Building a New Pool

If you have a beautiful swimming pool on your property and are going to use it as a backdrop for a photoshoot, here are some steps you should take.

1. Book a swimming pool cleaning session with a local pool contractor

Before you put any props in the pool for the photoshoot, you should book a swimming pool cleaning service. While you might think that your own pool-skimming efforts have left the pool fairly clean, this might not be the case and you could accidentally sabotage your own photoshoot if you don't get the pool cleaned properly before you begin. All of the small bits of dirt, pieces of dead leaves and tiny scraps of rubbish or dust that your skimmer cannot catch, as well as any smudges around the edges of the pool's walls that you can only see if you squint at them, might be very obvious when they're captured by your camera.

As such, if a contractor doesn't give the pool a thorough clean before the photoshoot, during which they ensure the water contains no visible debris, the filter is functioning perfectly, the pool tiles have been scrubbed and any tiny pieces of algae have been removed, you might be left with photos in which the models look like they are swimming or floating in a murky, debris-filled pool. If this were to happen, you might either have to disregard most of the photos or do a lot of editing to digitally remove the many smudges and bits of dirt that are in the backdrop.

2. Ask the contractor to deep-clean specific areas that you'll be utilising during the photoshoot

Even you don't think every part of your pool is dirty enough to need a deep clean, you should still have the contractor deep-clean the specific areas that you plan to utilise during the photoshoot. For example, if you think you could take some great photos beside or on the ornately designed pool ladder, you could have the contractor not just wipe this down, but give it a very thorough polishing so that it is totally pristine when you take photos with this feature in the background. Likewise, if your pool has some gorgeous mosaic tiles along its edges, and you'd like to use them as a backdrop, you could ask the contractor to ensure that the grout and the tiles are cleaned with a little brush that will pick up any dust that may become stuffed into the tiles' crevices.

There are two reasons you should deep clean these features. Firstly, doing this will allow the beauty of these particular features to shine through in the photographs. Secondly, you might find it easier to take photos. If for example, the pool ladder is not coated in greasy sunscreen handprints left behind by previous pool users, your models won't find that their hands or feet slip when they're posing on it. Likewise, if the mosaic tiles are not dusty, the models can lean their heads against them, without getting dirt on their hair that they'll have to remove before you can take more photographs.