There is no greater miracle than the birth of new life in a woman's womb. A strong bond is formed between mother and child. The 9 months go by quickly but will never be forgotten.
The most rewarding task for us as photographers is to capture this bond, this beautiful time. To make the still hidden life of the child visible.
In maternity photography, the emphasis is always on the shape of the abdomen. With clothing we emphasize the belly, but the light is just as important. Because light makes or breaks your photo.
Are we talking about portraits or short and long light, about split light or Rembrandt light, these patterns also play an essential role in a belly. And the operation of the light is almost identical.
Use your imagination and think of the lady's navel as a nose. For portraits I always show my students long and short light and then ask which light is the best. And 98% of the students choose short light as the most beautiful on a face.
With the pregnant lady I therefore often let the light fall from behind on the belly. Short light on the stomach, if you could call it that. And now you can play with the flash (more to the front of the model or more to the back of the model) to play with the light/shadow ratio.
This way you get 100% control over the light pattern on the model. Take a number of photos in this way and shift the light 30 cm around the model (so don't move your light further away or closer, but really turn around it) and then compare the photos. Involve your model in this and ask her what she thinks and which look she likes best.
Outside in the sun you can of course do the same, with the difference that you let your model rotate in relation to the sun. Even then you get similar light patterns.
Don't just take the light for granted, take control for photos that really capture what you want to say.
Do you want to learn all about this in practice? Then this pregnancy photography course is really for you:
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