Advice on Maternity Shoots

I have two maternity shots coming up, and would love some advice on how to capture the beauty of the pregnant female form well.

Any tips or advice you can share? I'm an experienced amateur, and will be shooting in a well-stocked studio which I'm comfortable with. One mother wants only her belly to ever be exposed, the other wants to capture some photos of those "great pregnancy breasts."

Both will have their older child and husband in some photos as well.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated. I have read many of the posts with help after a shot, and have analyzed lots of others' photos, looking at light/background/model placement, EXIF, etc. but have generally found this audience to be good at providing targetted helpful direction beyond what I am able to glean on my own.

Thanks in advance!

Scott
http://scottswansonpho​tography.com (a very basic work in progress)

No replys? Did I not give enough information?

I've done a couple of maternity pics and in my very limited experience, I've found my subjects to be somewhat shy when it comes time to bear the belly and skin. Women seem to be very self conscience about their pregnant body, stretch marks, swollen breasts etc.... You may be lucky and have an outgoing subject and if so, you'll find it much easier to get nice pics. After getting the pics, you may want to soften them up, lightening the stretch marks and blemishes, giving them a more "intimate" feel. That's about the extent of my knowledge of maternity pics....sorry it isn't much It would be nice to get a womens point of view on this subject.

I love doing maternity shots but unfortunately haven't found too many women comfortable enough to do them. My husband's friend's wife was the most beautiful pregnant woman that I have ever seen and I ablout stalked her for a session. It was a no go! Here are some of my suggestions:

First contact her before the session and remind her not to wear maternity pants that might leave that elastic indentation around her belly. Make sure that you have some moisterizer to make her belly nice and subtle. I would try and capture the natural interaction between her and her child and then her and her husband and then the whole family. Whole family first of course.

I love seeing pregnant women sillouetted. Also have some sheer materials for draping. One particular pose that I think is so cute is young child holding his belly, poking out his tummy and looking up at mom, and mom looking down and holding belly. Just ask the kids what "Mommy's Belly looks like".

There is so much you can do. My favortie once local and now prize winning maternity photographer is www.jenniferloomis.com I love her work

Sorry that I couldn't help more. I wish that I could get more maternity sessions. Crys

Sorry, I know I should list the results, but try clicking "search" and type in "Maternity shoot" & click "Go" (you should get about 90 results - which is why I didn't list them!)

There are loads of people asking a very similar question - and there are some results that may give you ideas.


TJ

I'll post some things for you a bit later.. I"m rushing off right now. If you search my posts, you should find some maternity work. I love the pregnant belly and it is beautiful to photograph. I'm sure I can find a few things to share with you.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Perhaps I was asking too general a question, as there certainly are lots of examples and other requests on the forums. I read a great many posts on the topic, and browsed many photos from others (flickr is great for this - low quality at times, but lots of options). In the end, I realized what I am missing isn't examples or critiques of specific shots, but rather advice on how to handle the shoot itself.

I've now completed one of them, and though I'm still processing, feel like the end result is quite good. Posing the models went quite well, and in the end the biggest challenge was getting the lights repositioned for all the various shots within the 3 hours I had the studio!

The next one will be more challenging, as the mother-to-be is more willing to show skin, and I'm guessing this may lead to more issues with wardrobe and poses. Her husband will be there to help with anything needing a 'personal touch' - and I'm guessing that will help.