Maternity Session Ideas

I love shooting maternity sessions.  Women are extra beautiful and glowing with life when they’re pregnant.  Here are a few tips for shooting these kinds of sessions:

Timing- Schedule the maternity shoot when the mom-to-be is ~8 months pregnant- at that point she’s obviously pregnant and really glowing!

Location-  I’m a big fan of natural light, so all of my sessions take place outdoors.  Scout out parks or nature reserves in your area where you’ll get good lighting.

Simplify- Pregnancy doesn’t require anything else to be present in a photograph to help tell it’s story, the background should be simple.  I recommend that my clients choose simple clothing to wear for the session (in lieu of distracting patterns).

Emphasize the Relationship- Bringing a child into this world is love in its purest form.  It’s sweet to highlight the relationship between the mom and dad-to-be before two becomes three!  If the couple already has children, be sure to include them in some of the pictures.

Tell her she’s beautiful- Like I said, women are beautiful when they’re pregnant, but they may not always feel that way!  She may need some encouragement from you along the way- give her genuine compliments like “You look fabulous!” or “Love that smile!”.  If she feels pretty, then it will come across in the pictures you take!

Happy Shooting! : )