For this shoot, I selected the classic navy blue School swimsuit featuring the white Japanese text 'イチゴ' (strawberry) across the chest. To create an engaging stylistic contrast, I paired it with a white maid-style lace headband and bold black-framed glasses. Over-the-knee, semi-sheer White stockings completed the look, steering the overall Summer outfit toward a sweet 2D anime aesthetic. Since this was an indoor pool, pre-shoot preparations were completely different from standard studio shoots. The first obstacle was lighting: the water's surface naturally creates harsh specular reflections, and firing an on-camera flash directly onto the subject would leave oily skin glares while making water ripples appear rigid and unnatural. Instead, I opted for soft, diffused overhead ambient light indoors, slightly boosting the ISO to ensure clean exposure while preserving the rich textural details of the pool backdrop.
Regarding the wardrobe, the swimsuit is naturally form-fitting; its fabric is relatively dense and gains noticeable weight once wet. I intentionally dampened the suit slightly before rolling the shutter, which helped it contour smoothly against the body lines without looking stiff during seated or leaning poses. White stockings serve as an eye-catching visual anchor near water, but stepping directly onto wet, slippery poolside tiles quickly soils the fabric. Throughout the session, I stayed largely on the wooden decking and dry coping edges to keep the hosiery pristine.
In terms of camera angles, the seated cross-legged pose along the pool edge in Photo 2 works wonders for elongating legs and bodily contours. Flashing a casual peace sign while looking directly into the lens infused the frame with an authentic, relatable sweetness. In Photo 3, cradling a clear daisy-printed swim ring while leaning slightly forward used the inflatable prop as a charming foreground element, enriching compositional depth. Throughout these poses, I constantly reminded myself to drop my shoulders, engage my core, and keep my spine elongated—it is all too easy to slouch when relaxing, and large eyeglass frames can quickly make a relaxed posture look lethargic.
Incorporating glasses proved to be an intriguing challenge, as the lenses frequently caught blue reflections off the pool water, sometimes obscuring the expressive nuance of the eyes. I countered this by tilting my head downward slightly to glance over the top rims into the lens, or gently turning three-quarters when the shutter clicked to catch clean rim reflections across the glass. I am thoroughly pleased with the resulting color grading: it preserves organic skin texture without over-smoothing, sharpening the vibrant contrast between the dark swimsuit and the White stockings. Navigating the humid water environment was quite the physical workout, but seeing how seamlessly the youthfulness of the School swimsuit merged with the anime allure of glasses and stockings made this Poolside photoshoot completely worthwhile.