Best tip for Multi-Family Beach Portraits Gulf Shores

The critical base pillar for family beach portraits is the location. If you are staying in Gulf Shores, pick West Beach or Fort Morgan IF one of the primary reasons is getting beach portraits. These areas give more background options. Most spots in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach have tall condos nearby, which also means more people in one place.

Wind direction greatly affects beach portraits. A beach house often offers a non-distracting 360° view, but even a light breeze can force background choices. Tall condos may not bother you, but crowded beaches or condo complexes can add distracting people in the background.

Of course, staying at a beach house doesn’t automatically mean it’s a great place. In Fort Morgan, it isn’t part of the Leave Only Footprints initiative so tents on the beach are sometimes left overnight. The best beach houses in Fort Morgan are the ones that are directly on the beach and not part of a subdivision. If there is a road to the beach with several houses on the road, it might not be a great place as the beach at the end of the road would be the community beach. The exception to a condo at Fort Morgan would be the Beach Club. There is a natural looking beach on the property that is great for family beach portraits.

In Gulf Shores the best beach houses are west of Lagoon Pass. The houses on either side of the road have access to either the Gulf side or Little Lagoon side. If in doubt, just follow West Beach Blvd all the way to the end and then work your way back east. There’s a bridge over Little Lagoon pass so anything west of that bridge should be good. If the goal for your vacation is to get great family portraits, the foundation is where you are staying because you probably don’t want to travel to another spot on the beach for your portraits. If you have questions about possible locations before you book your stay, please contact me at jon@jonimages.com.

The following beach session is an example from four families that vacationed together at a beach house on Ponce de Leon Court in Gulf Shores at Fort Morgan. You can see from the examples there are a variety of background choices with few distractions. This session lasted about an hour and you can see how the lighting changed minute by minute.