casperwb said:
Hey

You are posting the same questions twice.

What's up.

I believe in this thread, the bun is still in the oven and the subject is an expecting Mom. In the other thread the stork has already delivered. Two different moms I suppose?

Anyway, Lisa you've got some good suggestions here. I learn a lot by reading here. I'd like to add a couple of posing ideas. I've always liked the image of an expecting Mom standing by a window with very sheer curtains hanging down - she's looking out of the window or down at her tummy. One hand holds the sheer curtains back a little, the other hand in the traditional position atop her belly or hanging down. Slight smile on Mom's face. Do not shoot the subject dead center - offset her to the left or right of center - full body or just below the waistline. Try shooting this from different angles to see what looks best. A soft light is probably best in this setting.

If she already has a nursery set up with a rocking chair, take a couple of her in the chair (also offset from dead center) and have the crib or a small section of the crib in the photo for balance.

Don't forget that some of your shots might look better in Black and White. Experiment, you might be surprised.

Also if she wants any pictures with any skin showing (torso region or back) you might ask her to not put on any binding clothing on the morning of the shoot. That way you avoid imprints on the skin when you're ready to shoot. (I read that somewhere).
Have fun.

Hey

You are posting the same questions twice.

What's up.

lisasweeney said:
Thank you all for the help I have a couple more weeks before the shoot very excited learning new things

None of us ever stops doing that, that's what makes photography so interesting. I think Mike's advise is spot on. Hope it all goes well for you, and if you get a chance I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say let us see some of the results. :-)

Thank you all for the help I have a couple more weeks before the shoot very excited learning new things

Hi,

I don't have a D5000 and don't know what lens(es) you have, and the advice you have is very good. I would add that portraits tend to look nicer if the focal length used to take them is on the longer end - that is if the lens is more at the telephoto end rather than at the wide end if you are using a zoom lens.

Backgrounds tend to muss up and distract from the subject, hence the narrow depth of field (DOF) often used by portrait photographers (larger f-stop - smaller number). If you are using a 'stock' lens, you likely have a zoom with a 'smallish' f-stop, but you shouldn't be discouraged. What that will mean is that you'll have to have a tad more 'stand off' to get more shallowness in your DOF.

A reflector is nice, even a large piece of white art board is handy, and a friend can be real helpful in filling in shadows in the shoot. I generally use flash - a lot of flash, up to five or so, but that's just me. A reflector works very well.

Some people use supports - I do, even when the shutter speed is quite high. There is a formula based on ISO 100 that goes 1/focal length (on a 35mm camera) that would translate to 1.5x for an APS-C I think) meaning that if you were to hand hold a 105mm, you'd want to have at least 1/125 second. You can pump up the ISO to 250 or so without much concern. I likely wouldn't go much further, unless you are wanting some grainy effect which can be nice, especially if you're looking for a B&W look.

I think that Donaldejose was trying to suggest "P" mode to let the camera take some of the 'noise' of the adjustments out of the settings, but troublesome with that is that will likely lead to blurry pictures without letting your understand 'why'. If the ISO is too low, and the f-stop wide, but the shutter slow, it will be too slow to stop the action without proper support. A tripod would be one solution, but even then, the subject might move a bit too much - 1/125 would be the slowest for a sharp subject.

But then, a sharp subject might not be all it's cracked up to be. Creative photography sometimes allows you to tinker with other possibilities, so think out of the box, too.

My best advice is to have fun doing the shoot and good luck.

My best,

Mike

As Michael suggested: outside during the "golden hour" is good light. However, how many people, especially women, are going to feel like being photographed during the one hour after sunrise? Will they have a great attitude and give you great expressions? This leaves you with the hour just before sunset when your subject may be tired from a long day. The sunlight my be great, but the attitude of the subject may not be so good during those "golden hours." Perhaps you can stretch the "golden hour" to cover the time before 10am and the time after 5pm? The light won't be so warm at that time but it still will be directional which gives dimension to your subject. It depends upon the time of the year and where you live.

my first question would be, do you know how to use manual mode? If you do, then i would shoot that way. The 2nd question I have is, do you have any experience/software to do small/large edits to these pictures.

If its no for both, i would shoot in program mode/auto no flash. Like Donald said, the camera will do most of the work for you. I would also suggest, maybe taking these photographs (outside) during one of the "golden hours". Golden hour is when the sun just starts to rise and sets. The light is much better then and you could get a lot of nice shots without any extra gear. If you don't have much experience/software, i would recommend the software that comes with the camera. If you misplaced the cd, you can download the ViewNX2 software from the Nikon site. If you want to use software to add effects, i would then recommend Picasa. (its free!!)

Also, make sure you shoot in RAW, instead of Jpeg. That way, you can fix the any color issues (white balance) you might have.

I hope that helps and makes sense. If you need more help or want a few websites to read more, let us know.

Put your camera mode in P (program mode) and let the camera decide the shutter speed and f-stop to use. Focus your mind on composition. Try different types of lighting situations such as: strong window light streaming in from the side, indirect window light from window on north side of house or any side of the house on a cloudy bright day, subject facing the widow so the light is coming from over your shoulder, light from behind the subject with subject in "see through" type dress so that big tummy shows through and set your exposure compensation to about +2 to overexpose the background, strobe bounced off the ceiling, strobe bounced off a wall, etc. Remember the 10% rule: only about 10% of the photos you take are really good. So shoot 100 photos and you may have 10 good ones.

Im new to photography and my friend asked me to take some maternaty photos with my nikon d5000. what settings should I put my camera indoor or outdoor