Pregnancy portraits

[DionM]

Well I'm not much one for portraits, but with my wife 3 months pregnant with our first child I'm really keen to try and capture the changes to her body as time progresses. Obviously at this stage there is nothing really showing, but I know it will change rapidly so I need to get my act together.

Now I don't want to take straight-out nudes or stuff like that, I'm thinking more along the lines of silhouettes and that.

The thing is - how? Anyone know any good portrait books that may have a chapter devoted to this stuff (lighting setups etc?). Or a good reference on the net?

Any sites that have these type of photos so I can have a look for ideas too is welcome. Google searches are a bit hit and miss with keywords like pregnancy and tips

[Alpha_7]

Congratulations DionM to you and your wife, I think it's a great idea to document the pregnacy like that (as long as the model is willing). Good luck, I look forward to the results.

[beetleboy]

Try searching for baby photographers..a lot of the time they do pregnancy photo's too.

[Mal]

Congratulations DionM,
My wife wanted pregnancy shots for our first kid, ...... I did them. Two days before she arrived!
Got my act together for number two and also was digital by that stage. So this meant I had heaps of opportunities to experiment.
The end result was that the best photos I took were outside at sunset overlooking the bush. I had my wife sitting on some rather uncomfortable rough rocks, which contrasted nicely with the smoothness of her skin, and the smooth bump in her tummy. We also began the shoot with a nice large free flowing shirt, that was see through with the sun shinning through it. These shots seemed to work better than the nude shots.
I also found that making them black and white also seemed to help.
For what it is worth, my advice would be get the camera out and shot, get your wife happy with the camera pointing at her and her ever increasing belly and enjoy the time. It will also help your kid get used to the sound of Dads camera!

[Raskill]

Dion, congrats to your wife and of course, yourself! Don't listen to anyone who tells you all about the downsides of having a newborn. My wife and I are coping, and I love it! Every day really is an adventure (hmmm.. whats in the nappy today?????).

I took some of my wife, that for reasons that are obvious, will not be posted here. They weren't nudes, but my wife does have some modesty about her.

I took them in an arch way in our house, with a white sheet hanging over it, lit from behind with two household lamps. There was a cream doona for her to kneel on. Importantly, the room was nice and warm and comfortable. We waited until she was about 8 months pregnant, which will show some size, but not cutting it so close that you miss out because of a baby that wants to be early.

I used the 50mm 1.8, which let in plenty of light, and made for a shallow DOF.

In taking the shots, I metered off the brightest area of the sheet, which helped with the sillouette, however also used my sb600 to give a small amount of fill flash (about 1/16 its power). This enabled detail to be seen.

Because we were always going to make the images B&W, my wife wore a black and white brief/bra set. This contrasted nicely with her skin, and came out nicely in the images.

PPing afterwards, I removed any blemishes, and played around with the curves to get the lighting right. I added some vignetting for effect. Remeber that you want to get these images right, stuff them up, and you will never get the opportunity to do it again.

Best of luck mate!

[Slider]

Congratulations Dion. Can't give any advice on the pics though

[Bodak]

Congratulations on the soon to be new arrival.

A nice Xmas present or close to.

[Dug]

Congratulations !

I would be picking a location with good soft window light that is reproducible throughout the pregnancy.

I would go for a profile shot probably with the front leg forward arm around the breasts if you like but they will be changing too.

Then try to take the same photo every month till the bub arrives.

Practice makes perfect so after the first 5 or 6 children you should get the shots you want

[Big Red]

just take heaps every month and by the time she is really showing you should have come up with a theme you both like.
If you start now and use the same background every time for one of the themes you could do a montage or something.

[embi]

Must be something in the water.....My wife is 14 weeks pregnant and I have been thinking about the same thing.

She wants me to start taking pics soon and I want more than a record of her expanding belly.

I just did a quick google and found some great examples

http://www.jenniferloomis.com/portfolio_maternity.html

And this one I found that I particularly like....

http://portfolio.kevinthom.com/albums/pregnancy/36_weeks_layers.jpg

Here's our first childs first portrait.

[obzelite]

i took some of my wife, the only thing i can suggest is soft lighting and some gold reflectors. Once that belly starts getting out there it gets shiney and loves reflecting light.

[Wocka]

Here is an image of my wife taken on Sunday. Don't know how the PP went. Comments please.



Cheers

[macka]

Warwick, looks nice. Lovely soft lighting. Would work well in B&W too. Perhaps though if you want more comments you should post it in the critique section.

[Matt. K]

Shoot against a bright window and spot meter off something outside. Take lots of shots because in many years time they will be priceless! The kids should see them on the 21st birthday party! On a big screen!

[DionM]

Thanks guys. Yes it is an exciting time, can't wait

Shall follow up a few of the references ...

[Dug]

Oops! Another thing that works well if you don't want Nudes.

and this is weird ok.

Go to supacheap autos and buy a roll of their polishing cloth, you will find it is a tube of very soft cotton material. use the tube of material to make a form fitting body stocking (Sausage) with your wife. you may need to use clothes pegs to gather any loose material on the side away from the camera.

I will post a photo later when I find one.

You will need to wash the material several times before using it as there isa lot of dressing in it making it a bit stiff at first.


Draping with soft cheesecloth or silk is also good.


cheers doug