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Thanks guys, as a temporary measure I went with the bed sheet - dark blue flanelette - until I can find something more suitable. Could have done with something larger that spilled onto the floor, was really limited by the width and length.

Anyway, here are some shots, tell me what you think:

I'll prefix my comments with a link from teh Tips section mainly since I suspect you may have made a few of the same errors I did.

Pregnancy/Maternity and Photography – Gerrys Tips and tricks

I think you may have had the subjects a bit too close to the backdrop, now I know you are/were limited by you sheet size but I think its probably a good aspect to address sooner rather than later, i would also suggest any natural BG around you house/garden may also serve well too.

In teh first image the BG is a bit distracting, possibly blurring it out slightly in PP may help,the pose in this one is classic and I like it, possibly getting her face titling up and towards teh camera fraction more (whilst still looking down) may have been more flattering. The hand position could also be improved by lowering them slightly so that the hands are cradling (more from underneath), this would also use the arms to cover more of her lower skin thus not 'cutting' her midriff in half so to speak.

The second one, i reckon the ladys hands could be cradling rather than 'hands on hips' since that gives (to me) a bit of a stand-offish attitude whilst the dad (i assume you) is closely engaged.

I actually don't mind the last one, the pose and teh heart shape is cool - the selective colouring is fine imo, however its a love or hate thing in most peoples books.

In all of teh images I think a bit of further work on the BW conversion would be beneficial, gettign those greys out of there are getting some nice Blacks would be more appealing to me.

With regard to your lighting, don't be afraid to add some shadows to give teh images some more depth - i am sure others here with more lighting experience can give more/better suggestions.

hth and I look forward to the next set.

Thanks Gerry, upon viewing the shots again after your comments I can definitely see what you mean.. I did try to pay attention to as much as I could during the shoot but without experience a few things have been missed obviously. I'll try more space between subject and background, that's definitely an easy one to correct, and with the closed aperture the space needs to be there to blur the background for sure.

I think subtle things such as placement of the hands, titing of the head etc is really where the photo is 'made'. I'll have another go and see what I can adjust.

One question though- I had to step down to F11-F14 before I could see a decent exposure, the 300w lights I have are still quite bright on their lowest setting. I was using the shoot-through white umbrella, would using a softbox help more than a neutral density gel behind the shoot-through umbrella?

Thank you for the tips.. I'll definitely take them into account next time. Just need to convince the mrs to let me have another shot.. she was complaining quite a bit through this one as I was taking my time I think