19 How to Make Better Maternity Photos

In Week 2 of my “How to Make Better Photos” series, I’m breaking down exactly how I approach outdoor maternity sessions—from choosing the right location and finding the best light to posing, prompting, and creating variety throughout a gallery.

You’ll learn:
• How to scout a location for the best light and backgrounds
• The maternity poses and prompts I use most often
• Simple ways to flatter every mom-to-be
• How to add movement, storytelling, and variety to your images
• My favorite lighting techniques for outdoor maternity sessions

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey mama, whether or not you're trying out your camera for the very first time, or you've been doing this a while and just looking for some creative inspiration, I've got all that and more. I'm here to help you see your world differently, challenge you creatively, and find your passion for photography.

Speaker 0:18

Hey guys, welcome back to the Better Photos Podcast. I'm your host, Brittany Porter, with Brittany Porter Photography. And this week we are talking about maternity sessions. I've started a series talking about how to make better photos at blank session. And this week we are talking about maternity. If you didn't catch the newborn one, that was last week, episode 18. So you can go back and listen to that one if you have a newborn session coming up. Um, but today, yes, we're gonna be talking about maternity. It has been a little bit of delay between last episode and this episode. I just have not been in the groove with the podcast. Um I started another like side business kind of thing. Um, so I've been spending time doing that. Um, shout out to peptides and the peptide journey. Um, so if any of you are looking to get a little more energy, a little more fit, a little more um in the zone, a little bit more um just motivation in your lifestyle, in your aging, in your wellness habits, um, definitely come check out that over on it's Britney Porter on Instagram. Um, so I have that going on. Um, chickens are doing good, garden replanted, dahlias blooming. I was late to the game with my seeds, but Xenia's and Cosmos are starting to grow. They grow pretty quickly. Um we keep thinking we're getting rain, but it keeps saying that on the weather app and then doesn't show up. So I forget to water a little bit, which is not great when you have some seedlings. Um, so we'll see which other ones end up popping up. Um, so that's what's going on there. We are on summer break and my kids are home. My husband's actually off today as well, so I'm hiding up here in the bonus room because everyone wants to be around mom. It's great. Oh, and we got a new puppy. Yeah, we got a micro do micro burner doodle. Um, she's a Bernese mountain dog mixed with a poodle, but the micro version, so she's only gonna be like 10 to 12 pounds. And we've been getting her acclimated to um our other dog, Winnie, a teacup golden doodle who is currently nine pounds and eight years old. And she's out of the puppy life, but we did get a little glimpse of hope when she got the zoomies, and it was right in line with our puppy going crazy, and they were chasing each other around the yard, and it just brought so much happiness to my heart. So that's kind of what's going on with us. Um, and with summer, we'll be heading to the beach in July. So I'm gonna try to get a few more podcast episodes out so that those can just um not have so much of a delay in between. So let's get started on how to make better photos at a maternity session. Okay, so have you ever booked a newborn, I mean, booked a maternity session and thought, how do I make this feel natural? How do I make this look flattering? Um, if you haven't been pregnant, then this can seem even more daunting, I think, than someone who has been pregnant and also self-conscious of the way they look. And so I play into that weakness of myself, even just like being kind of like critical and um, you know, practicing like poses a little bit before I um cue them to my clients, um, just to make sure that I would feel comfortable being posed like this. And that's just for like a normal session, and then you add a bump, you add um insecurities like weight gain or um just feeling tired, bloated, um, swelling, all these things added on to maternity photos, and um you want to be like super sensitive, super careful, and super um knowledgeable and confident when you walk into a maternity session because this mom is really like betting on you to help her feel and look beautiful, um, which she totally is. It is a beautiful thing to carry a baby and have that blessing um that not all women get to experience, and so just remembering that it's such a beautiful blessing to capture and to remind her, but you also like know those are real insecurities of how you look during this time, and there's things that you can do as a photographer to help with that whole experience. Um, so maternity sessions are a lot of times couples will say, especially, you know, if this is their first, that they haven't had photos push professionally done since they were engaged or since their wedding. And basically I tell them that this is the same thing as an engagement session. Um, but now you have a bump, and mom is the focus, and the focus is mom's bump. That not the ring, not you know, both of you guys, it's really mom. And um what I incorporate is movement, a lot of movement, and again, like the posing and the angles are gonna matter so much in maternity versus other sessions. So before I even book, or I mean, before I even show up to shoot the session, there's some things that I do as prep before we get together. Part of that is sending style guides. So I know what looks best with my photos, my editing, my style, my prompting, my posing, and just the thought of my body and like what I feel comfortable in. And that is flowy dresses, things that are not tight and fitted, um uncomfortable material. Um, a lot of times, like when people are pregnant, they're insecure about like their arms. So I'm thinking of like fun sleeves, some texture, um, maybe even depending on what time of year, like a cardigan or some kind of like chunky knit sweater. I also have been loving two pieces, um, like two-piece outfits with like the belly showing, like little shorts, and like, you know, thinking like the off-white like silk or linen, um, or even like some gingham stuff I have on my um Amazon that I am loving, or like a skirt set that you kind of let this maxi skirt go below the belly. And again, this is all like you want to have a variety of outfits that could fit best for different types of bodies. Like some people are pregnant and their whole body gains weight, and sometimes they don't want to show off their body, so maybe they don't want a two-piece, they don't want the belly out, maybe they got a bunch of stretch marks, maybe um, you know, there's uh like darkening, maybe there's um not really that hard, solid bump. Maybe they're it's like squishier. Um, and so maybe they don't feel so comfortable about letting the belly show. So I want to have other options for my moms that are like, I'm doing this basically just to document this, and I'm not like loving the way I look. So in those cases, I'm definitely picking more of the flowy dresses, the um, the dresses that have like material that lays better on your body. And so while I have some Amazon things, there's also just some other companies that have higher price tags um that the fabric definitely shows better in a photograph. It's not gonna be um clingy, it's not gonna be itchy, it's not gonna be um like tight in all the wrong places. Um, it's gonna have like a woman's body in mind. And so I also keep a client closet. So one of those dress companies is reclamation, and I love their dresses. They can range from like $350 to $800 probably. Um, and so I have like maybe one that's reclamation, and then I also love flutter dress. Um, these are more boutique style. Your clients probably not gonna buy this dress. Um, they have rental companies that provide these that you can uh refer your clients to. I've rented them myself before, but I don't love when the price is on me because um what if it's a rain weekend? What if there's a canceled session and then you're stuck with this rental dress price and not able to use it? So I bought a couple dresses for my client closet that are available. And let me tell you, this has been a game changer for my business. Um, I have so many moms that wear these dresses and they're flowy and like enough to also wear as like a newborn um at a newborn shoot. So I have some moms that wear it for maternity and then some that wear it for the post-birth body, and all the moms look flattering in these dresses. So I like having these on hand as just um they're included with my session if they want. And so I have like a website that shows my um client closet and they can pick dresses for me to bring. I also have like a pop-up changing tint in case they want to wear something of theirs and then change it into something of mine. Um, but just showing clients your ideal look for them and like that they could see themselves in this photo wearing whichever outfit, whether it's a Pinterest board or you're using style and select, which I also use um as a third-party tool to send a style board that has shoppable links, um, whether it's my Amazon, you know, um, storefront that has dresses for moms and even plus size um women, and just giving them this is what you should wear, and this is coming from a photographer that has expertise. Um, you can also should suggest uh textures like chiffon, cotton, linen, and we really want to stay away from like what I try to tell people is that maybe your baby shower dress is not the exact dress that you would want to use in a photo shoot. It's like some moms I know they look so amazing in those really fitted dresses, but we're not sitting Indian style in those dresses. We are not um like being able to move necessarily in those dresses. Um sitting can be hard in those dresses. Um, so and maybe that's the style that they like. Maybe they want standing only, but in that case, I would also suggest maybe like something else. Um and I just love relaxed. I love super relaxed. I do have some fancy things. Um, but for me, like fabric and feeling comfortable like trumps feeling stiff and unable to move. Um, so that's what I kind of portray to those moms. Um, I also encourage them to avoid like tight elastic waistbands, stiff fabric, like I said. Um, and then when it comes to location, I send them a location guide of all my favorite places. When you are scouting for locations, you want to make sure that you have opportunities to shoot variety. So that means if you are looking for a field, make sure that it has some trees on the side. Maybe it has a building, maybe it has um, you know, some other wall nearby that you can use um to get a variety of shots. Plus, if it is super sunny that day and you will want something to filter the sun or um just be able to have options like shoot in the shade. Um, and we'll talk a little bit more about lighting in a little bit. Um, I schedule them all throughout the day. Really, noon is the worst. You don't want the light above their faces casting weird shadows. Ideally, most people shoot one hour before sunset, and I allow like one to two hours, um, depending on which package they pick, or if they want to just do like a milestone, like 30-minute one, I'll try to suggest like some of those later times. It really just depends on what kind of look they're going for. If they want um like my hazy, harsh light, you know, vintage, nostalgic look, then I'm loving some harsh sun right now. Um, but if they want like a dreamy, more natural look, maybe even moody, then you may want to go closer to when the sun sets or like right after. Or if they're looking for like golden light, then you want to go when it's closer to golden hour and you also have full sun and it's not like a partly cloudy day. Um, if you're shooting at home, um I like with my um newborn clients, I asked them to send me a couple photos of within their home with the lights off so I can look at the um natural light that's coming. Um and I can get a sense of ideas and style. Um, like I had this one client that had this amazing, like um historic type of house, and they had like good, like oldish looking like furniture, and I don't know, it was just such a vibe, and I loved it, and I could like picture all these like poses and stuff before I even got there because I could envision with this photo of what the room looked like, I could start thinking about it leading up to the session of like, oh, or if I saw something on Instagram that I really loved, I'm like, oh, I could do that in that room because that lighting was set up this way, they had this couch, or they had this dresser, or they had, you know, um, this kind of vibe, then I could totally like bring that into that session and I could just like pre-plan some things, and those sessions are the ones that I, you know, feel the most confident in is when I've been able to um think about things like before. I'm I'm not really like an I mean I can do like off the cuff, and I feel like that is like super creative, you know, but I like to curate things better and think about things and chew on it a little bit, you know, before I like say, yeah, definitely. Um, and planning photo shoots is kind of like that too. Um gives me some like room for inspiration, I guess. Um, because sometimes you'll shoot things and you're like, dang it, like why didn't I think about doing that? Or oh, I like ran out of like things to say and do. And then later you're like, oh, I could have done this, I could have done that. So the pre-planning helps, especially if you know what you're walking into. Same thing with like location scouting, um, which I do a little bit, but then I kind of just like wait till the day of and wing it. Um, especially if it's a place that I've shot at before. Um with the pictures of their house, I'm looking for like, you know, neutral areas, like neutral bedding, like what colors, so I can even, if there's things I want to have them wear that would go better. Um, and avoiding rooms that have like too much clutter or like colors that don't go with my editing, aka blue, um, and green, and really like walls cast colors on people's skin. So to me, I'm like, why would you paint your wall that, anyways? Um that's just preference. You may you may love those colors, and obviously, there's not all the same type of blue and all the same type of green, so ones could work. Um, and I'm not saying all are terrible, it's just not my vibe. Um, so upon arrival, whether you are inside or outside, I'm gonna kind of lean more into outside maternity sessions, but for either one, you are gonna scout the light first. Where is the harsh light? Like I love to stick my hand up in the air and kind of do like a spin so I can see where does my hand look most flawless? Where can I see the least amount of wrinkles? Where can I see the least amount of lines? And I know I want my couple or my family or my mom to be positioned with that light on them. And so that's kind of like a note in my head. But then I'm also thinking about the background. Like, is the background too harsh? Does it have like lime green grass because the sun is so bright? Or is there something distracting in the background? Well, then maybe I need to move them to a different um place depending on the light. Or are there trees that I can have like some light coming through the trees? Or is the sun too much overhead that I need to be looking for shade to avoid those um unnatural looking shadows? Um, I'm looking for dappled light. Like I love dappled light. If there's like, you know, a cast of like leaves or some sort of like texture or shape because of the light. Um, I love that look. Um you're looking for backdrops, like I've used um like bathroom places, um, like the walls to go in the bathroom and or like hiding the trash cans, those kind of like walls to like get a solid backdrop, just so you can have like some variety. Um and so you just want to like get an overall like where are the best spots so that you can bring your family in, kind of place them, prompt them, and shoot a variety of different ways. Um, my timeline once we get started, I start with the family first. Um, and then I do mom with the kids. And so if the kids are kind of like over it, then they can all be done. And then I just um end with mom and sometimes I'll bring them back in and bring the family back in or kids or whatever if they're kind of like um wanting to be back in the photos. I totally will go off their vibe. Um, but that's kind of like what I do. Um, the shot list that I'm getting is with the family. I'm getting like walking ones. Um one recently I've been doing is I'll have them have the ultrasound photos, and either mom has it and dad's chasing mom, or dad has the toddler and they're chasing mom, like try to get the ultrasound photos, try to get them, you know, and playing like a little um game. Or then I'll give the photos to the toddler and I'm like, mom's gonna get the photos, dad's gonna get the photos, you know, and they can kind of like chase each other a little bit, so it provides like laughing, like movement, like fun. Um, and then I go into like sitting and so the whole family's sitting. I've been loving the picnic vibes and bringing like a picnic basket. Um, sometimes I'll put like some oranges or you know, flowers or whatever, um, as like a little prop or something to do, bubbles, um, and have them sitting. They don't have mom lay on the husband's lap, and you can get that like bump shot in the air. Maybe the kids are laying next to um her. Um, they don't get like mom and kids hugging their hands on her belly. Um, and some of these I'm getting like close ups like during the family session of her the baby or toddler doing this or big kids, whatever. Um, I definitely have to get mom standing, and like if she has like a toddler or something, that toddler sitting on her bump. I feel like that is just iconic. Like, you have to have that um twirling. Um Kissing mom's bump and trying to get kids to interact with their mom's stomach. Um, it can be quite funny sometimes. Sometimes I'm like, where's baby sister? And they'll start lifting up the mom's shirt, they'll point to her boob, like all these like funny things. And so I have to like be careful with like what I'm cueing, or just like being prepared. Um, that anything can happen with a toddler. Um, so sometimes I'll cue uh tickle, tickle mommy's belly, or tickle baby sister in mommy's belly, or can you rub mommy's belly, or whisper, um, whisper something to baby sister, or um sing a little song to mommy's belly, um anything like that that I can get the the kids not wanting to kiss mom's belly, then I can be like, oh, can you sniff mommy's belly? I think it smells like chocolate, or um, you can always bring out some mini marshmallows and um make a fun game or bribes with that. Um you can have the toddler or the kids like getting flowers for mom, picking up something in nature to bring to her, um, tell a story, just anything to get them engaged in connection and like interacting with each other. Um, and then I'll get them laying down together. Um and then I'll get mom alone. And one I always do is like her standing up and I'll tell her to point her chin to the sky. Normally this is like facing the sun, so it's like full sun. Um, her eyes are closed. She's got one hand on her love handle or under her bump, and then she'll take her opposite hand and kind of fluff her hair or um kind of tuck it behind her ears and like slowly bring her hand down, like fluffing the hair on the bottom, um, maybe touching like her clothing. Um, and then I'll have her switch hands and kind of do a couple variations of that. Um, I always have her pop the knee that's closest to me. Um that looks the best for um the angles. Um I'll have her standing and have her hands under her belly and like cross her legs like she has to pee. Um she can sit and um kind of doing her hands through her hair again, um, laying down, laying on her side, and just getting those like bump shots from like just her belly down to her feet. I also bring a ladder so I can get like above shots um or get ones taller. Like I'm five four, and so if I have moms that are a little bit taller, I hate like shooting up at them. It doesn't do justice to them, and it's just not a great angle. So I always bring a ladder just in case so I can get some um different perspective shots and better angles for her. Um, that's the downside of me being a little shorter. Um, and you can also do some uh gifs with mom. So, like her rubbing her belly, um, her doing her hair, like tossing her hair a little bit. Those can always turn into great gifs. Um, and then you're gonna rotate your shots. So, with all of these ideas, you can get a wide shot, a mid-shot, a close shot, you can change your perspective, you can peer through something like grass or flowers, you can shoot above, like on my ladder, you can shoot over dad's shoulder, like a point of view shot. Um, and if you haven't already got my um creative shot list, you should totally grab that. It gives examples of each of these shots and um like a little screenshotted list that you can keep on your phone, like before a session, and it'll remind you to get a POV shot or a wide shot, um, close, um, a gif, like all those things. I seriously look at it every single time before a session, just so I don't like forget what I can do. Um you can grab that in the show notes or on my website for photographers. Um what else? Oh, silhouette shots. So depending on the sun, I bring like a little lace um fabric that I got from probably Hobby Lobby or something. And I can have like the dad and the kid hold it. I can have the mom kind of hold it with her outside hand, we can hang it in a tree, bring my backdrop stand, and just kind of angle it right to get a shadow of the mom's belly. Um, you can also use shadows, that's another thing on the shot list of um casting her shadow of her bump and her profile onto like a wall or where on the ground, like wherever you can kind of see it, maybe even reflections and like water. Um, again, all those things on my creative shot list. Um and then movement. So I will do so many different movement ones. They're walking away from me, walking towards me, walking in front of me while I'm to the side of them. They're skipping, they're holding hands, they're lagging behind one another. Um, and remember, mom is holding her bump during all of these shots. Um, so we know that she's pregnant. Um, belly rubbing, hair toss, all of those things, movement. Never static. Like I'll get one static, but even then, like we're probably doing something to get someone to smile. Um, the prompts that I cue for maternity specifically, but also for a lot of moms, um, is to avoid double chins, I say look over a ball. Like if they're trying to look at their stomach and you say, look down at your belly, and they smush their chin and you see like three rolls. Like we want to avoid that. So I tell her to kind of look over her belly or like pretend there's like a ball under your chin and to look down at your toes. And if you can't see your belly, that's fine. Like, we're just getting the angle right and the eye is like looking down. Um, smell your shoulder is another one. So I have her look over her shoulder and kind of raise that shoulder up to her nose and pretend to like sniff it. It gives just like the right angle to enhance the arm and extend like her neck a little bit so there's not like a bunch of um lines there from twisting her neck. Um look towards the sun and close your eyes. Um, again, I'm focusing on shadows and chin. Um making sure her arms are bent and not like smushed against her body. Um, that can make unflattering arms. Um, having mom like twist her upper torso to you so that it's not a full-on like straight pose or side pose. Um, popping the knee closest to me just gives that better angle. Shifting your hips back away from the camera can um make you look a little more narrow right there. Um, leaning towards the camera can make you look flattering. Um I always have couples kind of like lean towards the camera no matter what. Um it can just give a little, a little, um, I don't know, it's just a good angle. Uh flattering. Um and then when I'm prompting them, I'm like, you know, it can kind of get awkward if they're just sitting there, so I'm like, just like rub her belly and think to each other like, I can't believe we're having another baby, or I can't believe we're having a baby, like think of all the crazy things, you know, whatever. Um, and then that kind of gets them like giggling, laughing, or just like something to do, so they're not just like awkward. Um, there are definitely moments where you can place them in the right light and then just like tell them to talk about something. I don't know. I find some of those moments like really awkward, so I let things happen naturally if it looks like it can happen naturally or it feels right, like they're already talking about something, and I'm catching the in-between. I'm like, just keep doing what you're doing, you know. I'll cue you as soon as we need to change. Um, and I don't let too much time go past. Um, just because I know being on the other side of the camera, you're like, I don't know what we're doing. So I like to just give encouragement like the whole time. Um, another tip I didn't write on my notes, but never ever take a shot and then be ooh, no, or ooh, that was terrible. Like, oh, don't look, oh, like don't do that, don't do this, don't do that. Like, you never want to say, like, don't no. Like, I always take at least one shot of whatever I cued. And if it's terrible, I never say that to the client. I always just say, and no, let's try to tilt your chin this way, or tilt your head close, um, closer to me, or towards me, or um, you know, look out past my shoulder, or like I'll cue other things, or I'll say, Oh, that's so great. Oh, perfect. Like, oh my goodness, that's so beautiful. You look so stunning. You know, always like say the positive. Don't say anything about like terrible pose, that looked horrible, even if it was your own fault. Like, you don't want them to feel like uncomfortable or um like start rethinking everything and feeling insecure. Like, you just want to like amp them up because their confidence will show through their posing the more that you tell them that it looks so good. Um, and I'm not lying either. When I say that, I'm like, I can't tell a lie. So I really will not tell you that um it looks good if it doesn't look good. Um I'll say nothing. Or I'll say, let's try this way and now. Um, okay, and lighting tips. All right. So if you're shooting um backlight, then you want the sun to be kind of like off to the left or the right, never shoot directly into the sun. Um, you'll notice it can cause like a haze on your subject. Um, and you can't uh fix that in editing. So you're gonna have to do it and realize before you take the shot. Um if you have harsh sun, then you can face the sub subject um directly towards the sun and have their eyes closed, but don't forget to lower your exposure and make sure that your highlights are the focus of the photo. So if you're doing um the client facing towards the sun, like their whole front of their body will be highlighted, which is great. If you have them move to the side or if you're doing a detail shot, then you want to make sure like their bump is in the highlight so that we know that's the focus. Um also harsh sun using like little flowers to like hold up and cast shadows onto the stomach is always fun. Um, you can filter the light behind the trees or use shade. Again, knowing your your location is ideal. Um laying down, if you're laying mom down, make sure the top of her head is towards the sun or like her face is facing the sun because you want the light to run down her nose and not like up her nose. Um, because you can get weird shadows and raccoon eyes. And then if you want some depth or contrast, then make sure her body is like at a 45 degree angle towards your light source. So even if you're shooting inside, then you want her body like 45 degree angle um towards the window so that you can have some shadow on her to show like more depth in the image. Um so that is all the maternity session tips how to shoot a or how to make better photos at a maternity session. Um, my challenge for you is pick one pose at a maternity session and shoot it three different ways. So you can pose mom with her one hand on her head and one hand on her belly, um, and use framing. So you can do like a wide shot, a mid-shot, a detailed shot, or you can use perspective, um, like getting above her, um, getting like through grass or leaves, or like a POV shot over like her um partner's like shoulder, something like that. So that is your challenge. If you take me up on that, then I would love for you to tag me on Instagram. I now have a podcast on Instagram. Um, I'm pretty sure it's Better Photos Podcast. Let me double check. Yep, Better Photos Podcast. So if you haven't come to follow me over there, I just started it and I'm gonna be posting tips and things from the podcast onto that page. And then you can always follow me at Britney Porter Photography. Um, and that's where I post my client work and more fun stuff, education, all the things. So if you love this episode, please give me a five star review. I would love that. That helps me show show up in the ranks, tell a friend, um, and join me next week on how to make better family photos. All right, see you later. Bye.