By Tata Rossi 4 days ago, Amateur Photography
Finding useful swimming photography ideas can often be challenging. Whether you are a beginner or experienced photographer, read on to get a source of inspiration and find interesting ideas for your photoshoots.
Swimming photos have always been special. Taking a good shot is rarely easy, and to take truly unique pictures, you have to work hard. To find some inspiration, check out this list of the best swimming photography ideas.
It is always a good idea to take pictures of a team having fun together while relaxing in the pool or at the sea. Both spontaneous shots and a full-fledged photo session of a professional swimming team will give you equally good results.
The main difficulty of working in such a genre is a huge number of water bubbles rising because of the movements of people underwater. They might ruin the overall composition, so make sure to remove extra ones by yourself or with the help of a professional photo editing service.
Shooting competitions is a good idea for anyone interested in swimming photography. Such pictures perfectly convey the spirit of competition and the desire of each participant to win. These shots will look great if you use the best camera for sports. The main advantage of such cameras is that they are compact and convenient for quick shooting, which allows you to capture every movement of sportsmen.
To prepare for your photoshoots, read about the sportsmen and the competition plan beforehand. Be sure to learn more about a swimming style to work more effectively. Don’t stay in one place, look for new shooting angles. Try to capture the details of the environment and the reflection of bodies in the water. Choose the focus point depending on the composition. Be ready to dive into the water to take unique shots.
Taking pictures of small kids while swimming is one of the best ways to improve baby shooting skills. Such photos should look natural. You can capture some moments of a fun ball game at the sea or pool, take an interesting portrait, etc. At the same time, you don’t need to stage photos to get dynamic and natural shots.
There are several factors that you need to consider when taking pictures of swimming kids. Firstly, the water temperature should be as comfortable as possible for them. Secondly, if you plan to shoot underwater too, you can equip children with kids swimming goggles, which will become a bright accent in the photo.
Black-and-white pictures of swimming people look classic and creative at the same time. By taking such photos, you allow the audience to focus on certain details or the main subject in the frame. You can work with both portraits and landscapes. To make a frame look more interesting, try adding various props and accessories, like flowers, jewelry, books, etc.
To make black-and-white images truly stunning, use free black and white Photoshop actions. They will help you enhance the monochrome balance for your pictures in just a few clicks.
Portrait photography is one of the most popular genres that provides wide creativity opportunities. For instance, you can take a portrait of a person plunging into the water.
Take as many shots as possible, since the model can’t stay in the water in the correct pose for a long time. If you plan to take pictures of a girl, make sure to check if she wears waterproof makeup. Besides, you need to pay attention to how her hair looks in the frame: all stray strands should be removed. For reliability, some of them can be fixed with a waterproof gel.
Swimming photography in winter is a distinct art form. Such shots grab the audience’s attention due to the contrast between the comfort of the bathing process and the discomfort caused by the low temperature.
When preparing for such a photoshoot, it’s important to make sure that the model doesn’t feel discomfort from cold. For optimal shooting conditions, the water temperature should be at least 40 ℃, the air temperature should be about 0℃. Besides, it’s great when it’s snowy outside.
Also, make sure to take with you warm clothes or a warm blanket so that a model won’t catch a cold. A photographer also needs to wear warm clothes as it is extremely inconvenient to press buttons with frozen hands. The ideal option would be to buy thin fleece gloves as it will allow you to press buttons on the camera.
If you want more than just taking pictures of people, try photographing a swimming animal. For inspiration, check out these pet photography ideas.
To make your swim photo impressive, you need to focus the animal’s attention on the camera. For this, use toys for pets, which can serve as an interesting bait. Also, don’t forget about your own safety: be sure to keep your distance and don’t make sudden movements as you can scare the animal. Make sure to protect your hands by wearing tight gloves that don’t hinder your movements.
If you are tired of taking standard photos, try to get inspired by the best couple photo ideas and implement them in a pool, lake, sea or ocean. Such images will stand out among regular studio photos.
To get high-quality shots of a couple moving underwater, it is better to work with SLR cameras placed in protective all-metal boxes. Their main advantage is fast autofocus, which allows you to take pictures with one touch. This way, you can take a series of shots at the speed of 5-10 frames per second, which is very important for underwater photography.
A swim picture will look especially creative if you take it not during the day, but at night. By studying these useful tips for shooting at night, you can add stunning images to your portfolio.
For taking such photos, it is especially important to adjust the lighting right. If you want to shoot outside the studio, make sure to get portable lamps. For underwater photography, you can purchase an external flash with an underwater box. This way, you will be able to use it at a depth of several tens of meters.
You can also add other light sources, for example, a flashlight or candles (unless you take photos underwater).
Perhaps, one of the most creative ideas would be to take photos of the swimming bride and groom. Only brave people will agree to such a shoot, but it will be truly unique. To make the photo session as creative as possible, you can use free Lightroom wedding presets.
Of course, such a photoshoot shouldn’t be arranged directly on the wedding day because the look of the newlyweds will be ruined. For a swimming photoshoot, the makeup of a bride must be waterproof.
The bride and groom can either submerge slightly into the water or plunge into it completely. Also, pay special attention to the background, since the locations should be unique. However, don’t try to make newlyweds look directly at you either.
When the shooting is finished and it’s time to start editing images, use the Underwater Photoshop Actions to make them brighter and more attractive.
