SIMPLE SUMMER PHOTOGRAPHY LOCATIONS AND EDITING TIPS

My heart screams 'I am just an Autumn photographer' BUT with the second year in a row of a decent Summer, I am finding my love for Summer photography; and the best way to get the bright, Summery vibes in your photos.
Especially, when you're usually stuck in the forest images and mustard coloured knitwear.
I'm usually found in a Pumpkin patch in a bobble hat, sitting the littles in front of a Christmas tree or seeking snow days for photos but now I am loving the Summer backdrops and pretty dresses, rompers and jelly shoes!

When I searched Summer photography locations, I was instantly hit with LAVENDER FIELDS, CONFETTI FIELDS, POPPY FIELDS, SUNFLOWER FIELDS! The typical, beautiful spots BUT for someone who doesn't drive and has serious hayfever, these locations aren't easily accessible for me and I'm sure for others too, so here's some "Simple Summer photography locations" with some editing and photography tips for you DSLR if that helps too and best of all they're either free locations or super cheap!

L O C A T I O N  O N E : P I C K  Y O U R  O W N  F A R M

Pick your own farms are amazing! They're great for Summer, Autumn and Winter! Springs sort of rubbish for them though. Strawberry picking is well up there for things to do on your Summer; especially if you have young children. I love strawberry picking, pumpkin picking and heading to look at real Christmas trees too.

P H O T O G R A P H Y  A N D  E D I T I N G  T I P S 

I've said it before and I'll ALWAYS say it! Photograph from below or child height (if photographing children) 

Editing wise if you're editing on photoshop and are a bit of a whizz, editing people out of the background will be easy but if you're a Lightroom editor and want to make it easy for you, use your spot marker and use heal. It may need a few goes and you may need to fiddle with the location and where you're marking both. 

Colour wise, I've set myself up a preset now and tweak it. I have set myself up a few different presets which I tweak depending on lighting, colouring, etc... It speeds up my editing but I NEVER just apply a preset and go, presets are never one size fits all.

Below you'll see a Before and After image of Iris in the Strawberry Fields. I have applied my "Summer Darlings' preset and have played around with the luminance of the blue to pop the sky! This has to be tweaked more if there is a blue outfit or object in the image too but thankfully I didn't put Iris in blue on purpose. My preset has a slightly desaturated green and I've added warmth too. 

B E F O R E 

A F T E R

L O C A T I O N  T W O: S H O R E  ( O R  B E A C H )

As non-drivers, we struggle to get to a beach a lot of the time but do have access to the shore and as a photographer, I find the beauty in even the smallest patch of sand and backdrop. Iris was excited to trial her new Swimsuit the other day so we took it on our trip to the shore with friends and it made for the cutest "holiday" style photos. 

P H O T O G R A P H Y  A N D  E D I T I N G  T I P S 

Once again photography wise I would suggest the same lower down and if you fancy it, lay on your stomach. Many times I've come away soaked from shore photoshoots as I've been known to actually lay in the water too!

I tend to have my camera settings on 

S I G M A  35MM  L E N S

ISO: 100

Shutter speed: 1/4000

Aperture: f/1.4

White Balance: Sunny

S I G M A  18-200MM  L E N S

ISO: 100-200

Shutter Speed: between 1/250 - 1/8000 (depending on what mm I'm shooting at)

Aperture: between f/3.5 - 6.3 (depending on what mm I'm shooting at)

White Balance: Sunny

Editing wise 

I once again have applied my "Summer Darlings" preset and I've been tweaked the luminance of the blue again and made it darker and the preset made Iris look really orange with warmth so I used the brush tool to make her slightly 'cooler' but still keep some of the warmth.

B E F O R E

A F T E R 

L O C A T I O N  T H R E E: O U T D O O R  P O O L / S P L A S H  P A R K

Most cities have an outdoor pool area and most don't have restrictions on photographing or filming devices. Of course, I tried my hardest to avoid other children but I loved this photo I captured of Iris and thankfully having a blurred background means no children are really identifiable. I don't like capturing other children in my photograph and usually make a conscious effort to edit them out but on this occasion, it was too busy and a tricky task. 

P H O T O G R A P H Y  A N D  E D I T I N G  T I P S 

I haven't got a before and after of these images but on this occasion, I actually took a lot from above to not get children in the background. It is a super tricky task to not get anyone in the background but I suppose it's not different to someone taking snaps on their phone, which a lot of people were doing but with mine, I blur out the background. 

Editing wise, again, I've used the  "Summer Darlings" preset, darkened the luminance of the blues and also darkened the luminance of the yellows too. 

L O C A T I O N  F O U R: Y O U R  G A R D E N

Some days who can be arsed to go out when it's boiling hot! So get your paddling pool out, set up a teepee and have an ice lolly!
Free, easily accessible and simple! We even painted our faces for fun too!

P H O T O G R A P H Y  A N D  E D I T I N G  T I P S 

So with these, I caught Iris in action on a water slide and Rufus enjoying some shaded time in a teepee and eating his ice lolly. 

I R I S  O N  T H E  W A T E R S L I D E  I M A G E S

The ones of Iris were taken in a shaded area but I kept the camera settings the same just adjusted the ISO to 250 and instead of changing the white balance to cloudy or shade, I kept it on Sunny as I like the warmth and I can adjust the coolness settings in Lightroom if I need too.

I also didn't edit the luminance of the blues down as much as usual as the blue from Iris' costume and the slide went a little strange in colourings.

I kept the editing down to a minimum as for a few garden images to look back on they didn't need to be perfect. If I was to get technical with it I would have edited out some of the dead leaves from our jungle of a garden, the drain behind and the sticker on the inside of the sandbox/paddling pool. 

R U F U S  I N  T H E  G A R D E N  I M A G E S

I took all three of these sat on the ground in front of Rufus and just captured a few while he munched on his ice lolly and played in his teepee. You CANNOT make a seven-month-old baby pose so what is the point in trying! Candid photos all the way! If you make a face or call them you're likely to get them looking at the camera and maybe even a smile but don't expect miracles!

Once again, I edited with the "Summer Darlings" preset and I am happy to send it to a few people to have a play with if you're interested!
I also know a few good websites for presets too but now I've started making my own! I toned down the warmth for these three as the sun was in a certain place in the garden that makes everything bright and the preset made them pretty warm and then I darkened the luminance of the blue and the greens in these ones too.

Finally, feeding the ducks is another good Summer spot, free floral backdrops in parks are great too and if you don't want free ideas and are happy to pay, festivals, theme parks, fairgrounds, the circus, national trust locations, the flower fields of course and there are so many more. Go and experiment with your cameras, phones, go-pros, DSLR's, whatever! Even trial a lightroom subscription, it's free for a month if you've never used it before. I use the Classic CC 2015 version because I get photoshop in with the price too. 

I hope this was helpful, I am new to these photography tips but really want to help people who feel a little uninspired or are new to this photography malarkey! I am always happy to help if you have any photography questions, camera setting questions, automatic camera setting questions too (I did use to use auto before I taught myself manual) and Lightroom questions too! Instagram is probably the best place to message me. 

HAPPY SUMMER