Process · Jul 2, 2026 · 6 min read
Tide tables, sun angles and safe exits: the boring spreadsheet that sits behind every coastal picture.
Every coastal shoot I plan starts the same way: with a spreadsheet. On one side, the times of high and low water for every day of the trip. On the other, sunrise, sunset and the direction the light will come from.
The good days are the ones where those line up. A falling tide in the first hour after sunrise leaves wet sand that reflects the sky. A rising tide at sunset brings movement into the foreground. Get it wrong and you are photographing mud, or worse, walking back through water.
Safety is part of the plan, not an afterthought. I note the time I need to leave each beach, mark a second way out, and tell someone where I am going. On some coasts the tide comes in faster than you can walk.
None of this is glamorous, but it means that when I am finally standing there with the camera, I can stop thinking about logistics and simply look.
Elena CrossLandscape and travel photographer, writing between trips from Edinburgh.
