Maternity Help - Week by Week

[Island_Chelu]

Hello All,

I just found out recently that I'm going to be a Dad . I want to take some maternity pictures every month during the pregnancy. I've been looking at some of the Maternity threads here on POTN, but the only problem is that they're all already in their 3rd trimester.

My wife is around 8 weeks, so barely into her first trimester. I already took one photo of her stomach at around 4 / 5 weeks in, and I want to take one every month. Now its time to take the 2nd picture, but her stomach still hasn't grown much.

(Now here's where you come in ) Does anyone have any ideas of what someone can do for a maternity shoot where the subject isn't showing much?

I have 2 Strobes, so lighting isn't TOO much of a problem.
Thanks All.
- T.J.

[JakAHearts]

Hey Island. First off, Congrats!! I wanted to do the same thing but my wife is 7 months and still doesnt look pregnant like you see in most of the maternity shots. All women grow and look different. I do sort of regret not taking the "Same spot, same pose" every month type shots. Even if it doesnt look like much change, I think to have 9 of the same shot to compare is awesome. (I guess Ill just have to have another one) At the very least, start practicing your poses and lighting now so that when she DOES get big, youll be ready.

[JOSX2]

congrats Island! My wife's 17 weeks along, & for the past month, I've been doing weekly belly shots of her. Our first pic was just around Christmas & she was 10 weeks, & then at 14 weeks we started doing the weekly shots. Nothing artistic or anything, but just side profiles to see how her belly progresses from week to week. & Lemme tell ya...it's amazing how much of a difference there is between the weeks!

Looking back, we wish that we did weekly belly shots starting with that first shot on Christmas because there was quite a change between 10 weeks & 14 weeks.

Being your wife isn't showing much, there's not much you can do for maternity-type of shots as ya said she's not showing much I'd personally do weekly side profile shots up until the baby's born. When she's got a nice big belly during the 3rd trimester, then worry about getting some nice maternity shots. When she's in her 2nd trimester, & she's got the baby bump going on, you could prolly do some 'practice' shots at that point to get some ideas for what you wanna do when her belly really starts to get big tho

[Island_Chelu]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm definitely going to try to take a picture every week. Specially when she starts to show / grow each week.

If anyone else has any other ideas / lighting setups feel free to pitch in. I'm thinking of trying something where the background is dark, have a strobe camera right then a rim light behind her to the right. Easy two light setup... Then probably do the simple, nothing fancy, side shots.

Thanks again everyone .

[KylieKiwi]

Hi here is a month by month montage I did about 3 years ago..... I only used natural window light so overall the photos themselves arent very exciting as I don't have any studio lights. But this gives you an idea on what it could look like in the end....
Scroll half way down the page on this webpage to see the montage.

http://www.kyliedayphotography.co.nz/baby-bellies.html

[AntonLargiader]

We did a weekly shot starting around 12 weeks. Same bikini, same place every week, but we picked a TERRIBLE place that was difficult to light well. We'll know better next time. Living room doorway or something like that.

http://www.largiader.com/album/thumbnails.php?album=20

Check out the 20-second maternity video on Youtube. It's awesome. If you want to do something like that, have a fixed mount for the camera somewhere that doesn't change.

As for actual maternity pics, my advice is... if she's not really looking pregnant, don't bother trying to make her look that way. It just looks lame. Take photos but don't try to artificially emphasize anything.

[Island_Chelu]

Originally Posted by KylieKiwi

Hi here is a month by month montage I did about 3 years ago..... I only used natural window light so overall the photos themselves arent very exciting as I don't have any studio lights. But this gives you an idea on what it could look like in the end....
Scroll half way down the page on this webpage to see the montage.

http://www.kyliedayphotography.co.nz/baby-bellies.html

Oh Kool, Thank you! I really like that, specially the last photo with the baby included. Reminds me of that photo of man learning to walk.

I may have to do that =). Maybe I'll buy a shirt that she can wear from now till then, and try and take it with the same clothes.

Thanks again for the ideas everyone.

[Island_Chelu]

Originally Posted by AntonLargiader

We did a weekly shot starting around 12 weeks. Same bikini, same place every week, but we picked a TERRIBLE place that was difficult to light well. We'll know better next time. Living room doorway or something like that.

http://www.largiader.com/album/thumbnails.php?album=20

Check out the 20-second maternity video on Youtube. It's awesome. If you want to do something like that, have a fixed mount for the camera somewhere that doesn't change.

As for actual maternity pics, my advice is... if she's not really looking pregnant, don't bother trying to make her look that way. It just looks lame. Take photos but don't try to artificially emphasize anything.

That video was actually pretty kool. I'm gonna look for a spot to do the same thing. I got 3 weeks to find one haha, so thats good I guess.