An Afrocentric Maternity shoot *NSFW*

[k-style]

Hi POTN, i just wanted to share a few from the last maternity shoot i had, this was Ashley, her mother contacted me on very short notice asking me to do her daughters maternity shoot, as she never thought about doing this, but realized she wanted it when she saw the work i did for one of her friends, long story short she was due for the 19th, but went on labor the day after the shoot, i think all the movement made her go early...lol
From the second i saw all the accesories they brought in and different fabrics they wanted to work with i realized they really wanted their culture to shine thru on these shots....she was a great sport, very nice people....ill post as i edit, here is one.

Im a firm believer of keeping the focus on the belly but Ashley made it clear she wanted to show off the jewelry her friend had designed for her....i tried my best to focus on the belly while still retaining some of the essence of a pregnancy on this shot.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2623/4108624644_1ce213d22b_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/4109802321_4fe4b4fa37_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2498/4109802447_d7a1678648_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2562/4110690504_79a6e03d48_o.jpg

[digidiva]

I totally adore the first shot.

[jgrussell]

+1 for that first shot. Man, if that doesn't scream out "LOVE" in capital letters...

[k-style]

thank you guys for your nice comments, it took me a while to decide on my photography preference and i must say the tenderness and love that can be expressed thru maternity, newborn and children photography really made it an easy decision once i gave it some thought.

[Shetography]

I love the capture. It really speaks volumes and warmed my heart...It is such an awesome capture of love and the black family.....

[TheHoff]

Lovely once again.

How are you adding grain? It is getting a bit red-and-green sprinkly in the shadows like the lower left of #1. have you looked at Alien Skin's Exposure for film stock looks? Or check out LR 3's grain addition. This looks like Photoshop's but not on monochromatic; not sure that is a good choice for what you're going for. Otherwise the processing is nice.

[k-style]

Lovely once again.

How are you adding grain? It is getting a bit red-and-green sprinkly in the shadows like the lower left of #1. have you looked at Alien Skin's Exposure for film stock looks? Or check out LR 3's grain addition. This looks like Photoshop's but not on monochromatic; not sure that is a good choice for what you're going for. Otherwise the processing is nice.


yeah i use photoshop, i have no clue on how to deal with add ons, is that what Alien Skin's exposure is?...:o
i kn ow that corner is very unflattering and just makes it look as if i shot on very high iso....:(

[TheHoff]

yeah i use photoshop, i have no clue on how to deal with add ons, is that what Alien Skin's exposure is?...:o
i kn ow that corner is very unflattering and just makes it look as if i shot on very high iso....:(

Alien Skin Exposure is a plugin filter; it appears on the filter menu with all the others. Simple to use if you stick with the supplied film stocks but it gives you a lot of control if you want to change the settings.

If you want to post a version before you added noise I'll run it through and show you. It can do just grain if you want to do the coloration beforehand, like you've done, or it will also do some nice curves/colour effects as well.

[k-style]

where can i download it?...ill post an original and you can play around with it....one from my previous shoots, cuz this one was done for clients...the ones from my previous one were for family.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/4109820285_79e953a554_b.jpg

[dotTif]

I really love the feeling in these, they are beautiful!

[TheHoff]

I didn't want to try and match your colour; I simply ran the filters here. You can adjust the grain size, intensity, etc, to suit your tastes but these are stock. You can see how it creates an authentic feeling of grain rather than adding multi-coloured noise.


Kodak Portra 160 NC

http://imgur.com/Jeb4n.jpg


Cross Process to Kodak 400 Gold, milder

http://imgur.com/kxxY5.jpg


http://www.alienskin.com/exposure/index.aspx

[k-style]

thanx Hoff i will dl these soon as i get home tomorrow morning. i appreiate it.

[ann-mom]

beautifull work

[k-style]

thank you ann

Hoff i just peeped the site....the software costs 250$...

:-(

guesss ima have to continue with CS4 until i can afford that...

[mkville]

Beautiful Set!!! Geat job

[k-style]

thank you mkville.

[jenirose3]

The 3rd and 4th set are great!

[Michael Bottoms]

These are very nice maternity shots... Lighting is nice and in most cases I like the composition. One thing, she seems to be compressing her breasts in several of them--they are bulging out. I little less pressure might be more attractive. Thanks for sharing

[sctbiggs]

they look great. I dunno about the very first one though. The boob smash doesn't do it for me. Looks like he's more interested in getting "rough" with her and making another baby than he is with "focus on the belly."

like the 3rd set the best. It looks as though it needs some sort of color maybe white balance or maybe even exposure tweaking.

[sctbiggs]

thank you ann

Hoff i just peeped the site....the software costs 250$...

:-(

guesss ima have to continue with CS4 until i can afford that...

all those plug-ins and actions and such can be done on your own. It just takes time to figure out how to do them. However they are worth the price if you don't want to bother with it.

[dboghosian]

great set. my favorites are the ones in the red.

[k-style]

thank you for all the feedback, ill keep practicing with the CS4 options as i dont have the budget to purchase the program, thanx for the suggestion though.