Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
How to Take a Sand Heart Beach Picture Or a Snow Heart Picture
Article Published: 2/29/24
Article Updated with Step by Step Photos + Video: 1/6/25
I have to give all the credit to my niece, Aubrey, for this cute sand heart beach photo tutorial. We always try to do a cute photo of us on the beach whenever she visits and when I asked her what we should try this time, she remembered seeing a heart beach picture on social media that she liked, so we set to work trying to recreate it.
Our 2025 version of the sand heart photo
It took a bit of figuring out and testing different phones, but we eventually got it. Read on to learn how to take a sand heart beach picture or a snow heart picture (as it will work in snow too!).
My niece and I and our beach heart photo
We did the photos to celebrate her 16th birthday, but they are fun to do anytime you are going to the beach. Cute photos give you and your group a special way to remember your time together. They also make cute framed gifts or magnets for your fridge!
My husband and I love the silliness
I got our group all Hello Weekend bags and cute heart heart shaped sunglasses sunglasses too (both inexpensive Temu finds), which looked great in photos too. If you want to shop Temu, use my code afe55197 for 30% off or use my link here to shop (for new app users).
See those photos and my cool tissue paper and gift bag hack by clicking here or watching my one minute tutorial below:
If you read to the bottom of this article, I included some of our other beach photo items like the travel tripod I use, our favorite beach couch that the wind blows up for you, and more. I also tell you why YOU MUST FILL IN THE HOLE WHEN YOU ARE DONE TAKING THE PHOTO.
One of my favorite quotes from The Mindy Project
My undergrad degree is in photography, so taking photos is something I love to do, especially with people I love like my best friends.
Our beach heart group photo
Your best friend isn’t a person, it’s a tier and I like having really good best friends around me to do fun things like this with! This photo shoot turns out really good if you have a little patience and follow our directions.
How to Take a Sand Heart Beach Picture
Items you’ll need to make it easier:
Small shovels (we love these heavy duty sand beach shovels from Amazon)
Smaller camera phone with a timer (we took ours with a smaller iphone as the iphone Pro Max was quite large, but it still will work)
Paper towels or something to lay your phone on to avoid it getting too sandy or wet
Towels to kneel on (even my niece’s knees hurt due to the rough sand…we like traveling with lightweight Turkish towels because they don’t take up too much room and they dry fast)
Optional: Waterproof phone case or clear plastic bag (use if you don’t want your phone to get any kind of wetness or sand or snow on it), gloves (I used disposable gloves when digging in the sand to protect my nails as sand digging can damage a manicure and if you are doing this in snow, gloves will protect your hands from the cold), water filled bottle (if your sand or snow isn’t packing well)
See me create the heart hole in the sand in my 1-minute video above or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden.
Beach heart selfie by my niece
1—The first thing we did was start digging a heart shaped hole with our beach shovels. Damp sand or wet snow works best for this beachy sand or snow heart photo. I did this a second time in 2025 to take more photos for this tutorial and did have to use a bit of water. I do recommend using the gloves now (to save manicures or keep hands warm if doing it in the snow) and kneeling on a towel while doing this.
My 2025 sand heart prep supplies
2—We dug down about 2 feet. You do have to watch how far you dig down because you may hit water. We first dug it a little deeper and hit water. The sand is also full of shells on Sanibel (where I currently live), so you have to consider things like this when digging.
Starting to dig the sand heart
3—While you dig the hole, try to make the hole into a heart shape. We dug out curves for the top of the heart and then more of a “v” shape for the bottom.
Digging the sand heart took about 15 minutes
The first time we did this, we made the hole a bit too wide. Making it more narrow is a better way to go and shaping it with your hands as you go is helpful too.
My niece and I and our sand heart photo
4—We also shaped the hole with our hands and added extra sand as needed to form the heart design. We placed the phone on a paper towel at the bottom of the hole and experimented taking photos with it a few times until we got the photo to look like a sandy framed heart.
Finishing the sand heart
5—It overall took about 15 minutes to get the heart shaped hole the way we wanted it. You do need to have some patience with this. Sometimes more shaping was needed, so I added a bit of water from a water bottle and smoothed and shaped as the sand dried.
This heart photo will work in sand or snow
6—We put the phone on a 10 second timer and had our group stand or kneel over the hole and look at the camera. If you don’t want to get your phone wet, place it in a clear plastic bag or a waterproof phone case as I mentioned in the supply section of this article.
7—While the water we hit after digging down 2 feet didn’t allow us to dig deeper to get in a full heart shaped design in the shot, we were still happy with the results.
Placing the phone in the sand heart
8—FILL IN THE HOLE WHEN YOU ARE DONE. I cannot stress this enough. There are many sea turtle nests on Sanibel during certain times of the year and a baby sea turtle can easily fall into a hole and not make its ocean destination if you leave a hole on the beach. This goes for all beaches too.
It’s a great group, family, or couple photo idea
If you’ve ever fell into a hole that someone has dug on the beach or tripped on one, it is not fun! Also, digging too deep can be fatal (click the link to learn about an incident that happened with a sand hole that was dug too deep in 2024) so if your children are doing this, watch them closely.
My husband and I and our heart beach photo
Other beach photo ideas:
Travel Tripod
I have about 3 of these cool compact travel tripods. They fold up and fit in my purse or beach bag. I use them to take group photos often so I don’t have to worry with finding someone to take our photo.
Our wind blown beach loungers
Beach or Camping Loungers
My niece loved our inflatable loungers and they look super cute in photos. You use wind to blow them up but I am sure you could use a small air compressor to blow air into them if it was a windless day. We have people always compliment us on them. They are really comfy to lay or sit on. Just make sure you have them strapped down if it’s really windy because they can blow away if no one is sitting on them.
My niece and the Happy Birthday glasses
Fun Sunglasses
I love fun sunglasses for group group photos. We bought some Happy Birthday glasses for her to take a photo with as the trip was her 16th birthday present from my husband and myself. This luau sunglasses set has been used with our family when they visited us as well.
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Carolyn J. (C.J.) Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.