I spent a few hours this weekend shooting my first attempt at Maternity/pregnancy boudoir and it also happened to be my first set of boudoir at all. As a reference, boudoir photography is a genre of photography that involves female subjects in sexually suggestive or sensual poses. Maternity boudoir would simply mean the female subjects are pregnant.
Wanted to get some feedback on what you like technically (i.e exposure, DOF) and artistically (i.e. composition, message or mood) and what you didn't like technically and artistically. I'm likely more interested in the artistic side of things.
If you have an additional minute, it be nice to also know which one is your fav and why? I'm kinda curious the general input on what people might like in maternity boudoir.
This series was shot using a combination of ambient window lighting and a single large rectangle softbox.
A young friend of my niece had some pregnancy photos done - not the boudoir ones as far as I have seen.
These are quite beautiful - I like the atmosphere and emotions portrayed
very pretty, loves the poses, the only critique (if any as I could never do anything this great!) would be the bed is half in/half out of the shots and distracting. Love all the POV though she is beautiful!
For me it has to be the middle shot. Purely because if the focus is on the pregnancy, it's hard to see in the other two shots that this lady is pregnant. Nicely done though on all three.
My order of preference is 3, 1, 2 because we see her face completely in 3, partially in 1 and hardly at all in 2... If we can't see her face, she becomes 'objectified' and the feeling generated by the images changes. If I'm honest though, I don't think that the two genres make a happy marriage - I'm happy with either separately, but the two don't work together for me artistically or aesthetically. Only my personal opinion of course...
I like number 3 best as a shot, but it has no focus on the fact she's pregnant.
What exactly are you wanting to portray? Is it a maternity shot or a boudoir shot? Not denying the beauty in the shots, they are all nice in their own way, but I don't get it.
It's a personal preference and everyone will give you their opinion but...
Which one do you prefer?
I like them in the order they are presented - 1, 2, 3. #1 I like that her face is seen, but not directly. It has the impression that she is daydreaming about the baby and she is very relaxed. I kind of see Richard's point of view about the two genres not mixing well, but in the first photo particularly I see her as a beautiful, expectant mother first, and as "sexy" as an aside. #2 - I see this shot as more sexy - and the daydreaming, relaxed, beautiful expectant mother feel is kind of lost, but it still is a lovely shot. #3, I am not as fond of the direct look straight into the camera. The composition in all 3 shots is spot on - following rule of thirds, etc..
Thanks for the input. It is interesting to see the different preferences on the images. My wife, the model in these images, is only 6 month pregnant so the baby bump isn't a large as one might expect near the end of term. However, the moment was there and my supportive wife was aware that I was going to shoot more classical boudoir images in the near future so she was willing to help me gain some experience in this particular art form.
As for the marrying of the two genres, pregnancy/maternity and boudoir, like all other forms of art, it is a personal preference. From a male's perspective in modern north american culture, beauty and sexiness/sensuality is often socially constructed with youth and having a thin or athletic body. From a female's perspective, I suspect form is less important. And in context of pregnancy, women seem to celebrate the baby bump. So why shouldn't sexiness/sensuality also be attached to the baby bump. I think the association of those two genres would be easier to merge than beauty and sexuality in plus size figures.
In regards to this site's value for input/criticism for this particular genre, I thought this would be an excellent forum for feedback. I've noticed the demographics of the participants on this site seems to weigh heavily towards women. Many seem to be mothers as well. I suspect that as an audience, maternity and boudoir may be more welcome and appreciated genre.
Just my thoughts. Thanks you for your input on my images.
I'm sorry that you feel this way. I don't believe I'm violating any code of conduct on this site. As I mention in my above post, the audience on this site is a different demographics than other photo sharing sites and I suspect a more welcoming environment for this particular genre.
I don't want to offend anyone with my images and I like to think that these images are tasteful. However, like any art form, some people may have a certain dislike to one genre over another and trying to avoid offending everyone can be an impossible task.
I think the photographs are well done, and I like 1 & 2 but wish her belly was more distinguished in #1 and wish she didn't have heels on in #2. A combo of those would make that my ultimate favorite! I have to say I never thought of pregnancy boudoir in this sense, but in retrospect, women take beautiful nude pregnancy shots all the time now. My cousin wants some before she delivers but I was thinking of trying silhouettes. Either way, your wife is beautiful and the shots are great and most importantly, your havin' a baby! Congrats!
Interesting shots, and what a beautiful woman. I have to say, though, I don't care for #2 at all, and I think it's because it's because we don't see her face. Three is my favorite, because of that gorgeous face, but #1 and #3 bother me because we only see part of her legs in kind of a strange way. I can't get my attention away from her partial legs. I don't find the photos objectionable, but would prefer to see more belly bump and less "come hither" look. Ew, now you know I'm old! Who says "come hither" any more???
An interesting discussion. I agree with @featherstone@vignouse Pregnancy is a personal and intimate time when we 'withdraw' from the world to protect the child. Yes, we are still sexy to our partners, and enjoy love making, but ...I just think this is provocative when the mood is protective, so it is discordant to me. Your wife is lovely and the photos are good! Well done for showing them and asking for feedback. I am a midwife by the way! Would love to do birth photography.
I'm not normally a fan of boudoir shots. But, these are more tasteful than most I have seen. Although, I also would prefer more emphasis on the baby bump and less on her chest (especially since there are children on this site). I like #3 the best, but wish the night stand wasn't in the pic. Maybe if she was laying sideways on the bed, so the headboard is the backdrop. Your model is beautiful.
They are all beautiful and so is your wife! I like #1; there is always a mystique and awe surrounding an expectant mother and I like the way #1 conveys that.
Lovely photos David and I have been enjoying your discussions thus far :) While I think they are all lovely, I agree with a few of the other comments (if you are planning to do these professionally, I'm assuming this is what you are asking for) re: the legs looking slightly awkward in #1 and #3, and the bedside table being a little distracting in #3. Re face, hands, baby bump, bosoms, to me they are all lovely, imo when you do a shoot you will be wanting variety in what gets emphasised on each shot, and let your client choose what they like best. I have just printed some pregnancy/family photos we had done just before I had my second baby. Only after it's been on the wall a few days have I noticed that my face is looking down (at my child/my belly) in all the ones I've chosen to print! Personal preference. Your clients will all choose different things.
My only other comment is that the perspective on each of the three is the same (her the "wrong way up" on the bed, camera at the foot) so while I'm assuming you took loads more from different perspective or in different poses and just chose these as your favourites, in case you didn't, again I would go for more variety.
DOF I think is good in all three and I'm also assuming your choice of tending toward slight over-exposure is a deliberate one and I think it works.
In my opinion, these are all beautiful and tasteful. I especially like the lightness and soft focus. I've seen other maternity photos and disliked the bright colored swirls of fabric and black background--just not my taste. My daughter just had a baby daughter and I would have been pleased with any of these photos. My favorite of the three is the one where we see your wife's lovely face. This is my personal opinion but, to diminish a person's head or face might convey the thought that a woman is just a body, just a "baby producer." I know you did not intend that meaning in your photos because everything about the light, color, & focus says: "this is someone special, carrying someone precious." I think all three photos are lovely!
Congrats to you!
Her eyes look a bit strange in the first one. I think they should have been closed. My favorite is the b&w one. You can't even see that she has a belly in the last one- making it strictly a boudoir shot, not a maternity boudoir shot to me. The b&w one has perfect tonal range. It's beautifully soft and sensual.
BTW- I've seen WAYY worse on 365 (during my first project). These are tastefully done. You have nothing to worry about.
I think they have beautiful lighting. I think 2 is my favorite, 3 would be my favorite if you couldn't see the night stand. There is something unsettling about her eyes in photo 1 I think it's just the angle her face is at. I don't find anything wrong with these photos being on a photography site. I wish I had gotten some done when I was pregnant but there is no way that would have been good considering I swelled up like Violet Beauregarde. ;)
hmmm where to start.... ok i'm going to weigh in on the "should it / shouldnt it be here" debate and say its got every right to be here. Remember people, 365 is meant to be a jounal of your year! If thats an important part of what you did that day, absolutely shoot it. Content wise, I think the images are tastefully done.
I've shot much "worse" images when I first started my photography journey and had the same "shoud i post it" issue. I reached out to Ross and got his input and he didnt have an issue with them either.
If you're one of those "but it should be family friendly" types, well then the content of this critique is on THIS page... he's asking for critique on MATERNITY BOUDOIR. If you dont like it, dont click, if you dont like where he's going with his project, stop following it. Yes, if there are underaged people on this site, they can see the images, but realistically with a couple of key presses, youngsters can find much worse images on the net.
In a nutshell, while i'm not QUITE in the same school as @vignouse, I just think that the number of ways we can shoot this genre is a little limited.
Personally i'm not a big fan of any of them (sorry David) but thats my personal impression and should be taken with a pinch of salt. I see where you were trying to go with this and there's elements that i like though. What i find missing here is the story behind the shots which will drive every other aspect in the images. Is she meant to be casual, wistful, languid, challenging, happy? In the images that she's meant to be feeling and portraying certain feelings, have you told her what you want her to feel and make small alterations from there or just gone with the flow? I should add here that while i'm definitely a proponent of the first, I know lots of photographers who shoot the second way very well and pay attention to details and minor adjustments.
From the maternity boudoir aspect of these images - I just find that this is tilted too much in the favour of boudoir with the maternity aspect either being downplayed or missing in them. I'd have liked to see some images celebrating the fact that she's pregnant but still sexy.
On the bright side, I quite like the setting and think you chose that well with the colours. Another bright side, when shooting women on their back, there's a tendancy for the bra to suddenly not fit right and alot more space to appear - women you know what i'm talking about when you lie back. However in these shots, the cup size shows a good fitting especially on image 2, but only looks marginally off in 1 and 3. The guide from a very well known glamour photographer in shooting women is to go down one cup size but then go up one size around the back to account for this. It'll still fit well without squeezing and give more of a boost.
1. I'm taking this as meant to be either a casual / laid back feel or a wistful feel. The biggest issue i find is that her eyes dont really match with a feel. There's something thats a little too static or intense around her eyes, like she's been staring at one place for too long or not quite sure where to stare. Also was she laying down for a while? Her face seems to be quite a bit pinker than her body which is sometimes a result of laying down and the blood rushing to her face / head (especially if you start trying arching the back shots). I usually get around this by getting the model to sit up, close her eyes and relax for a little while.
Also, the EXIF info isnt here but it looks like you're shooting quite close? < 50mm? Seems to be giving a slight distortion around the top of her face / head?
For a casual feeling image, I find that her fair doesnt feel casual... especially the bit on the bed - i think this is done better in image 3.
Hand position and leg position also dont work for me and I would have liked to have seen some action with the right hand
Im also not a fan of the lighting here.. i think its a little too intense on the left of her body and her legs / knees and find my attnetion drawn away from her face to her knees and off to the bed. I woudltn mind if my attentin was drawn to her belly if this was made more prominent....
2. While i like that you can see more of her tummy here, and i love the fact that we cant see her face (it works with the mono), Im not 100% on her body position. Both arms up dont really work for me.. and I dont think youve done her any favours on the left side of her body especially with respect to the sheets being wavy. Did you try having her put her left arm down similar to 1? or lighting higher key on the left similar to 1? Also the legs bother me... I find slightly bent knees a bit more flattering than locked knees but its more the angle that i have a problem with.
3. Simialr to 1, but I'm not a big fan of the direct look... it looks a little uncomfortable / non natural angle - better matching of skin tones between her face and body here. As others have said, the bedside drawer behind her head takes a bit of attention away. Also her body angle just looks a little strange. I actually find that rule of thirds just dont work here.
All up though, I think you should keep plugging away at this genre... maybe a few standing up cradling her tummy? I'd also like to see more low key
EDIT: Apologies for the long long long bit of writing by me
Thanks for the detail critique and your thoughts about the "appropriateness" of this genre on 365project.
You seem to have a large amount of experience in portraits and in particular, glamour, so your input is definitely interesting. You have a lovely portfolio.
You are correct that there was a lack of a story or mood conveyed during the photoshoot. We were pressed for time (they were shot during the weekend mornings while she was getting ready for the day) and I think I was more engaged with the form of her body than creating a story.
I was a little surprise and quite happy that my wife volunteer to model. This is outside her normal comfort level in doing this shoot and I'm happy with her performance. Next time around, I'll start thinking about what kind of story or mood I want to convey.
Thanks for the tip and feedback. Ill keep it all in mind when I do my next maternity shoot with my wife. I'll be trying my hand on straight-up boudoir in the near future and I'll keep your tips in mind as well. This shoot will be challenging as well as I have about an hour to shoot it, have very little knowledge about the location other than it is a brightly lit condo; and I don't know what clothing the boudoir client is bringing. At least this 'guerrilla' style shooting will help me practice to quickly evaluate an environment and build a story.
I'd be curious to get your feedback on the results of this shoot.
@davidtom thanks for the nice words on my port... although this will be going through a major revamp soon...
no problems at all about critique, I generally try to give critique as i see it to people who want it as opposed to those who are just looking for "great shot".
As mentioned easlier, i know a few photographers who are quite good at just going with the flow but it usually requires a very experienced photographer + experienced model :). I'm personally not very good at this style and usually create at the very least a mood board and usually a shoot planner with description of lighting, outfits and example images that have the look / feel that i want to hit.
I think it'd actually help to download some example pics, and show them to your wife "hey honey, this is what we're tryign to hit so i want the mood like this". Keep in mind then that its totally up to you to spot inconsistencies - my key things beyond the norm of pose / face / lighting are fingers and hair. 10 seconds of looking and adjusting at time of capture will save you 10 minutes in post.
I think the interesting thing is that everyone has a different view of what boudoir is. For me its a very dark and sensual feel - for others quite bright and certainly something i'd throw into the "glamour" genre.
FYI an hour is not much time at all.. good luck. Are you going speedlights? If its brightly lit, all I'd want to do is just give it fill lighting with the speedlights - ie most of the time bounce off the ceiling or umbrella (pretty much the setup i used for my last shoot). You can direct the client on clothes right? Unless you're 100% on styling this person, I'd recommend primary colours and stay away from pastels (maybe just one set to see) but in a brightly lit apartment, I think the pastels will gets washed out. Blacks / reds / blues in particular will give you a lot of impact. Also, if you do have a say in what she wears, see if she'll mind getting a new set of lingerie for the shoot. you can hide the tag and she can take it back afterwards if its really a big issue BUT, try to get her to go down one cup size and up one size around the back to give her a fuller look (unless of course she's already enhanced).
My suggestion would be to explore other angles. These are very tasteful and show the respect you have for the mother to be (congratulations to you both),but as a set they are a bit too static and look only as if you caught her in a moment instead of having a real connection with the viewer.
Btw, not offensive in anyway.
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These are quite beautiful - I like the atmosphere and emotions portrayed
The second shot would be the one I would choose as the focus is on her pregnancy. I agree with Lisa that it is hard to see in the other two shots. :)
What exactly are you wanting to portray? Is it a maternity shot or a boudoir shot? Not denying the beauty in the shots, they are all nice in their own way, but I don't get it.
It's a personal preference and everyone will give you their opinion but...
Which one do you prefer?
This also is not a very good site for critique.
Thanks for the input. It is interesting to see the different preferences on the images. My wife, the model in these images, is only 6 month pregnant so the baby bump isn't a large as one might expect near the end of term. However, the moment was there and my supportive wife was aware that I was going to shoot more classical boudoir images in the near future so she was willing to help me gain some experience in this particular art form.
As for the marrying of the two genres, pregnancy/maternity and boudoir, like all other forms of art, it is a personal preference. From a male's perspective in modern north american culture, beauty and sexiness/sensuality is often socially constructed with youth and having a thin or athletic body. From a female's perspective, I suspect form is less important. And in context of pregnancy, women seem to celebrate the baby bump. So why shouldn't sexiness/sensuality also be attached to the baby bump. I think the association of those two genres would be easier to merge than beauty and sexuality in plus size figures.
In regards to this site's value for input/criticism for this particular genre, I thought this would be an excellent forum for feedback. I've noticed the demographics of the participants on this site seems to weigh heavily towards women. Many seem to be mothers as well. I suspect that as an audience, maternity and boudoir may be more welcome and appreciated genre.
Just my thoughts. Thanks you for your input on my images.
I'm sorry that you feel this way. I don't believe I'm violating any code of conduct on this site. As I mention in my above post, the audience on this site is a different demographics than other photo sharing sites and I suspect a more welcoming environment for this particular genre.
I don't want to offend anyone with my images and I like to think that these images are tasteful. However, like any art form, some people may have a certain dislike to one genre over another and trying to avoid offending everyone can be an impossible task.
Thank you for your thoughts.
My only other comment is that the perspective on each of the three is the same (her the "wrong way up" on the bed, camera at the foot) so while I'm assuming you took loads more from different perspective or in different poses and just chose these as your favourites, in case you didn't, again I would go for more variety.
DOF I think is good in all three and I'm also assuming your choice of tending toward slight over-exposure is a deliberate one and I think it works.
Congratulations btw :) Is this your first baby?
Congrats to you!
BTW- I've seen WAYY worse on 365 (during my first project). These are tastefully done. You have nothing to worry about.
I've shot much "worse" images when I first started my photography journey and had the same "shoud i post it" issue. I reached out to Ross and got his input and he didnt have an issue with them either.
If you're one of those "but it should be family friendly" types, well then the content of this critique is on THIS page... he's asking for critique on MATERNITY BOUDOIR. If you dont like it, dont click, if you dont like where he's going with his project, stop following it. Yes, if there are underaged people on this site, they can see the images, but realistically with a couple of key presses, youngsters can find much worse images on the net.
In a nutshell, while i'm not QUITE in the same school as @vignouse, I just think that the number of ways we can shoot this genre is a little limited.
Personally i'm not a big fan of any of them (sorry David) but thats my personal impression and should be taken with a pinch of salt. I see where you were trying to go with this and there's elements that i like though. What i find missing here is the story behind the shots which will drive every other aspect in the images. Is she meant to be casual, wistful, languid, challenging, happy? In the images that she's meant to be feeling and portraying certain feelings, have you told her what you want her to feel and make small alterations from there or just gone with the flow? I should add here that while i'm definitely a proponent of the first, I know lots of photographers who shoot the second way very well and pay attention to details and minor adjustments.
From the maternity boudoir aspect of these images - I just find that this is tilted too much in the favour of boudoir with the maternity aspect either being downplayed or missing in them. I'd have liked to see some images celebrating the fact that she's pregnant but still sexy.
On the bright side, I quite like the setting and think you chose that well with the colours. Another bright side, when shooting women on their back, there's a tendancy for the bra to suddenly not fit right and alot more space to appear - women you know what i'm talking about when you lie back. However in these shots, the cup size shows a good fitting especially on image 2, but only looks marginally off in 1 and 3. The guide from a very well known glamour photographer in shooting women is to go down one cup size but then go up one size around the back to account for this. It'll still fit well without squeezing and give more of a boost.
1. I'm taking this as meant to be either a casual / laid back feel or a wistful feel. The biggest issue i find is that her eyes dont really match with a feel. There's something thats a little too static or intense around her eyes, like she's been staring at one place for too long or not quite sure where to stare. Also was she laying down for a while? Her face seems to be quite a bit pinker than her body which is sometimes a result of laying down and the blood rushing to her face / head (especially if you start trying arching the back shots). I usually get around this by getting the model to sit up, close her eyes and relax for a little while.
Also, the EXIF info isnt here but it looks like you're shooting quite close? < 50mm? Seems to be giving a slight distortion around the top of her face / head?
For a casual feeling image, I find that her fair doesnt feel casual... especially the bit on the bed - i think this is done better in image 3.
Hand position and leg position also dont work for me and I would have liked to have seen some action with the right hand
Im also not a fan of the lighting here.. i think its a little too intense on the left of her body and her legs / knees and find my attnetion drawn away from her face to her knees and off to the bed. I woudltn mind if my attentin was drawn to her belly if this was made more prominent....
2. While i like that you can see more of her tummy here, and i love the fact that we cant see her face (it works with the mono), Im not 100% on her body position. Both arms up dont really work for me.. and I dont think youve done her any favours on the left side of her body especially with respect to the sheets being wavy. Did you try having her put her left arm down similar to 1? or lighting higher key on the left similar to 1? Also the legs bother me... I find slightly bent knees a bit more flattering than locked knees but its more the angle that i have a problem with.
3. Simialr to 1, but I'm not a big fan of the direct look... it looks a little uncomfortable / non natural angle - better matching of skin tones between her face and body here. As others have said, the bedside drawer behind her head takes a bit of attention away. Also her body angle just looks a little strange. I actually find that rule of thirds just dont work here.
All up though, I think you should keep plugging away at this genre... maybe a few standing up cradling her tummy? I'd also like to see more low key
EDIT: Apologies for the long long long bit of writing by me
Thanks for the detail critique and your thoughts about the "appropriateness" of this genre on 365project.
You seem to have a large amount of experience in portraits and in particular, glamour, so your input is definitely interesting. You have a lovely portfolio.
You are correct that there was a lack of a story or mood conveyed during the photoshoot. We were pressed for time (they were shot during the weekend mornings while she was getting ready for the day) and I think I was more engaged with the form of her body than creating a story.
I was a little surprise and quite happy that my wife volunteer to model. This is outside her normal comfort level in doing this shoot and I'm happy with her performance. Next time around, I'll start thinking about what kind of story or mood I want to convey.
Thanks for the tip and feedback. Ill keep it all in mind when I do my next maternity shoot with my wife. I'll be trying my hand on straight-up boudoir in the near future and I'll keep your tips in mind as well. This shoot will be challenging as well as I have about an hour to shoot it, have very little knowledge about the location other than it is a brightly lit condo; and I don't know what clothing the boudoir client is bringing. At least this 'guerrilla' style shooting will help me practice to quickly evaluate an environment and build a story.
I'd be curious to get your feedback on the results of this shoot.
Thanks again for the feedback.
no problems at all about critique, I generally try to give critique as i see it to people who want it as opposed to those who are just looking for "great shot".
As mentioned easlier, i know a few photographers who are quite good at just going with the flow but it usually requires a very experienced photographer + experienced model :). I'm personally not very good at this style and usually create at the very least a mood board and usually a shoot planner with description of lighting, outfits and example images that have the look / feel that i want to hit.
I think it'd actually help to download some example pics, and show them to your wife "hey honey, this is what we're tryign to hit so i want the mood like this". Keep in mind then that its totally up to you to spot inconsistencies - my key things beyond the norm of pose / face / lighting are fingers and hair. 10 seconds of looking and adjusting at time of capture will save you 10 minutes in post.
I think the interesting thing is that everyone has a different view of what boudoir is. For me its a very dark and sensual feel - for others quite bright and certainly something i'd throw into the "glamour" genre.
FYI an hour is not much time at all.. good luck. Are you going speedlights? If its brightly lit, all I'd want to do is just give it fill lighting with the speedlights - ie most of the time bounce off the ceiling or umbrella (pretty much the setup i used for my last shoot). You can direct the client on clothes right? Unless you're 100% on styling this person, I'd recommend primary colours and stay away from pastels (maybe just one set to see) but in a brightly lit apartment, I think the pastels will gets washed out. Blacks / reds / blues in particular will give you a lot of impact. Also, if you do have a say in what she wears, see if she'll mind getting a new set of lingerie for the shoot. you can hide the tag and she can take it back afterwards if its really a big issue BUT, try to get her to go down one cup size and up one size around the back to give her a fuller look (unless of course she's already enhanced).
Good luck mate!
Btw, not offensive in anyway.