Capturing Simplicity in a Maternity Photoshoot – Tuts+ Premium

We have another Photo Premium tutorial exclusively available to Premium members today. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through a simple maternity photo shoot. Learn more after the jump!

As with anything, you can make a maternity shoot as simple or as detailed as you like. The outfits, the locations, the potential results could be endless! However, there are many excellent reasons for keeping it simple.

One reason may be that you don’t have much time carved out for the shoot due to the mother being busy preparing for baby’s arrival. Or maybe the mother is quite far along already and doesn’t have much energy for 2-3 hours of shooting. Maybe the mother wants to capture a few shots of her baby belly while on bedrest. There are numerous reasons to keep a maternity shoot simple and here I will outline ways to do so.

1 The Location

Choosing an outdoor location will all depend on how willing your expectant mum is on venturing out. Hiking out to a remote waterfall in the jungle might be out of the question! Do you have a beach nearby? Or a nice neighborhood park? Even somewhere as simple as the brick wall of a house can make for a fantastic outdoor venue with plenty of texture & contrast.

Your client might be one who’s on doctor’s orders to stay in bed. Your location is now chosen for you. You might feel ‘stuck’ creatively by being at someone’s home, but don’t let that get you down! There are many options at hand.

Think about using the nursery or a pretty window on the landing. Maybe it’s their house which has the nice brick wall! Or their garden, driveway, fountain, water feature, pond, library, kitchen.

2 Equipment

Most of the time all a shoot like this calls for is your camera and favorite portrait lens. If shooting inside, consider bringing your flash, a small spotlight (or use a lamp already at the house). If outside consider a reflector…and that’s about it really! Obviously, don’t forget all your back-up bits and bobs like a spare battery, next favourite lens, extra batteries for your flash, and all the rest.

3 The Outfit

This will most likely depend on what the mother feels most comfortable in. You can of course make some suggestions! Dresses would seem the most feminine and depending on the fabric used can give off different sentiments such as romance, love, beauty, nurturing, etc. The way dresses fall over the body shows the expectant shape wonderfully and will flatter any figure.

Some other outfits might include a men’s oversized shirt with buttons undone halfway down to show belly. Or for a more classy look go with piece of long cloth to drape over female form in various ways. For a more casual look, go with a tube top or bikini top with unbuttoned pre-pregnancy jeans to show off belly’s size & contrast. Think about jeans & a simple tank top, striking colour combinations, stripes/dots, lingerie or nothing at all!

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