I saw this trend on TikTok and decided to attempt our own sand heart photo at the beach last week when my cousin and her family were visiting! This was by no means my original idea but it took a little trial and error to get it right and I had a few people ask for tips and tricks so I thought I’d share a very quick how-to here!
1. Dig your heart-shaped hole
Draw an outline of a heart on the sand and start digging! We found a hole somewhere between 1-2 feet wide and 1-2 feet deep was the right size. The bigger you make your heart, the deeper you will have to dig to make sure the full outline of the heart fits in the shot! Pat the sides with wet sand to maintain the shape.
2. Camera settings for sand heart photos
I assumed the viral photos I’d seen were taken on selfie mode, but you actually need to face your phone screen down into the bottom of the hole in order to create adequate depth to capture the full heart. First, open your camera and click .5 at the bottom of the screen to the left of where it defaults to 1x. Next, tap the arrow at the top of the screen to reveal more menu options at the bottom, scroll to and tap the clock icon, and set your camera timer to 3 or 10 seconds. (Three seconds was the appropriate attention span with toddlers and enough to capture the above shot!)
3. Take your photo!
Now that your camera settings are ready, click the white circle at the bottom of your screen and quickly place your phone with the screen facing down at the bottom of the hole while everyone leans in and smiles! Et voilà! A cute keepsake from a family trip. 💙
