Maternity feedback

[Prime35]

Hi everyone,
My wifes friend asked me to do her maternity photos. I felt honored to do so, here is one shot from all of them. Just looking for some feedback to get better. Thanks

I have a couple more images that I like to share, if anyone wants to leave feedback. Thanks!!

 

[Studio7Four]

You may have already addressed some of these points with other images from that shoot, but here are my two cents on this photo by itself:

I love the location, the field of flowers is very appropriate for a maternity shot (and I like how you tied it in with the flower in her hair). I like how the green of the trees set her and her pink dress off from the background. I like the height from which you shot the image (it's a good angle to shoot the baby bump), and I like the joyous expression you captured.

There are some things I may have done differently. While I like the pink of the dress (it works well with her complexion and the location), I think the look itself is a bit too formal - the fitted dress with the ruched bottom, plus the pearl necklace, doesn't come across as "all natural" as the location would suggest.

I may have turned her body a bit more away from the camera, to put the baby bump more in profile. If she were turned enough to get her belly to hide the ruching coming up her far hip, the bottom curve of her belly would be more in evidence. I also may have tweaked her pose a bit. She is not square to the camera but she is square to whatever it is she is looking at off in the distance. I don't want to say she looks stiff, because she looks relaxed to me, but with her shoulders back and her chin up the pose looks stiff. Having her look either down at her belly or toward the camera breaks up her pose in a more interesting way.

Lastly, I don't think this works that well in portrait orientation. I like the OOF flowers in the foreground, but the amount of foreground compared to her size minimizes her too much. I actually think this works very well as a square crop, like is shown in the thumbnail for the attachment.

Overally I do like this. Nice job!

 

[Prime35]

No image.

Sorry, I got if fixed now.

 

[Prime35]

You may have already addressed some of these points with other images from that shoot, but here are my two cents on this photo by itself:

I love the location, the field of flowers is very appropriate for a maternity shot (and I like how you tied it in with the flower in her hair). I like how the green of the trees set her and her pink dress off from the background. I like the height from which you shot the image (it's a good angle to shoot the baby bump), and I like the joyous expression you captured.

There are some things I may have done differently. While I like the pink of the dress (it works well with her complexion and the location), I think the look itself is a bit too formal - the fitted dress with the ruched bottom, plus the pearl necklace, doesn't come across as "all natural" as the location would suggest.

I may have turned her body a bit more away from the camera, to put the baby bump more in profile. If she were turned enough to get her belly to hide the ruching coming up her far hip, the bottom curve of her belly would be more in evidence. I also may have tweaked her pose a bit. She is not square to the camera but she is square to whatever it is she is looking at off in the distance. I don't want to say she looks stiff, because she looks relaxed to me, but with her shoulders back and her chin up the pose looks stiff. Having her look either down at her belly or toward the camera breaks up her pose in a more interesting way.

Lastly, I don't think this works that well in portrait orientation. I like the OOF flowers in the foreground, but the amount of foreground compared to her size minimizes her too much. I actually think this works very well as a square crop, like is shown in the thumbnail for the attachment.

Overally I do like this. Nice job!

Thank you very much for the feedback, I always enjoy getting other people's opinions, and it helps when they are as constructive as you are Studio7Four. I do agree with what you said about posing, I feel that is my weakest area when it comes to photographing people, I have been reading some articles and posts on here in hopes to gain more knowledge in that area.
I will do a crop of possible a square and see how that looks. I have more images from that shoot, and when I get get done going through them I am sure you will see more of them. Thanks again.