First maternity shoot

[JonA_CT]

My friends asked me to take their maternity photos, and I agreed, although it's not something I have a lot of interest in. I scrolled through Pinterest for some posing ideas, and they sent me some of their thoughts. Ultimately, this is what came out of it.

I haven't been feeling super inspired recently, especially with portraiture. I know I needed a second light or a reflect to reduce the contrast in almost all of these, but it was windy and cold, and the person I had pegged for an assistant backed out.

I'll take an C+C you want to throw my way. I know it's a lot of photos, so I'm not expecting much. It's definitely not my best work, and I'm probably going to say no when I get asked for some work like this again.

1.

2.

3.

(This was a pain in the ass. This is outside with a shaded area and a tight aperture. They wanted a lot of photos like this, but picked an outdoor location. C'est la vie..I did what I could).
4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

 

[pixmedic]

a little warmer than i personally like, but all in all its a nice set.
the wife is fine with the WB, but thought maybe dropping red channel just a hair would be ok.
focus and DOF is good.

heres my 2 minute LR edit just for kicks.

now, my wife prefers warmer tones than I do, but i felt in these the whole scene was too warm. could just be me though.
i also brought up the red channel a bit.

 

[DSP121]

Nice Pictures

 

[SquarePeg]

I think you captured some genuine emotion in a lot of these which makes them nice. I'll leave the technical critique to the experts.

 

[smoke665]

Considering the fact that you seemed to be really wired to the max about the shoot prior to, your assistant backed out, and the locations/time of day were less then adequate I'd say you made lemonade out of lemons. As Peg said you captured some genuine emotion, so don't fret the rest, learn from the experience. If you never step outside your comfort zone you never grow as an artist.

 

[JonA_CT]

a little warmer than i personally like, but all in all its a nice set.
the wife is fine with the WB, but thought maybe dropping red channel just a hair would be ok.
focus and DOF is good.

Yeah, I definitely pushed the WB on all of these. I like things on the warmer side, and 100% see how your edit is probably appropriate in backing off of some of that. I also backed the red channel on a couple of the photos as a cheap, easy way to hide some skin imperfections. You caught me being lazy!

I think you captured some genuine emotion in a lot of these which makes them nice. I'll leave the technical critique to the experts.

Thanks, Sharon.

Considering the fact that you seemed to be really wired to the max about the shoot prior to, your assistant backed out, and the locations/time of day were less then adequate I'd say you made lemonade out of lemons. As Peg said you captured some genuine emotion, so don't fret the rest, learn from the experience. If you never step outside your comfort zone you never grow as an artist.

Thanks, Smoke. Everything is a learning experience. It's been a tough winter around here, and the baby is a'comin', so it's hard to get picky with times/locations/etc. If I had a space big enough in my house to really photograph two adults, I'd have suggested that instead I think.

They're happy, and I guess that is what matters in the end. As someone who is trying to grow, there are always things that jump out at me when I look at them. I actually waited a full week to complete my edits too, and the space to breathe a bit helped me to more effectively cull my shots too.

 

[Braineack]

Yeah, I definitely pushed the WB on all of these. I like things on the warmer side, and 100% see how your edit is probably appropriate in backing off of some of that. I also backed the red channel on a couple of the photos as a cheap, easy way to hide some skin imperfections. You caught me being lazy!

eh. I prefer yours MUCH better than pix's edit. don't touch it.


are these cropped? a lot of the crops are pretty tight.

 

[JonA_CT]

Yeah, I definitely pushed the WB on all of these. I like things on the warmer side, and 100% see how your edit is probably appropriate in backing off of some of that. I also backed the red channel on a couple of the photos as a cheap, easy way to hide some skin imperfections. You caught me being lazy!

eh. I prefer yours MUCH better than pix's edit. don't touch it.


are these cropped? a lot of the crops are pretty tight.

Heavily. More breathing room you think? Any in particular? I'll give it a shot when I get home later.

 

[tirediron]

A good set, and images with which I am sure the couple are very pleased. In addition to the other comments (the WB does seem just a tad warm to me, but not excessively so...) a couple of suggestions for posing. When you're shooting this sort of image, showing off the "bump" is the point; so for images as #8, have the subject turn slightly, rather than be square on to the camera; in this case, and especially due to the clothing choice, a cursory glance shows no reason for her hand position. For poses such as #9 and 10, bring the hands down a bit lower so that they're not obstructing the "bump".

 

[Braineack]

I like the framing in #4, but 5,6,7,8,10 seem a bit tight.

Something I've been doing lately is framing the subject completely head to feet for a few frames, then doing the same pose knee up and then torso up.

I used to shoot really tight, now I try to shoot really wide. When the shot is too tight, you lose a lot of the context of the BG.

 

[smoke665]

When the shot is too tight, you lose a lot of the context of the BG.

You also lose flexibility in cropping to a specific print size. Don't ask how I know that

 

[tirediron]

I like the framing in #4, but 5,6,7,8,10 seem a bit tight.

Something I've been doing lately is framing the subject completely head to feet for a few frames, then doing the same pose knee up and then torso up.

I used to shoot really tight, now I try to shoot really wide. When the shot is too tight, you lose a lot of the context of the BG.

Shoot wide, crop in post; you can always take away background, but it's a bugger to add it when it's not there to begin with. Most of these look like they're cropped 2:3ish which IMO, is not a visually pleasing ratio for one and two person portrait work. 4:5 is much more attractive.

 

[JonA_CT]

I'll take a look at the crops again. I do normally use 4:5 for portraits. I don't remember why I didn't when I was working on these last night.

The D800 is great for shooting wide -- even cropped, most of these are still 20+mp files.

A good set, and images with which I am sure the couple are very pleased. In addition to the other comments (the WB does seem just a tad warm to me, but not excessively so...) a couple of suggestions for posing. When you're shooting this sort of image, showing off the "bump" is the point; so for images as #8, have the subject turn slightly, rather than be square on to the camera; in this case, and especially due to the clothing choice, a cursory glance shows no reason for her hand position. For poses such as #9 and 10, bring the hands down a bit lower so that they're not obstructing the "bump".

Thanks for the tips, John. I didn't consider hand placement carefully at all, and that is definitely key to this type of photography. Something to put in my notes in case I decide to do something like this again in the future.

 

[jcdeboever]

These are very nice. I would be proud of them. I shoot for crop on people too. My camera doesn't have a 4 x 5 format so I give a little more space than required. As far as WB, I let the camera choose it most of the time because I usually convert the image anyway in a film simulation, which usually gives me the tone I'm looking for.

 

[Derrel]

Not that bad. Yes, a bit tight on the crops; more head space would be good. I like the warmer WB. D800 files have a lot of crop-ability to them, agreed.