Maternity shoot for C&C

[stephras07]

Ok ya'll - I promised that I would post a few after I figured out how to get rid of the wrinkles. I ended up downloading a free trial of CS5 (loving it so far, and the hubby has agreed!).

The only editing I did on these was getting rid of some shadows, smoothing out wrinkles, and a little skin retouching to get rid of blind shadows on her arm. No retouching to her tummy at all - she was 38 1/2 weeks, not a stretch mark in sight. *sigh* I wish.....

Natural light was coming from the left, with my camera flash.

1.

2.

3.

4. Actually shot in B&W, not a conversion.

I am really looking forward to her newborn shoot - she had the baby 6 days after I took these!

 

[jamesdavidboro]

Too much bare skin! imo.

 

[stephras07]

Suggestions for tops then? We really wanted her shape to show, and she was pretty proud of not having stretch marks lol. Neither of us really had anything that would cover her shoulders more but leave her tummy bare.

At least they aren't the mostly nude maternity pictures LMAO

 

[ababysean]

This is going to sound kind of mean, but please try not to take it like this.
In the last one, you can not really even tell she is preggo. I was the same way, I have the same body shape, I was so jealous of cute preggo bellies, but some girls just dont get them.

I would nix the homemade studio and just take her outside in a more natural setting, you will be more pleased with the results and they won't look so ummmm homemade.

I did something similar with a friend but used a pro studio.

I found I just don't like studio work as much as I do natural light.

 

[NikonNewbie]

I can't believe she left her piercing in...**** didnt that rip when her belly grew?

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

1. If you're going to use a home-made backdrop, you need MUCh greater separation between subject and backdrop. If that's not acheivable, then as suggest, head outside. You really need a second light here to even the exposure. Not the difference between his face and hers as well as the shadow she is projecting on his chest. I'm also wondering why he is looking at the camera while she is looking down. This seems a very disjointed pose. (And FYI, I believe the US Armed Forces have rules against this sort of "uniform" wear).

2. IMO, this 'heart' shot is overdone, but if the client likes it, go for it. Try and keep the fingers more tightly together and the hands symetrical.

3. Light, light and more light. You're probably 1 1/2 stops under here. You definitely need a second light low and camera right. Again, try and keep the fingers tight and together.

4. This one is so OOF it should have gone straight to the recycle bin.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[stephras07]

I can't believe she left her piercing in...**** didnt that rip when her belly grew?

She got a flexible pregnancy ring. I said that too at first, but they actually have belly rings designed for pregnancy. It was like 3 or 4 inches long! lol.

 

[stephras07]

C&C per req:

1. If you're going to use a home-made backdrop, you need MUCh greater separation between subject and backdrop. If that's not acheivable, then as suggest, head outside. You really need a second light here to even the exposure. Not the difference between his face and hers as well as the shadow she is projecting on his chest. I'm also wondering why he is looking at the camera while she is looking down. This seems a very disjointed pose. (And FYI, I believe the US Armed Forces have rules against this sort of "uniform" wear).

2. IMO, this 'heart' shot is overdone, but if the client likes it, go for it. Try and keep the fingers more tightly together and the hands symetrical.

3. Light, light and more light. You're probably 1 1/2 stops under here. You definitely need a second light low and camera right. Again, try and keep the fingers tight and together.

4. This one is so OOF it should have gone straight to the recycle bin.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

1. Its not homemade, I actually bought it online. However because of the size of the room we had to work with there wasn't a lot of space to bring them out without having really tight crops on all of them He is also significantly taller, so he was basically squatting down for most of the pictures. I would have done them outside, but it was freezing out (in the middle of a japanese cold snap). I wish that my lights had gotten here in time, but I'm glad that I didn't try to wait for them since they got here after she had the baby. I will remember the lighting for next time. LOL I had the hardest time getting him to look down, especially once he put his hat on. It was like he was instantly at work and had to look all serious. The cami's are actually ok, if it was the dress uniform or coveralls it wouldn't be.

2. I know its a bit overdone, but it was one of the few things she actually knew she wanted, especially with one of each of their hands. I'll remember the fingers though, thanks

3. I'm still working on lighting, so thanks for telling me what to do differently (adjusting the stop), rather than just telling me more light.

4. I was having a hard time with this pose, trying to keep her tummy shape and not cropping things off at awkward places (room size again). I was also in manual focus, and was having a hard time focusing in B&W. Any tips on that would be fantastic, since everything just looked a little blurred.

Thanks

 

[Geaux]

.... I was also in manual focus, and was having a hard time focusing in B&W. Any tips on that would be fantastic, since everything just looked a little blurred.

Thanks

Tip: Take the shot in color, turn into BW in post.

 

[deebert]

As far as the bare skin - maternity photos will likely be cherished by the parents and rarely seen by other folks, so if they wanted bare skin, go for it! Another clothing idea I've seen is a plain button up shirt (kind of like the idea with the button up Navy jacket) - just use the top few buttons and leave the bottom ones open to expose the belly. Using that you can get multiple colors or go for white or black depending on the background.

I'm also finding myself in agreement with ababysean regarding the pose on the last one.

 

[stephras07]

.... I was also in manual focus, and was having a hard time focusing in B&W. Any tips on that would be fantastic, since everything just looked a little blurred.

Thanks

Tip: Take the shot in color, turn into BW in post.

Someone told me that I would get better tone results shooting directly in B&W rather than converting it. Is that wrong, or do I just need to wait until I can focus better to shoot it B&W?

 

[stephras07]

As far as the bare skin - maternity photos will likely be cherished by the parents and rarely seen by other folks, so if they wanted bare skin, go for it! Another clothing idea I've seen is a plain button up shirt (kind of like the idea with the button up Navy jacket) - just use the top few buttons and leave the bottom ones open to expose the belly. Using that you can get multiple colors or go for white or black depending on the background.

I'm also finding myself in agreement with ababysean regarding the pose on the last one.

Yeah I tried really hard to not make her just look.... fluffy.... but it just didn't turn out the way I hoped. Maybe if the backdrop was actually black, and her belly didn't blend in with the background as much, and not have the shoes?

 

[deebert]

As far as the bare skin - maternity photos will likely be cherished by the parents and rarely seen by other folks, so if they wanted bare skin, go for it! Another clothing idea I've seen is a plain button up shirt (kind of like the idea with the button up Navy jacket) - just use the top few buttons and leave the bottom ones open to expose the belly. Using that you can get multiple colors or go for white or black depending on the background.

I'm also finding myself in agreement with ababysean regarding the pose on the last one.

Yeah I tried really hard to not make her just look.... fluffy.... but it just didn't turn out the way I hoped. Maybe if the backdrop was actually black, and her belly didn't blend in with the background as much, and not have the shoes?

Not having the shoes might have helped a little - her hand and the shoes are blocking the upper part of the belly at that point which makes it look like she is actually pregnant. This came across better in #3. Hope this makes sense.

I have been using a black background with my very limited lighting setup of windows and a sb-400 flash that is bounced off of the ceiling or a reflector on the camera and I'm finding that anyone with dark-ish colored hair starts losing the back of their head where the light doesn't reach...you may have already taken care of this problem since you said you now have lights though. I do love the look of a black background with bare skin such as the images posted by ababysean.

 

[vtf]

Theres not much excitment going on in the colors they wore. All the shots are drab. You need to punch it up in pp to get some color for a special time. Or next time review their color selection first prior to the shoot.

 

[vtf]

This is my take. I color enhanced both set of jeans, Changed the bg color, sharpened both of them somewhat to help pull them away from backdrop then I unsharp masked his face and neck. I just chose lilac as bg color, couldve been baby blue or pink or black.