24 photos you need to snap this summer

Brought to you by Olympus OM-D E-M10.snaps-of-summer-3

Summer is the perfect time to get snap-happy. The light is beautiful. Everyone is happier. It’s time to flood your Instagram feed my friend. Here’s 24 fun ideas.

ONE: SUNRISE
I know you don’t want to get up early. I get it. But just try it for one day, because the sun rises every single morning and it’s really quite pretty. Check out this snap of the sunrise, such beautiful colours! Or perhaps you’re a morning person and you’ve witness the magic of the sunrise… isn’t it beautiful?

TWO: ICE CREAM
I think this is just a pretty good reason to go and buy an ice cream {I’ll have chocolate and choc-mint if you don’t mind}. I find a fun way to shoot an ice cream isn’t just snapping it by looking down on it, but instead lift it up so you capture the blue sky as the background, or against a colour wall {like this photo}.

THREE: SPARKLERS AT NIGHT
This is such a fun photo to take, and perfect with the warmer nights of summer. Turn your camera off auto {so that the flash doesn’t turn on} and then snap away. Let the light of the sparklers be your light source. You can capture magic, like this.

FOUR: BEACH LANDSCAPE
The blue sky, the blue water, the natural tones of the sand, and a pop of colour from a beach umbrella if you’re lucky… I will never get sick of them.

FIVE: A SUMMER-Y DRINK

Make yourself a mocktail, pop in a drink umbrella and snap a photo. You know you want to! Even better, go out and order one at a cool cafe or bar.

SIX: SANDCASTLES
This is a fun one the kids will love doing with you. You can head to the beach or river before the sun gets too hot {to be honest, the midday sun isn’t the best for photos anyway – too much brightness, too many shadows}. Grab a bucket, a spade, make castles. Shoot from above. Lay down in the sand and shoot at their level. And think about your background too, shoot with the water in the background {like this photo as inspiration}.

SEVEN: ROAD TRIPPING
I call it a road-trip even if we’re only going and hour up or down the coast, because why not? Take a photo of the landscape whizzing by in your side mirror {if you’re not driving!}. Take a photo of the kids in the back in your rear-vision mirror. Or be a back-seat driver and snap a photo like this.

EIGHT: SPLASH!
As long as your camera is safe, I love this photo idea. You can use a casing, if you have one. Let the kids splash in puddles. Get them to jump into the pool. Watch the water trickle over their feet at the beach. I love this photo so so much.

NINE: FEET IN THE SAND
You could take photos of footprints in the sand, or photos of their little feet in the sand. It’s actually quite beautiful feeling the earth beneath you, especially if you’re having a stressful time.

TEN: PALM TREES
Another of my very, very favourite photos to take in summer… palm trees. I like to either stand underneath and shoot up {like this}, or take a photo aiming my camera up and having the tops of the palm trees contrast against the sky {and not shooting all the busy going-ons below}.

ELEVEN: SELFIE IN SUNGLASSES
You know it needs to happen. Pop on your sunglasses, snap a photo, and you’ve just taken a summer selfie.

TWELVE: SUN-FLARE
Ah beautiful sun flare. This is such a fun way to shoot. You can read all about it here in this blog post I published on my blog earlier this year, it’s got lots of easy instructions on how to capture it.

THIRTEEN: SUNSET
Watch your local weather report or Google to find out when the sun will be setting in your area and get ready to snap it. You could snap it going down over buildings, at the beach, or where ever you are. Just capture it.

FOURTEEN: PICNIC SHOT
Pack some lunch, grab a blanket and take some photos. All you need is some beautiful, lush grass and you’re on your way.

FIFTEEN: FIRST TASTE OF WATERMELON
Watermelon just screams summer. Snap a photo of your first taste of it this summer. Like this!

SIXTEEN: BUBBLES
You can grab bubbles for super cheap at the supermarket {the toy kind, not the champagne type!}. Blow some bubbles and let the kids play. Beautiful photos are bound to happen!

SEVENTEEN: BRIGHT FLOWERS
In the garden, at the markets, in your hair – capture the bright, fun florals that you find. Can we please stop for a moment and appreciate this photo?

EIGHTEEN: BIKE RIDING
I got a new, vintage-looking bike and I can’t wait to do more riding this summer. Get creative and take a photo as you ride along {stay safe!}, or fill your basket with flowers and get creative with some styling.

NINETEEN: CLOUDS
I’ll never, ever bore of them. Look up, shoot away. Tomorrow the sky will be a different shade of blue, the clouds will be less or more fluffy. Do it today.

TWENTY: A QUIET MOMENT
Summers are for getting through novels and doing not much at all, all while cooling under the fan… right? So snap a photo like this one. Don’t you feel that sense of calm?

TWENTY-ONE: WATER FIGHT
The kids will love you for this one. While they’re busy doing what kids do, fill up a big bucket with water balloons, call the kids out to play, and snap them going crazy. Just make one rule that they’re not allowed to get you! If you don’t have water balloons, snap the kids getting soaked by the hose instead like this.

TWENTY-TWO: BLUE SKIES
There are usually plenty of these are summertime. Get snap happy. And then play around with filters to make them more vibrant, or a little bit vintage-y. If you’ve got a phone, you can use any App to do this. Or if you’ve got the OM-D E-M10, you can play around with the art filters.

TWENTY-THREE: THE GOLDEN HOUR
You MUST experience the golden hour. If you’re lucky enough to live near the beach, check out these photos for inspiration that photo to the right is taken just as the sun is going down, see how the light is all glowy and beautiful?}. The Golden Hour is the hour before the sun goes down. You can usually Google and see what time the sun is setting and time your afternoon so you don’t miss it. Experiment. Play with the light. Have fun!

TWENTY-FOUR: KIDS UNDER THE SPRINKLER
This is what childhoods are made of! Of course you don’t want to get your camera wet, so be careful of that… but experiment with different perspectives; lie down on the grass and take photos of the kids jumping. Get up high and take it from above. And if you can manage it, try and work with the sunlight so that you get reflections off the water and maybe even a sunlight rainbow {OK, now I’m asking for miracles aren’t I?}.

I hope you have fun taking photos this summer.

In 2015, with a little help from the guys at Olympus, I’ll be bringing you a photography lesson each month so that we can learn and grow together, and have a little fun along the way. Stay tuned to see them all here.

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