First try a maternity photos and a planned shoot

[Dan Rowe]

I recently took pictures for a friend. This was really my first try at a planned shoot. We got some really great shots and my friend was very pleased and very surprised how well they turned out. My "studio" was nothing more than some DIY lightpanels lit by halogen work lights from Rural King and a 100 watt background light. This is my favorite and it was edited only using Picasa. Any ideas for my next attempt? I'm really pleased with the results but my eye is pretty biased so I would like some input from others. Thanks.



Here is a link to the rest of the shoot.
Taken with Canon Digital Rebel XT, 50mm F/1.8 1/100sec ISO-100

[Saralonde]

I'm a big fan of diy and I think your shoot went really well. The only thing I don't like in the above shot are the visible veins/stretchmarks, but of all the belly shots, I like this one best. I also like the b&w with the little girl standing on her dad's back and the final one with the 2 little girls sitting with the eggs. Very good for diy lighting and Picassa.
Where did you get the panels?

[Coyotepsych]

I love maternity shots, and did a few for my sister when she was pg - and I am very interested in your diy lighting, as I did my shots all outdoors. I think your lighting turned out very nicely, and I like the relationship shown in the photo with the hand on the belly.

I would agree about the stretch marks, though those are very "real" about pregnancy, but I would want those edited out if it were me. For some inspiration on more maternity photography, if you'd like some, try checking out work by Lori Nordstrom (www.nordstromphoto.com) - she's done some award-winning stuff and I like her posing of pregnant women.

-Coyotepsych

[jiminyClickit]

Dan Rowe, Welcome

It would be fine to have all in focus, as there is nothing to be gained by shallow DOF. The blurry hand on left detracts from others. Perhaps placed on blouse as if just raising it? And ditto on edit of reality bits.

[Dan Rowe]

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I agree that the imperfections are distracting but I'm not yet comfortable with photo retouching though I'm working on it. The pose actually came about from my attempt to hide more stretch marks and some scars that my friend had. I think that is why she wasn't bothered by the marks that were shown. Jiminy, I like your idea for a bit of a different pose. Perhaps with the little one's "peeking" face in the frame as well. And now that I look a bit more closely, I see how the depth of field could have been chosen more wisely. I think I wasn't distinguishing depth of field from the soft glow that can be added in post process.

As for my lighting I got the idea from this site.
Only instead of a fixed tall panel, I decided to make a square tiltable version. Calumet makes a panel that fits my modified design that can be found here for 19.99. I like the PVC designs because the can be taken apart for easy portability and the are cheap to make. I'll try to post detailed plans once I get the time if anyone is interested.