Katie and Matt Maternity Shoot

We crammed way too many good ideas into this session. Exhausted after more than 3 hours of shooting, we packed our gear into the car and made our way home, giddy with the excitement of processing and sharing these shots. We tried many new poses, used new props and new lighting techniques. It was basically a photo playground, trying out anything we wanted. And the results speak for themselves. Fun triumphs over work every time.

Katie sent us some great shots for inspiration. The first of which had a nearly silhouetted couple on a white background. I was not sure of the original setup, so I tried the first thing that came to mind. I setup my flash behind a white background to blow it out with no front lighting. Perfect! The way the light played with the rear edges skin was great.

Adding some front lighting via a 48in umbrella sofbox gives a nice high key lighting setup. Keeping the lighting mostly on axis (camera left) keeps the lighting bright and clean.

Moving the softbox to the side creates more shadows and drama

We even used some props that we haven't used before. I'm not big on the portraits with picture frame I have seen elsewhere, but when used to frame the baby, it was great

For this shot, we brought out the black background. I removed the softbox umbrella and hit Katie from behind with a bare flash, camera left. It was about 3 feet behind and 4 or 5 feet the left. It gives a pretty nice rim light effect. In retrospect, a strip light would have been the better choice here since I lose some of the rim effect on the curves of the belly. The single strobe light source is just to small to make it all the way around that curve. However, as I don't have a strip box, this will have to due for now.

We had seen this shot done with potential names of the baby on the post-its. We thought it would be cuter to do things that Mom and Dad can't wait to do with their new baby.

Matt and Katie's new puppy, Riley, is so adorable, we had to get her into some of the shots. Michelle had this image of the puppy with a paw on Katie's belly and licking her, as if Riley and the baby were old friends. We didn't quite get the image she imaged, but this is just as cute. Makes me say, "awwwww" every time.

Here's Matt and Katie, the baby and Riley all together for a nice family portrait.

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Matt and Katie Maternity Shoot