Prego Belly C&C Please

Shutterbuggin · Feb 28, 2011

This is my first thread...sorry about the screwed up previous thread!

enzodm · Feb 28, 2011

Honestly?

In the first two there is no composition; in the last, you cut the head. Foreground is darker and flatter than background (slightly blown out). So for example in #2, eye goes to the structure on top right.
Selective colors are matter of taste, anyway it should serve to evidentiate the subject of the picture, which I hope is not the bear

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A short introduction to composition is here: 10 Top Photography Composition Rules . I do not have a good link at hand about lighting (complex topic); in this case you needed some fill in light.

ulrichsd · Feb 28, 2011

My wife is pregnant and I have found that pregnant belly shots are quite difficult, I haven't really gotten any I've been really happy with.

My favorite of the three is the middle one. The first one, the entire center of the photo is white space, the baby blocks should have been in the center of the picture with more room above for background.

I agree with enzodm on the last photo, the blue bear is a bit too bright for the rest of the photo and distracts from the subject.

I think the middle turned out the best. If it were me I might crop some off the bottom and left side so that the baby blocks fall a little lower in the composition.

Good luck
Scott

gsgary · Feb 28, 2011

The best way to shoot this subject would be in a studio using low key lighting to create curves and form which will show off the roundness of her belly

Geaux · Feb 28, 2011

The poses are not lending to very flattering shots of her belly imo. This is especially the case in #2, just seems like an overweight woman with her shirt lifted up. Sorry.

bigtwinky · Feb 28, 2011

I find the selective colouring thing to be very tacky. It's fine to do it for a few shots, but for all the shots?

The places you chose to shoot don't lend themselves well. The sky is blown out in many of the shots and as your selective colouring is done near the blow out, my eye is drawn there.
The composition is #1 is just weird. Straight on from the side and where you chose to cut the model off is awkward. I'd prefer to see more of an angle than straight on, which would help lenghten her lines.

I can understand that people like to use gimmicky props in their images, but #2 is just odd with the name spelled out on her leg. Maybe a close up colourful and fun shot of the bear with just the blocks could of been nice. But the going down the leg is, well, ugly.

The last one is probably the best technically as you don't have that blown out sky, but you cut the top of the model's head.
My main issue with alot of these is that I don't feel the connection with the model. No eyes, no "ohhh, awwwww" effect in them

Big Mike · Feb 28, 2011

Photos like #3, are the reason that most photographers (but not people in general) hate selective coloring. By leaving the bear in color, you are saying that that is where you want the viewer to look. In other words, you are saying that you think the bear is the most important part of the image. So unless you are selling bears, that's probably not true...so it create an unsuccessful image.
Doing it with blocks is a little better, but you still have to realize that the subject of the photo should be the woman and that you are taking away from that by leaving the blocks in color. It's still a portrait, so the subject should be the woman...and likely the best choice, is to make the strongest point of the image either her face or her belly.

misstwinklytoes · Feb 28, 2011

This looks like it was a very rushed shoot and I have to say that I'm not a fan of the black and white in every shot, especially with it being a very flat black and white conversion.

I do not like the selective coloring, but I can see the use of it in the first one.

Specific C&C IMHO:
1. This is a very bad cropping of an already bad position for her. It isn't flattering at all. The background is blown and distracting. The crop is right through the knees and shoulders and there's a piece of her hand at the bottom of the frame.

2. Again, very unflattering, as someone else said it does not appear to be a pregnant belly. If there were no props you would not know that she was pregnant. And again, someone said about the blocks running down the leg. I don't understand it and it leads the eye down her leg to where you chopped off her feet. The background is again, an issue.

3. Her crooked shirt (neckline) is the first thing I noticed and the second thing was her crotch. The straight on view is perhaps the most flattering angle for this mom-to-be, but not in this pose.

Oveall, it's not just awful. Was this your first shoot? There's grand room for improvement, but then again, there usually is, with anyone. I know when I'm looking at my final edits I often curse myself for not seeing "that" (whatever that may be) sooner. I would work on the edits some more and see if you might have some more flattering angles of the mommy. She's cute, but these don't flatter her and in the one picture where you can see her face she looks almost sad.

I hope you continue shooting and take all these things with a grain of salt and it helps to push you to improve and grow as a photographer.

Shutterbuggin · Feb 28, 2011

Not this isn't my first shot but I am very limited in my skills don't have much experience I'm sure that shows. I do appeciate the comments so I can improve in my positioning of the subject. The shot was rushed but that should'nt be an excuse in my poor skills. Thank you again and I will be posting some other shots please don't hold anything back I need your opitions.

bigtwinky · Feb 28, 2011

I'll be happy to give my opition whenever I can :sexywink:

ababysean · Feb 28, 2011

they seem very very rushed, take a look back at them. everything is crocked.

and honestly in the last one, even though the bear is neon I did not even notice it because of her shirt line.

Maternity is hard, IMO, 2nd hardest after newborn, but when the woman is overweight, it actually is HARDER then newborn. Many of these just look like an overweight woman with her shirt up and I'm sure this is not the look she wanted...

Maternity Posing Guide - About the Guide

read this and then retry.

I have to ask, what camera do you own and what are your settings?

DerekSalem · Feb 28, 2011

I don't mean to sound offensive in this post...but I know it'll be taken that way. I'm sorry, but the only way I can tell my opinion is probably by sounding offensive...

If you wouldn't have said she was pregnant...I wouldn't have known it. Very little of the "shape" of her belly is actually from her being pregnant. The only reason I'm mentioning this is because her positions and composition of the picture don't help with it at all. If you would have her sit/stand in the right positions it wouldn't be so obvious that her belly doesn't, for lack of a better way of saying it, come from being pregnant.

I can't really offer much help in the way of how she should sit or lay since I'm terrible at handling models. I'm sure someone here could help with that, but either way one of the big things you have to think about when shooting this girl is that her shape takes a very important role in the shoot. It's hard enough to make pregnant women feel comfortable about their bodies and to give them shots that make them smile.

The first shot isn't too bad. It's the only one that would make me actually think she's pregnant. The second and third just look like the caricatures you see in movies of obese people trying to get up or rubbing their bellies...I realize that sounds terrible but it's literally the only thing I could think of when I saw the pictures. They're just not flattering at all...

Shutterbuggin · Feb 28, 2011

DerekSalem ,

Thank you for your comment, I actually thought the same thing about her not looking pregnant, she wasn't very far along in this pictures. We should have waiting but the model wanted picture for her own use right then!

ababysean,

The camera I use is a Canon Rebel Xt EOS 350D, as far as the setting I don't remeber which is horrible, I use Iphoto how do I link it up to my camera so that my setting show under the photo info? It has a place for it but everything reads zero!

ababysean · Feb 28, 2011

when you click on the photo, it should tell you.

enzodm · Mar 1, 2011

Shutterbuggin said:
The camera I use is a Canon Rebel Xt EOS 350D, as far as the setting I don't remeber which is horrible, I use Iphoto how do I link it up to my camera so that my setting show under the photo info? It has a place for it but everything reads zero!

command-i in iPhoto; the same also in Preview. I see you use photobucket: perhaps there is an option to avoid stripping EXIF data (so that anyone may look at them). If you would like to work better with images, shoot in RAW and develop using the software coming with the camera (Canon Digital Photo Professional). I put pictures in iPhoto only after that step.