5 Simple Rules for Summer Photography

Summer presents one photo opportunity after another, but are you ready? In this post I’m sharing five of my best tips to boost your photography skills and ensure you won’t feel overwhelmed come fall.

You don’t need a fancy camera to take better photos and or fancy software to stay in control of your photo library. These rules for summertime photography work for any level of picture-taker.

1. Candid shots are the new perfect. Let the memories happen without your intervention. Natural, candid photographs are often the most interesting and illustrate connections between people, places, and things. Pause yourself the next time you ask someone to stop and say “cheese”.

2. Respect the midday sunshine. The bright sun can help you capture beautiful and vivid images of scenery, but often leaves harsh shadows on faces. Look for clean but diffused light for better photos of people. If no shade is available, an overcast summer day is actually better than blue sky and sunshine.

3. Be prepared for the unexpected. The practical photographer knows that batteries die, camera cards fill up, and sometimes things even break. You can easily be ready for the next unfortunate event by keeping your batteries charged , keeping your camera cards empty, and having spares of everything.

4. Use a super simple storage system. Summer is probably not the time for scanning old photos or tagging every image in your library. Use the most basic of organization systems to keep your photos safe and ready for scrapbooking. When fall arrives, you can be more meticulous about organization and management.

5. Put down the camera. Even though there is more to photograph during the summer, you don’t have to take more photos. Practice being very deliberate about taking a few pictures and then walking away. Even if you didn’t capture it on (digital) film, it still happened.

Following just one of these rules will invite even more easy-breezy living into your summer. Embracing simplicity will make your summer photography even more beautiful.