home studio white background attempt

Mud

Mud

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Wife at 38 Weeks by KMud, on Flickr

This is my first attempt with the home studio and it was a faff. I used a couple of lastolite ezybox softboxes, one at belly height camera-left, one overhead camera right. I hit the white muslin with a naked strobe, and naturally failed to get much of it overexposed (I've seen the lengths Zack Arias goes to with white seamless, I don't have the big lights/strobes/modifiers/barn doors/space). Minimal post-processing, I just tried to sort out the background, softened the skin slightly and brought up the shadow detail a tad. Crits please :wave:

The lack of detail in the legs looks weird to me, but we haven't exactly got much maternity wear :bonk:
 
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My wife is 31 weeks and Ive just got a light setup, watching this thread with interest (y)

I like it, great memories to keep forever :)
 
Dave450 said:
My wife is 31 weeks and Ive just got a light setup, watching this thread with interest (y)

I like it, great memories to keep forever :)
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My setup was intended for the baby (those ezyboxes are pretty small for 1/2-3/4 length adults!).
 
Technically I think it's very good. The lighting's worked well, although it's just verging on a touch too harsh for me on the RHS. There's a bit too much shine on her left jawline and around her elbow - I think this might be spillover from the strobe you used on the white muslin :thinking:

Unfortunately the pose isn't doing anything for me, sorry.
I would have far preferred her to be looking toward the camera or gazing down at her bump rather than her eyes wandering off to top right somewhere - it just isn't working to engage me with the photo.
And although her body language is nice and relaxed I would have liked to see her holding her shoulders back a little further to get rid of the appearance of slouching.

Do you have any others there with different poses?
The issue you mentioned with detail in the legs, is easily fixed by cropping to just below where her hands are in this one - for me that feels a more natural place to end the photo.

Well done for your first attempt though. These are going to be really precious memories to look back on and cherish.

p.s. I'm doing my first maternity shoot tomorrow, so watching this with interest too.
 
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SarahLee said:
Technically I think it's very good. The lighting's worked well, although it's just verging on a touch too harsh for me on the RHS. There's a bit too much shine there on her left jawline and around her elbow - I think this might be spillover from the strobe you used on the white muslin :thinking:

Unfortunately the pose isn't doing anything for me, sorry.
I would have far preferred her to be looking toward the camera or gazing down at her bump rather than her eyes wandering off to top right somewhere - it just isn't working to engage me with the photo.
And although her body language is nice and relaxed I would have liked to see her holding her shoulders back a little further to get rid of the appearance of slouching.

Do you have any others there with different poses?
The issue you mentioned with detail in the legs, is easily fixed by copping to just below where her hands are in this one - for me that feels a more natural place to end the photo.

Well done for your first attempt though. These are going to be really precious memories to look back on and cherish.

p.s. I'm doing my first maternity shoot tomorrow, so watching this with interest too.
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Thanks for the comments, I'm struggling with the posing and frankly haven't seen many examples of well-posed pregnancy photos that weren't more glamoury 'sexy' shots, which isn't what I want here. It's also tricky for my wife to look comfortable standing, as she isn't ;)

I'll try to even out the light on the background, but I don't have much working distance between subject and background, the home studio seems like a real balancing act!

I considered cropping higher, but didn't want her to look like a weebl :LOL:

I have others, I'll see any are acceptable and will shoot more.
 
(y) I would love to see some of the others.

The posing while pregnant is a real balancing act.
I started talking to Jenna about tomorrow's shoot weeks ago - and it was a toss up between doing the shots when she was still able to stand and pose comfortably or wait until she grew the maximum amount of "bumpage" :LOL:
She decided she wanted to go for the biggest bump, but I suspect we'll have to factor in plenty of rest breaks (not to mention toilet breaks)!!!
 

Wife at 38 Weeks 2 by KMud, on Flickr

Wife at 38 Weeks 3 by KMud, on Flickr

Wife at 38 Weeks 4 by KMud, on Flickr

Wife at 38 Weeks 5 by KMud, on Flickr

Wife at 38 Weeks 6 by KMud, on Flickr

I went back through the first session and there was nothing salvageable, so I took more. These are after a quick bit of processing, I don't doubt they need some touching up (but I'm hurting for spare time right now :bonk:). Not sure about #6, I don't like the lighting much and because you can't see the line of her back the lower torso looks confusing.

I realise some have over-bright highlights (e.g., chin on #2), any tips for remedying this in post?
 
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I don't want to be pushy for further crits, but if there was ever a time-critical assignment...;)
 
OK, here goes! All in my humble opinion. Again, the lighting is quite good. I would like to see more softness/emotion in the face... more of a tender look, which leads me to think maybe a different outfit, colour but softer colour if that makes sense? My harishest crit is #3 does not work at all for me, sorry.
 
Treesie said:
OK, here goes! All in my humble opinion. Again, the lighting is quite good. I would like to see more softness/emotion in the face... more of a tender look, which leads me to think maybe a different outfit, colour but softer colour if that makes sense? My harishest crit is #3 does not work at all for me, sorry.
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No need to preface with humble, opinions appreciated regardless. I just don't want to look back on these photos and see only my photographic mistakes.

I can see what you're saying about the expressions, but if I'm honest about my reasons for choosing these 6 shots, they're the ones (from hundreds) in which my wife looked least miserable/uncomfortable - there might not be much I can do there! ;)

Regarding the outfit, I went through flickr/etc looking for what others do and I think the ones that tie-up most with what you are saying have the model with a cloth draped around her. I guess I could get her to don my white muslin and shoot against the black muslin.
 
She looks fed up, speaking as someone who has just had 2 babies in 3 years, I feel for her.

I have some we took, but we had fun and they aren't technically perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

I think she needs to be looking down at bump, if she is more comfy take them laying down against White sheet.
 
There were some lovely ones here a few weeks ago I'll try to find the link.
 
It's called 130 days into my wifes pregnancy 21st February I can't link I'm on phone
 
Found it - I can see how those are 'artier' than mine, though I'm not really wowed (not sure if they're all there though, I see 3 and someone mentioned #6). I might try to mimic the hands on belly close-ups, though belly-buttons skeeve me out a bit! Thanks again.
 
Cross posts, I think you may get more input as well if you put pregnancy in the thread title :). I pm'd you.

Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy too.
 
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