maternity c&c

[paigew]

Recent maternity session. This is my second one, doing her hospital newborn pics Friday I would love to hear some constructive critique.

 

[amolitor]

The henna is GORGEOUS. What a great idea. The first couple shots I was like 'whoa, she has tattoos that were totally designed for a pregnant belly' and then I saw the color shots.

The first and the last are the same shot, right? It's lovely. It works a little better in b&w, to my taste, simply because you can push the tones further without it looking weird, and the light on the belly is begging to be pushed around some.

The second is insanely cute. Love it.

The third has a lot of charm, but is definitely something that's going to appeal to the family more than a general audience. It's much more personal.

The color shots feel a little.. muted? flat? Those are unkind words and I don't mean to be unkind. It's almost as if there's a color profile issue, they just seem like they could pop a bit more without harming the image. Obviously too much pop would be dumb for intimate soft moments like this, but a little more might be nice.

 

[paigew]

Thank you for your thoughtful critique! The 1st and last are two different photos, but yes, shot within minutes of each other. I had a hard time with color/skin tones. She is a redhead and has a lot of magenta in her skin.

 

[pixmedic1 1]

to me, the first and third have DOF issues. I think you either needed a little more DOF to bring just a tad more INTO focus, or focus more on the belly and lower hand and go with less DOF since the other hand already has focus issues. (IE, on #3 the shawl behind her is OOF, and her right hand is very soft focus, but the shawl in front and her left hand are in focus) I don't think the B&W conversions work for these. its all dark. there's nothing that gives much of any contrast to the black.

The posing on #1 is good, minus some stray hairs. (i might have gotten the hair away from her eyes)
#2 appears to be a candid shot,
#3 looks kind of like a color crop of #1. again, I don't like the DOF in this one. but the pose is good.

im surprised you dont have a more frontal shot showcasing that henna art. #2 is the closest, but the artwork competes for attention, and is partially obscured by the child.

 

[paigew]

Thank you pixmedic; I appreciate your thoughts. I do have some front shots of the belly but they aren't my strongest of the set

 

[pixmedic1 1]

Thank you pixmedic; I appreciate your thoughts. I do have some front shots of the belly but they aren't my strongest of the set

that's a shame. that artwork looked awesome. probably even better in person.

the wife thinks #2 is a great maternity shot, but might have looked better in color.

 

[paigew]

Its just that straight on isn't the most flattering for pregnant people. Hard to show the roundness kwim :/ or maybe its my lack of experience. Anyway, yes the artwork was amazing!

 

[frommrstomommy]

I like them! I also felt 3 was kinda muted as far as colors go.. I like bright. #2 is so sweet!! Something about the crop I'm not crazy about.. Tiny bit of head chopped and then the body chop too. I love that in front of the windows. And I agree on straight on belly shots.. They don't work well when I see them usually.