacity if I need to.

And here is the final effect.

Here is another example using the same steps. Again this is the Pemaquid Lighthouse at sunrise, and I had been helping a friend time the lighthouse pattern to get the light in his shot. But I managed to time it wrong in my shot.

Here I’ve lightened the inside of the light using the technique above.

And here I’ve added the star effect.

Water Drops– I shot this image for an earlier article on splash photography, used some water drop filters around the base of the glass for extra interest.

Fog – If you’ve ever worked with a fog machine in the studio, you know it has to be the last shot of the day, because once you’ve done a few blasts of fog, it takes forever to clear. And the fog is unpredictable, often blocking your subject, or not filling the areas you want. Here is a shot that thought would look good with fog, but my fog machine was broken. So I thought I’d try adding the fog later.

As you can see, I used several fog brushes on several different layers. This allows me mask the fog to make some fog appear to be in front of the model, and some behind the model. I can also change the opacity of each layer and blur each layer to get the effect I like.

And you can add fog to your scenic shots as well. This Smoky Mountains Cascade was shot in a light rain, and all that was missing was some fog.

Here I’ve opened a panel with a group of fog brushes.

Here I’ve added just a subtle touch of fog above the falls. And again it’s on a separate layer so I can control opacity and blur.

Here I’ve gone wild with several layers of fog. Which one is right or better totally depends on your taste as an artist. But with the fog brushes you are in control.

Light Rays – There are numerous light ray brush sets available. Here are a couple of before and after shots. As usual the light rays are on separate layers so I can control the opacity and blending mode.

While I chose food as a convenient subject, you can choose whatever interests you. I could easily envision series based on old cameras, tools, flowers, musical instruments, sewing equipment, shoes, hats, medical equipment, and limitless other possibilities.

Here are a few of the images I shot. You will notice sometimes one image will have different textures in different edits. Trying different textures and processing was a major part of my plan for this series.

LANDSCAPES Textures can add a mood to landscapes. They can help disguise flaws, or, as below, add some interest to a bare sky.

STILL LIFE and PRODUCTS In magazines and ads you usually see products shot on a solid white or color background. That is to draw your eye to the subject and allow space to add type. But when is the last time you saw an old master’s still life painting with a white background? Below is an example of using a more recognizable image rather than a pattern as a texture. It may be blurring the distinction between composites and what most people think of as textures.

COMPOSITING It’s often difficult to composite a subject into a different background. There are usually problems with color, lighting and overall feel or mood. Using a texture can help pull the elements together. In a composite I mask the subject, but usually only about 80% and I often decrease the mask opacity all around the subject’s outline to blend the two together more smoothly. Here I used a grungy texture that fit the mood of the scene, and left some texture on my subject.

In this example I added a texture, and then also added the blue color grading using a color lookup table adjustment layer for the spooky night effect.

Here are a couple of more detailed examples. This is my starting image. It has already been edited, but no texture has been applied.

This is my favorite texture for portraits. It has 4 or 5 (a slight variation) layers with different blending modes. I have it saved as a Photoshop file with layers, so I can open it, select all of the layers and copy and paste them to my new image.

Here is my 5 layer version added. The next thing I do is select the textures layers and create a new group from layers. That lets me mask or change the opacity of the whole group rather than each individual layer.

Here I masked the texture from the subject at about 80%, and then added an adjustment layer to brighten the image as the textures darkened it too much.

And here is the final image with textures and levels adjustment.

Here is an example of using textures on a black background. This is the original image, and again all of the basic editing has already been done.

Here I’ve added two textures, and since these are going over black, I used the Lighten blending mode. I created a mask by going to the base layer, selecting the selection brush and using “select subject”. With the subject selection active I clicked on the first texture layer and held down “Alt” while clicking the mask icon, creating a perfect mask around the subject. I copied that mask to the next texture layer. I also used Infinite Color to create a color grading, and copied the mask to the infinite color group and decreased the opacity of the mask to let some color to show on the model. And in the final image I applied a Gaussian blur to the two textures layers so they were less intense and didn’t compete with the model.

Where do I find textures?

Shoot your own. Look for patterns, light or even subjects you like. Search for “Free photography Textures download”. I like concrete, cement, stucco, adobe (mud walls) and wood textures and I shoot whenever I see good examples.

Which texture should I use?

Try several, alone or in combination. There is no right or wrong here as long as it suits your vision.

Which blend mode should I use?

Try lighten, screen, darken, multiply, overlay and soft light.

How do I know when to stop?

Don’t ask me. I’m not known for my restraint. Maybe when it looks “Overdone” back off a layer or two, and/or try decreasing the opacity.

I added textures and now my picture is too dark.

Try decreasing the opacity, mask key areas, and/or add a levels adjustment layer.

I have hundreds of textures. With just one image, this could be endless.

Absolutely. But now you never run out of things to try. I have about 1000 textures, so that’s 1000 possible variations, not counting blending modes and opacity. If I use two textures, that becomes a million possibilities. Add three textures and it becomes a billion possibilities. Even at just a million possibilities, you could spend the rest of your life working on just one image.

I’ve added a texture I like, now what?

Try another texture layer. Try color grading in LR, or using look up tables in PS.

Here is the original image without Infinite Color.

Here is the first look at 100% which is much too strong and definitely overpowers the skin tones. Dialed down to 25% it’s so subtle you might not notice, but it’s there and does create a different look.

Here’s a different look at 100% and then dialed down to 30%.

Here’s a different look at 100% and then dialed down to 30%.

Here’s a different look at 100% and then dialed down to 35%. Unless you’re a big Wizard of Oz fan, skip green color grading on skin!

One of the advantages of the random results is a constant supply of fresh looks, With other color grading techniques it is all too easy to find a look you like and then use it on every image. That may create your signature look, or it may just become boring. That can be a tough call, but it’s your decision.

Click on “Load 3DLUT” and that will open a list of LUTs you have loaded. Select one and it will be applied. Here I applied a LUT that is reminiscent of Annie Leibowitz’s style. And you can see I’ve applied a slight (29%) mask over the face.

Here is the before on the left and after color grading on the right.

There are also some color grading option under the abstract and device link sections. Here I’ve chosen cobalt-carmine from the abstract section and applied a slight (20%) mask over just the face. Remember that if you feel the effect is too strong over the image as a whole, you can decrease the opacity of the adjustment layer.

And here is the before (top) and after (bottom) images.

Here is another image with an Olive color grading applied and I made a split image so you see the difference. Again I did a slight mask over the face.