Wife 6 months prego

[CSIJon]

Hello all, this is a little outside of my comfort zone with portraits. Took this last weekend of my wife as she is 6 month along. Please tell me what you think and be honest .

Thanks

[Rain Lily]

I think you did pretty well with exposure and your setting and getting a sweet expression from your wife. Things to improve would be her posture (shoulders need to be pulled back a bit) and pose, meaning there are too many straight lines in her pose. The basic rule for joints/extremities is 'if it bends, bend it'. Stepping her closer to the tree would allow for bending the elbow and wrist of the right arm, and placing her hand on her hip would help with the left arm. Putting weight on her back leg and taking it off her front (think kind of like a dance-line girl pose) would put some "bend" in her hips and that would also translate to her shoulders. Finally, a slight tilt of the head to the higher shoulder would look nice (edited: looking back, she already has a nice head tilt )

Hope that helped! Post more as you go! And congratulations on the baby!

[E]

That advice would also get ride of the shadow (caused by the fill flash) from her left arm on her side.

If you haven't taken a photo every month do so starting now. Then take one of the two of them after birth, can be a couple of weeks after. Then make a collage of all the images... she'll love it.

[CSIJon]

Originally Posted by Rain Lily

I think you did pretty well with exposure and your setting and getting a sweet expression from your wife. Things to improve would be her posture (shoulders need to be pulled back a bit) and pose, meaning there are too many straight lines in her pose. The basic rule for joints/extremities is 'if it bends, bend it'. Stepping her closer to the tree would allow for bending the elbow and wrist of the right arm, and placing her hand on her hip would help with the left arm. Putting weight on her back leg and taking it off her front (think kind of like a dance-line girl pose) would put some "bend" in her hips and that would also translate to her shoulders. Finally, a slight tilt of the head to the higher shoulder would look nice (edited: looking back, she already has a nice head tilt )

Hope that helped! Post more as you go! And congratulations on the baby!

Rain, thank you for taking the time to explain things. Man there is a lot to think about and learn.

Originally Posted by E

That advice would also get ride of the shadow (caused by the fill flash) from her left arm on her side.

If you haven't taken a photo every month do so starting now. Then take one of the two of them after birth, can be a couple of weeks after. Then make a collage of all the images... she'll love it.

Thanks you for commenting. I actually did plan and attempt to do te every month thing. I started but she was very sick in the early months that I missed some I'll have to make up for it with better/more pics towards the end.

Thanks u

[wolfd]

You have a lovely wife.

[kridsada]

if you do not have reflectors to bounce light on the person then try portraits
with darker backgrounds i.e. if you are shooting avoid background
with foliage that have sunrays falling on them , very brigh skies etc it solves
lot of problem when you have more experience then you can try more difficult
lighting situation.

[CSIJon]

Originally Posted by wolfd

You have a lovely wife.

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by kridsada

if you do not have reflectors to bounce light on the person then try portraits
with darker backgrounds i.e. if you are shooting avoid background
with foliage that have sunrays falling on them , very brigh skies etc it solves
lot of problem when you have more experience then you can try more difficult
lighting situation.

I did use a reflector to add light on subject and still used flash. I guess I dont understand what you are trying to say. Is the lighting wrong?

[E]

Outside I prefer a reflector over flash but don't use the two together.

You can pick up a cheap reflective auto windshield shade at your local auto parts store for a reflector. Or a piece of white foam board from a home provement store - just cut to size. The auto shield has the advatage of folding up so its easier to take with you.

[CSIJon]

Originally Posted by E

Outside I prefer a reflector over flash but don't use the two together.

You can pick up a cheap reflective auto windshield shade at your local auto parts store for a reflector. Or a piece of white foam board from a home provement store - just cut to size. The auto shield has the advatage of folding up so its easier to take with you.

Ok, thanks for the info. Just to learn, why not use both. Does it mess with WB?

[E]

Why not use both? Just keeping it simple. It shouldn't really mess with the white balance if you take your white balance using the same lighting you use when shooting the subject.

Ideal location for shooting outside is open shade, just inside the shade line. Also your subject would need some over head covering - heavy tree branch, picnic shelter, awning or what have you. (Even in shade you can have the light coming down directly from over head and this causes the eyes to have shadows in them.) In this situation (under a branch) your subjects eyes should have natural catch lights in them assuming she is facing out towards the light, and you shouldn't need any flash or reflector.

Here's a sample with out any flash or reflector - just a buliding behind me throwing some light back in.
Young lady out side