Ditch the Smiles and Embrace the OddSummer is the undisputed peak season for photography. Golden hour light stretches long into the evening, beach days provide built-in backdrops, and everyone is naturally outdoors. Yet, standard summer portraits often fall into predictable patterns of sun-drenched squinting and matching white shirts. If your portfolio or social feed feels a bit stagnant, this season offers the perfect playground to experiment with quirky, unconventional portraiture. Moving away from traditional framing and poses allows you to capture the vibrant, surreal essence of the sunnier months. Here are several imaginative portrait concepts to try before the leaves begin to turn.
The Sunscreen Paintbrush TechniqueSunscreen is a non-negotiable summer staple, but it can also double as a brilliant artistic medium. Instead of rubbing zinc oxide completely into the skin, use the thick, white variety to paint bold, graphic shapes directly onto your subject’s face or body. Think tribal streaks across the cheekbones, geometric stars around the eyes, or even abstract waves along the collarbone. Position your subject in harsh, direct midday sunlight to create sharp shadows that contrast beautifully with the stark white cream. The result is a striking, editorial look that feels both futuristic and deeply tied to beach culture.
Submerged and Distorted PerspectivesWater is synonymous with summer heat, but you do not need an expensive underwater housing unit to get incredible aquatic shots. Instead, head to a local swimming pool or natural body of water and experiment with the surface tension line. Have your subject submerge everything except their eyes and nose, looking straight up into the sky. Alternatively, submerge a clear glass baking dish or a piece of plexiglass just below the surface of the water, pushing down to create a dry pocket of air. Shoot through this makeshift window from above to capture your subject underwater, utilizing the natural ripples and bubbles to create beautiful, liquid distortions across their features.
The Grocery Store Produce AestheticSummer produces a stunning abundance of vibrant fruits and vegetables, which serve as inexpensive, highly colorful props. Move away from the cliché of someone biting into a strawberry. Instead, place sliced watermelons over the eyes like sunglasses, use a hollowed-out cantaloupe as a literal helmet, or frame a face entirely with long strands of green onions. Look for dramatic contrasting colors, such as a subject with bright blue eyeshadow holding a bunch of neon-yellow lemons. Shooting these concepts in the harsh light of a local farmer’s market or even inside a brightly lit greenhouse adds an unexpected, commercial-meets-surrealist vibe to the imagery.
Shadow Play and Botanical TattoosThe intense summer sun creates incredibly sharp, dark shadows that you can use to paint patterns directly onto your subject’s skin. Find large, intricate leaves—like monstera, palm fronds, or even common ferns—and hold them close to the subject’s face. Let the sunlight filter through the greenery to cast complex, organic silhouettes across their features. To make the shot even quirkier, use a fine eyeliner pencil to trace the edges of the shadows directly onto the skin. When you pull the leaf away, the subject is left with a temporary, hand-drawn shadow replica that blurs the line between reality and illusion.
Cellophane and Melting Ice Melting PointsCapture the feeling of intense summer heat by introducing elements that literally or visually melt. Wrapping colored cellophane loosely around your camera lens creates a dreamy, hazy, retro color leak that instantly mimics the feeling of a humid July afternoon. To take the quirkiness a step further, utilize large blocks of ice. Freeze colorful flowers, plastic toy soldiers, or fruit slices into ice blocks ahead of time. Have your subject hold these melting blocks close to their face, capturing the drips, the condensation on their skin, and the distorted view of their expressions through the frozen, refracting blocks as they slowly dissolve in the sun.
Transforming the Mundane into ArtQuirky photography is ultimately about looking at standard seasonal elements through a completely distorted lens. By taking everyday items like suncream, pool water, fresh produce, and melting ice, you can elevate a standard summer portrait into a compelling piece of visual storytelling. These techniques require very little expensive gear, relying instead on creative timing, unique styling, and a willingness to look slightly ridiculous during the process. Gathering a few friends, packing a bag of unusual props, and stepping out into the sun will yield an unforgettable collection of summer memories that stand out completely from the crowd.
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