I would love some feedback on these maternity pictures that I took for one of my friends. She was about 8 months pregnant in these pictures and was absolutely glowing! She is having a little boy, and their theme is plane.
I used a 50mm 1.8f Nikkor lens on my Nikon D3000 for the session.
I am not a professional by any means, I am mainly doing this as a hobby. I would love to get better in order to do professional pictures for my friends and family.
@ashpanelli Nice start! Gosh she's big at 8 months! O.O! My SIL hardly even showed at 9 which I found odd :/
Anyway...I find them a little busy, and yellow, did you do any sort of color correction or white balancing to start with? I do like having the theme that gives a separate focus for your photos.
I think if you were to redo the photos, have mum2b skip the striped sweater or swap it for a black one if she's cold. Keep that fstop at 1.8 and pick more solid backgrounds, For instance the next to last one is pretty good, but you've got the brick pattern, some lights that are easily shopped out and don't do much for the photo, a striped sweater, lines from the railing, a building and the sky, so much stuff I forgot to even notice the person in the middle!.
The third one down is pretty good, nice and casual, but their faces are washed out since you metered for her clothing.
I like the books one (great book btw ;)) but again, very busy and it seems rather awkard her holding of the book.
I hate to sound overly critical, you made a really great start, and of course the most important thing is if you and they are happy with the results. Even if they're pleased as punch with the results (and hopefully they are!) maybe you can ask for a chance to do a few more photos? If this is their first and she's up for it hopefully you can snag a few more sessions.
Here's a great link I found awhile ago when I was thinking of doing a shoot with my SIL (time didn't permit)
Here's another one that I havent' fully read but I think the shots are cute! (reading it now *lol*)
She is due anyday now, so I probably won't have a chance to do more shots. But, I will keep your tips in mind if I get to do another session.
I did use a white balance, but it was dusk, and I really wanted to sunlight to show through. Maybe that's why they seem yellow.
I think you have some great ideas and compositions here and a few that could improve a little. I LOVE the 2nd from the top- remove before flight around her belly, but I also think it's a tad bit too yellow. Not bad if you're going for a vintage feel, but it just seems a bit off. If you use Lightroom, you might try moving the "temp" slider to -10 or -15. See if that helps
I also agree about the way she was holding the book is a tad bit awkward, but the idea is excellent! I disagree with keeping the aperture at f/1.8; I think that is too far open for a lot of situations. I like having mine around f/2.5 for individual shots and f/1.8 if I'm going to focus on an item (like just the plane). Overall, I think you did really well.
Keep in mind that I am NOT a professional. This is just my opinion
I would tend to shoot things like this closer to F/8, but I would use a longer lens if I wanted the narrow depth of field and a short lens for the body/group shots...
Your comp is fun and I enjoy it more then the average only shoot the belly shots....
Watch for highlights in the background... I know some people call that bokeh or whatever... but what they are is distracting and take the eye off the belly and the people/props and moves it to the background...
Totally personal taste here... but I hate the processed overexposed look... but I understand that is 100% taste... If I was doing it... I would have fill flash with at least one flash, likely two + strobes with softboxes... but if you are doing that natural light thing... these are good...
I do like the grain... too much PP these days turning things to HDR plastic...
Well, I can't really add to what everyone else said except to say that you cut the tops of their heads off in the first photo....not the end of the world but just something I noticed! I think this is a great start.
I would tend to agree with the busy-ness comments and the yellowish tone, but overall I think they are nice... more importantly how do the happy parents-to-be feel about them? And from one who was huge in my first pregnancy, I will say to @neda) and @onarom that she probably had a difficult time holding the book any other way! Maybe if she were turned a bit and holding it in one hand it might have looked less awkward... I'm not sure I could have accomplished that, but it might have been worth a try. :)
I think they are lovely! I might be strange but I kind of like the warm tones to them - you can feel the "late afternoon-ness" I am shooting for my SIL soon and I am in a panic wondering where we will go so that I can have a nice but undistracting background and still get lots of natural light as I have zero lighting equipment.
I agree with the head cut off in the first looks a little odd - not sure if it was a crop or framing issue but I didn't really notice it until someone else mentioned it.
Did you use a tripod? there seems to be some movement in some of them -not sure if that's just me or if maybe was a little too low light?
Either way thank you for sharing you have given me some great ideas!
@onarom@icywarm@shadesofgrey@marilyn@naturalp Thank you all for your help, I greatly appreciate it! I'm still new at this too, so I will take any tips! My friend really enjoyed them, I was glad to do these for her before she had her baby
I did not use a tripod. I'm not the biggest fan of my tripod unless the lighting is really low and I need more stabilization. I don't think you would need one for this kind of shoot if that helps you @naturalp.
I was going for the late afternoon/dusk look? I use Photoshop Elements for editing, would you have just removed the color cast to get the yellowish tones out. I guess since I really wanted the sunshine, I didn't really notice the yellow.
I didn't keep my aperature at 1.8f the whole time; I was adjusting it through the shoot to fit what I wanted to focus on. What is a good aperature/shutter speed range for this kind of shoot? I think the hardest thing for me still is figuring out what shutter speed to use. I know the general rule is to double your focal length, but it seems like when I do that my pictures turn out darker than I want.
@ashpanelli Exposure (EV) = Shutter Speed + F-stop + ISO (yes this is not the real math, but it works) therefore if EV < you want and Shutter speed is fixed at roughly 1.5 times focal length (on 35mm it was 1x focal length, with a crop factor it is roughly 1.5 times, but with anti camera shake technology that rule is well individual... there where people with 35mm who were so steady they could shoot at 1/2 or less focal length, personally I shake like belly dancer's hips)
so anyways... once you pick shutter speed, if the photos too dark you need to increase ISO or open on the lens a little more... sometimes(ok I think most of the time) the light meter/camera meter lies and you need to outthink the computer... Adams wrote whole chapters on how to meter a scene... well worth the read...
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Anyway...I find them a little busy, and yellow, did you do any sort of color correction or white balancing to start with? I do like having the theme that gives a separate focus for your photos.
I think if you were to redo the photos, have mum2b skip the striped sweater or swap it for a black one if she's cold. Keep that fstop at 1.8 and pick more solid backgrounds, For instance the next to last one is pretty good, but you've got the brick pattern, some lights that are easily shopped out and don't do much for the photo, a striped sweater, lines from the railing, a building and the sky, so much stuff I forgot to even notice the person in the middle!.
The third one down is pretty good, nice and casual, but their faces are washed out since you metered for her clothing.
I like the books one (great book btw ;)) but again, very busy and it seems rather awkard her holding of the book.
I hate to sound overly critical, you made a really great start, and of course the most important thing is if you and they are happy with the results. Even if they're pleased as punch with the results (and hopefully they are!) maybe you can ask for a chance to do a few more photos? If this is their first and she's up for it hopefully you can snag a few more sessions.
Here's a great link I found awhile ago when I was thinking of doing a shoot with my SIL (time didn't permit)
Here's another one that I havent' fully read but I think the shots are cute! (reading it now *lol*)
I did use a white balance, but it was dusk, and I really wanted to sunlight to show through. Maybe that's why they seem yellow.
If she's up for it that is.
I also agree about the way she was holding the book is a tad bit awkward, but the idea is excellent! I disagree with keeping the aperture at f/1.8; I think that is too far open for a lot of situations. I like having mine around f/2.5 for individual shots and f/1.8 if I'm going to focus on an item (like just the plane). Overall, I think you did really well.
Keep in mind that I am NOT a professional. This is just my opinion
Your comp is fun and I enjoy it more then the average only shoot the belly shots....
Watch for highlights in the background... I know some people call that bokeh or whatever... but what they are is distracting and take the eye off the belly and the people/props and moves it to the background...
Totally personal taste here... but I hate the processed overexposed look... but I understand that is 100% taste... If I was doing it... I would have fill flash with at least one flash, likely two + strobes with softboxes... but if you are doing that natural light thing... these are good...
I do like the grain... too much PP these days turning things to HDR plastic...
I agree with the head cut off in the first looks a little odd - not sure if it was a crop or framing issue but I didn't really notice it until someone else mentioned it.
Did you use a tripod? there seems to be some movement in some of them -not sure if that's just me or if maybe was a little too low light?
Either way thank you for sharing you have given me some great ideas!
I have been looking at these articles
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/7-must-have-maternity-shots http://www.digital-photography-school.com/5-keys-to-taking-beautiful-maternity-portraits http://www.digital-photography-school.com/tummy-time-7-tips-for-taking-great-maternity-shots
I did not use a tripod. I'm not the biggest fan of my tripod unless the lighting is really low and I need more stabilization. I don't think you would need one for this kind of shoot if that helps you @naturalp.
I was going for the late afternoon/dusk look? I use Photoshop Elements for editing, would you have just removed the color cast to get the yellowish tones out. I guess since I really wanted the sunshine, I didn't really notice the yellow.
I didn't keep my aperature at 1.8f the whole time; I was adjusting it through the shoot to fit what I wanted to focus on. What is a good aperature/shutter speed range for this kind of shoot? I think the hardest thing for me still is figuring out what shutter speed to use. I know the general rule is to double your focal length, but it seems like when I do that my pictures turn out darker than I want.
so anyways... once you pick shutter speed, if the photos too dark you need to increase ISO or open on the lens a little more... sometimes(ok I think most of the time) the light meter/camera meter lies and you need to outthink the computer... Adams wrote whole chapters on how to meter a scene... well worth the read...