articles/Portraiture/b-b-page3
by Elli Cassidy Published 01/12/2016
Most of my clients want to be photographed as implied nude and I always do these last as it gives me the chance to build up their trust throughout the session. They gain confidence as we go through the session and have had a chance to refine the posing of their posture and hands, which is all the more important when there aren’t any clothes to hide mistakes behind; nude portraits are my favourite maternity images though they are also the least forgiving.
Lighting considerations
One of my most popular portraits is a simple rim-lit bump shot, the lighting beautifully skims the bump and shows the curve they have grown; the focus is on their shape and form, and the client is almost anonymous within the image.
I like to back-light portraits too, just reflecting a touch of light back onto my client; again it keeps the image all about the bump and the baby inside, it’s the shape of the silhouette that tells the story, lighting doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.
It’s worth noting that you can use the same pose but with different lighting to create a very different effect. For example, these images are of the exact same pose with the client lying down yet they each have unique look. Taking advantage of my flash trigger settings means that I can fire different flash heads without me or the client having to move about, it just takes a little forward planning.
Sales
With regard to sales, where possible I try to encourage a separate viewing for their maternity portraits, ideally before their baby has been born. I’ve found this maximises the sales from the pregnancy session compared to when I’ve shown them alongside the newborn portraits.
Mums-to-be are still in ‘pregnancy mood’ and whilst the anticipation of their new baby is exciting, they tend to appreciate their current form more and often it’s the first opportunity to see how beautiful they look despite how uncomfortable they may feel. Once their baby has arrived, their pregnancy can be quickly forgotten about and more of the budget is put towards their newborn portraits. If you can secure a maternity sale before baby arrives, couples still tend to spend well on their newborn session, so it’s a much higher sale overall.
And finally an additional note I wanted to mention was that lots of photographers I’ve talked to presume that their clients will only want discreet maternity products, mainly albums or portfolio boxes. Around 80% of my maternity clients will purchase large wall art, often alongside other products. If you have the mindset that you are shooting for large products and enthuse about them with your clients, they will often follow your lead, sometimes they just need the encouragement.
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