If you are photographing surfers from the beach, shooting from the water, or trying to freeze fast-moving waves, getting your Sony camera settings right can make a huge difference. Surf photography is challenging because the light, waves and surfers are constantly changing.
The good news is that you do not need complicated settings. Once you have a reliable starting point, you can make small adjustments depending on the conditions.
This guide covers practical Sony camera settings for surf photography, with settings suitable for cameras such as the Sony A6000, A6400 and A6700.
The Best Starting Settings for Surf Photography
For most beach-based surf photography, I recommend starting with:
- Shooting mode: Manual or Shutter Priority
- Shutter speed: 1/1000–1/2000 sec
- Aperture: f/5.6–f/8
- ISO: Auto ISO
- Focus mode: AF-C
- Focus area: Zone or Tracking
- Drive mode: Continuous High
- Metering: Multi
- White balance: Auto
- File type: RAW or RAW + JPEG
- Image stabilisation: On, if available
These settings give you a good balance between freezing the action, keeping the surfer sharp and maintaining enough depth of field.
1. Shutter Speed – The Most Important Setting
Surf photography involves a lot of movement.
A surfer can go from standing still to travelling rapidly down a wave in seconds, while spray can be thrown several metres into the air.
A fast shutter speed helps freeze that movement.
Recommended shutter speeds
| Situation | Starting shutter speed |
|---|---|
| Slow longboard surfing | 1/800 sec |
| General surf photography | 1/1000 sec |
| Fast turns and manoeuvres | 1/1600 sec |
| Heavy spray and action | 1/2000 sec |
| Very fast action | 1/2500–1/3200 sec |
For most Yorkshire surf photography, 1/1000 to 1/2000 sec is a very good starting point.
If you are photographing a surfer hitting the lip, throwing spray or performing an aerial, I would generally move towards 1/1600–1/2000 sec.
Don’t automatically use the fastest shutter speed
There is a temptation to use 1/4000 sec or faster all the time.
The problem is that faster shutter speeds require more light or higher ISO.
If the conditions are dark and overcast, 1/1000 sec at a sensible ISO can produce a better photograph than 1/4000 sec at a very high ISO.
2. Aperture – How Much of the Surfer Do You Want Sharp?
Aperture controls how much light enters the camera and how much depth of field you have.
For surf photography, I often prefer a slightly smaller aperture than I would use for a portrait.
Good starting points
f/4–f/5.6
Useful when the light is poor or you want to separate the surfer from the background.
f/5.6–f/8
A great general-purpose range for surf photography.
f/8–f/11
Useful in bright conditions or when you want more of the wave and surfer to remain sharp.
For beach photography, f/5.6 or f/8 is an excellent place to start.
3. ISO – Let the Camera Do Some of the Work
Surfing conditions can change quickly.
One minute you can have bright sunshine and the next you can have dark cloud covering the beach.
Using Auto ISO can make life much easier.
For example:
Shutter: 1/1600 sec
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: Auto
The camera can then adjust ISO as the light changes while you concentrate on following the surfer.
On cameras such as the A6400 and A6700, Auto ISO can be particularly useful for this type of shooting.
Set an ISO limit
If you are shooting JPEG or want to keep noise under control, consider setting a maximum ISO.
For example:
ISO 100–3200
or
ISO 100–6400
The maximum you choose depends on your camera and how much noise you are comfortable with.
The A6700 gives you considerably more flexibility at high ISO than older APS-C bodies.
4. Autofocus – Use AF-C
For moving surfers, AF-C (Continuous Autofocus) should normally be your starting point.
AF-C continually adjusts focus as the surfer moves towards, away from or across the frame.
This is much more useful than AF-S for most surf photography.
Why AF-C works well
Imagine a surfer travelling along the wave towards you.
If you use AF-S, the camera focuses once.
If the surfer moves significantly after that, they can leave the original focus plane.
With AF-C, the camera continually adjusts focus.
5. Tracking and Subject Recognition
Newer Sony cameras offer increasingly sophisticated subject-recognition and tracking systems.
On the Sony A6700, experiment with subject recognition and human detection for surfers.
However, do not assume that the camera will always recognise a surfer correctly.
A surfer may be:
- Partly hidden by spray
- Wearing a dark wetsuit
- Backlit
- Behind a wave
- Very small in the frame
- Temporarily hidden by whitewater
For this reason, it is still useful to understand traditional focus-area modes.
6. Focus Area
There is no single perfect focus-area setting for every surf photograph.
Zone
Zone AF is a good starting point.
You can position the zone over the area where you expect the surfer to appear.
Wide
Wide AF gives the camera a large area to search.
It can work well when the surfer is isolated against a relatively simple background.
However, it can sometimes focus on the wave or foreground instead of the surfer.
Tracking
Tracking can be excellent when you can acquire the surfer and keep them within the frame.
For more difficult situations, experiment with smaller focus areas so you have more control over what the camera is focusing on.
7. Continuous Shooting
Surf photography is one of those genres where shooting a sequence can be extremely useful.
A manoeuvre can happen in less than a second.
Instead of trying to capture one perfect frame, shoot a short burst.
Use:
Continuous High
or the fastest continuous setting that still gives you a manageable number of images.
However, avoid simply holding the shutter button down for every wave.
A short controlled burst can give you several frames showing:
- The surfer approaching the manoeuvre
- The surfer hitting the lip
- The spray exploding
- The surfer coming back down
The key is timing rather than simply taking thousands of photographs.
8. Sony A6700 Surf Photography Settings
The A6700 is particularly well suited to surf photography because of its autofocus and tracking capabilities.
A good starting setup would be:
Mode: Manual
Shutter: 1/1600 sec
Aperture: f/6.3–f/8
ISO: Auto
AF: AF-C
Focus: Tracking / Zone depending on conditions
Drive: Continuous High
File: RAW
White Balance: Auto
On a bright summer day, you might be able to use:
1/2000 sec | f/8 | ISO 100–400
On a dark Yorkshire winter day, you might end up around:
1/1000 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 800–3200
The important thing is not to become obsessed with hitting a particular ISO.
Get the shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action first.
9. Sony A6400 Surf Photography Settings
The A6400 remains a very capable surf photography camera.
Try:
1/1600 sec
f/5.6–f/8
Auto ISO
AF-C
Continuous High
Tracking or Zone AF
The A6400’s APS-C sensor also gives your telephoto lenses extra effective reach, which can be very useful when photographing surfers from the beach.
10. Sony A6000 Surf Photography Settings
Even an older A6000 can produce excellent surf photographs when used correctly.
A sensible starting point is:
1/1000 sec
f/5.6–f/8
Auto ISO
AF-C
Continuous shooting
You may need to be a little more conservative with autofocus expectations than with newer Sony cameras, particularly when the surfer disappears behind spray.
Good technique and timing can often matter more than having the newest camera.
11. Photographing Yorkshire Surfing
Yorkshire provides some interesting challenges for surf photography.
Conditions can change rapidly, and the light can be very different between a bright summer session and a dark winter swell.
Bright summer conditions
Try:
1/1600–1/2000 sec
f/7.1–f/8
ISO 100–400
This gives you plenty of shutter speed for spray and fast turns.
Cloudy conditions
Try:
1/1000–1/1600 sec
f/5.6–f/7.1
ISO Auto
Dark winter conditions
You may need:
1/1000 sec
f/4–f/5.6
ISO 800–3200+
Don’t be afraid of increasing ISO if it allows you to maintain a useful shutter speed.
A slightly noisy sharp photograph is usually more useful than a perfectly clean photograph with motion blur.
12. Shooting Into the Sun
Backlighting can create some fantastic surf photographs.
The sun behind the surfer can illuminate:
- Spray
- Wave lips
- Water droplets
- Wetsuits
- Sea mist
However, your camera can struggle with exposure.
Try using:
Manual exposure
and watch your highlights.
You may need to expose slightly darker to protect the bright spray and sky.
13. Whitewater and Spray
One of the biggest problems with surf photography is that the camera may try to focus on the whitewater instead of the surfer.
If this keeps happening, try:
- A smaller focus area
- Tracking the surfer before shooting
- Starting focus on the surfer’s body
- Using AF-C
- Keeping the surfer reasonably large in the frame
It can also help to anticipate where the surfer will appear rather than waiting until they are surrounded by spray.
14. Don’t Forget Exposure Compensation
If you are using Auto ISO or semi-automatic exposure, exposure compensation can be extremely useful.
Bright white waves can fool the camera into underexposing the surfer.
If your photographs consistently look too dark, try increasing exposure compensation.
Conversely, if bright spray and highlights are constantly blowing out, reduce exposure.
15. RAW or JPEG?
For serious surf photography, I recommend:
RAW
RAW files give you considerably more flexibility when editing.
This is particularly useful for Yorkshire conditions where you may have:
- Bright whitewater
- Dark wetsuits
- Grey skies
- Strong backlighting
- High-contrast scenes
If you want photographs ready to share straight from the camera, consider:
RAW + JPEG
16. White Balance
For most surf photography, Auto White Balance is perfectly acceptable.
The colour of the sea and sky can change dramatically throughout the day.
If you shoot RAW, you can easily adjust white balance later.
For JPEG shooters, you may want to experiment with Daylight or Cloudy depending on the conditions.
17. Image Stabilisation
If your Sony camera and lens have image stabilisation, keep it enabled when appropriate.
However, remember that image stabilisation does not freeze a moving surfer.
It helps reduce camera movement.
The shutter speed is still what freezes the surfer and the wave.
18. Using the Sony 200–600mm for Surf Photography
A long lens such as the Sony 200–600mm is extremely useful for photographing surfers from the beach.
At 600mm, you can isolate individual surfers and capture details that would be impossible with a shorter lens.
However, the longer the focal length becomes, the more difficult it can be to follow a moving surfer.
A useful technique is to start wider, locate the surfer and then zoom in.
Instead of immediately shooting at 600mm, start around:
300–400mm
and move towards 600mm when you have the surfer under control.
This can make tracking much easier.
19. Don’t Always Photograph at Maximum Zoom
One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is trying to fill the entire frame with the surfer.
Sometimes leaving space around the surfer creates a much stronger photograph.
Include:
- The approaching wave
- The wave face
- Spray
- The coastline
- Other surfers
- The horizon
A photograph doesn’t always have to be a tight portrait of the surfer.
20. A Simple Surf Photography Setup
If you don’t want to constantly change settings, try this:
General setup
Manual
1/1600 sec
f/6.3
Auto ISO
AF-C
Tracking/Zone
Continuous High
RAW
Then adjust only three things:
Too dark?
Open the aperture or allow ISO to rise.
Motion blur?
Increase shutter speed.
Not enough depth of field?
Increase the f-number.
This simple approach allows you to concentrate more on the waves and less on the camera.
My Go-To Sony Surf Settings
If I was heading down to the beach with a Sony APS-C camera such as the A6400 or A6700, I would start with:
1/1600 sec
f/6.3–f/8
Auto ISO
AF-C
Tracking/Zone AF
Continuous High
RAW
From there, I would adjust according to the conditions.
For particularly fast action, I would move towards 1/2000 sec.
For darker conditions, I would open the aperture and allow the ISO to increase.
Final Thoughts
There is no single perfect Sony camera setting for surf photography.
The ideal settings depend on the light, wave conditions, lens, distance from the surfer and the type of photograph you are trying to create.
The most important things to get right are shutter speed, autofocus and timing.
Start with 1/1600 sec, f/6.3–f/8, Auto ISO and AF-C, then adjust from there.
And remember: having the latest camera does not automatically produce better surf photographs. Knowing your camera, understanding the waves and anticipating what the surfer is about to do are just as important.
The more time you spend shooting from the beach, the better you will become at predicting where the action is going to happen—and that’s often what separates a good surf photograph from a great one.
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