As long as it feels, being pregnant is such a small part of your life and it’s over in an instant!
My biggest regret with my middle baby was that I had literally no pictures of me pregnant. I had just done the big chop and that combined with the pregnancy weight gain meant there was no way I wanted to be in front of a camera.
With this baby I ended up pregnant during a pandemic, so no professional pics for me!
So onto Pinterest I went and figured out what my vision was and how to make it come to life.
I definitely don’t have a photogenic house, but I was able to get some pretty great shots with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of editing.
What You’ll Need:
- Camera – That can be either a phone camera, a point and shoot, or a DSLR. I’ve seen great photos taken with any of those if you do a little research. I personally used a Sony A6000 which is a great beginner’s camera!
- Tripod – After a bunch of research, I bought the Manfrotto Compact Action Smart 61″ Tripod which has been amazing! It comes with an attachment to hold your phone too!
- Backdrop/Props – For some of my pictures I wanted more of a moody look, so I used a black backdrop. Sometimes though they’ll be great if you have a messy background you want to hide or a certain look you’re going for.
- Editing Software – Very rarely does a picture come out of the camera perfect. I personally use lightroom for very simple edits and photoshop for more complex ones. I’ll also use Facetune on my phone for quick edits on the go or the lightroom mobile app!
Planning:
Pinterest is definitely your friend here! I personally made a Pinterest board that I posted all of the photoshoot ideas I liked so that I could get back to them quickly and plan out my shoots!
I also used Pinterest/Instagram to plan out my outfits in advance so I didn’t have to go looking for things to wear once everything was set up. It could also help you get prop ideas which I didn’t really use, but would be super cute!
Shooting:
I have soft boxes, but I’m not a huge fan of how my pictures come out in artificial light.
A huge plus for me is finding the spot of my house with the most natural light, which just happens to be in my dining room. My house is surrounded by trees so most of it is pretty dark 24/7.
I just put my camera on my tripod, connected my phone to use as a remote, and just snapped away on using manual mode. For a lot of shots automatic mode would probably work as well!
For my moodier shots, I set up my backdrop and did the same thing in the same spot.
A quick tip is to be sure to take a bunch of different shots in different angles and poses so you have plenty to choose from. Lord knows, my patience and energy level to redo these photos was zero to none!
Also, if you have a camera shoot in RAW mode to make sure that you can get the best possible product out of your pictures when you’re editing.
I’m not a pro, but a great way to get a professional result is to look up videos on the exact result you want. For example, I looked up how to get a silhouette effect on my pictures and found some awesome tutorials!
At the end of the day, regardless of how they turn out, take the picture mama! You’ll wish you had later.
