6 Beach Maternity Tips Outline

Here’s what we’ll be covering in this article.  For more a comprehensive workshop, see the Maternity Photography Workshop in Premium:

1. Prepare the Subjects for Beach Maternity Photoshoots
2. Location Selection and Timing
3. Incorporate Wardrobe into Photos
4. Include Props for More Interest
5. Limit session to 30-45 Minutes
6. Photograph a Variety of Expressions & Groupings
7. Master maternity photoshoot posing
8. Choose the right time
9. Technical Considerations

Prepare the Subjects for Beach Maternity Photoshoots

Before the shoot, communicate with your clients to discuss their preferences and needs. This includes what type of clothing they would like to wear and what poses they are comfortable with. Provide them with some guidance on what clothing to wear or bring that will complement the beach setting, such as flowy maxi dresses or simple cotton shirts.

Consider having your clients put a moodboard together to help communicate their preferences.

Location Selection and Timing

One of the most important factors to consider when planning a beach maternity shoot is the location. Choose a beach that has a picturesque scenery, clear skies, and minimal crowds. Research the weather forecast and pick a time that offers soft natural light, such as the golden hour before sunset. Early mornings can also provide a great opportunity for soft, diffused light.

The beach can be an unpredictable environment to shoot in. Crashing waves, rocky tidepools, and cold temperatures are just a few of the scenarios to watch out for. Be mindful of the spot you select for your beach maternity photos as you don’t want to stress out your clients and make them uncomfortable throughout the session. Once you find a safe spot use the storytelling tips above to work the scene without moving the clients around too much.

Incorporate Wardrobe into Beach Maternity Photos

A fun way to get stunning shots is to find a dress with a train. With a backdrop like the ocean, this will yield some incredible beach maternity photos. This is a great option for more of a dramatic shot. You can find some beautiful dress options at SewTrendy or even a quick search on Amazon.

Include Props for More Interest

Beach maternity shoots provide the opportunity to use natural elements to your advantage. Utilize the beach’s surroundings to make the photo shoot more appealing. Some good props to use would be flower crowns, beach hats, and blankets to help them feel more comfortable on the sand.

A fun idea for beach maternity photos is to include personalized props during the shoot. Have the couple bring their sonogram, a “coming soon” sign, or even baby clothes/shoes to celebrate the new addition to the family. Don’t let the props overshadow the portraits, use them instead to drive the narrative.

Limit Session to 30-45 Minutes

Having a pregnant woman be on her feet, posing, and smiling can be uncomfortable. Find opportunities during the session to give her breaks, make sure she’s hydrated and feeling comfortable. If she feels uncomfortable it will likely be seen in the images.

Photograph a Variety of Expressions & Groupings

If your beach maternity photos include a family adding a new member to the team then this is a great opportunity to get individual portraits with each parent and some solos of the child. Oftentimes, kids are well aware of the situation and feel insecure or threatened that a new child is coming into the family. This is the perfect chance to get individual portraits with each parent and then grab some portraits of the child for the parents to cherish.

Master Maternity Photoshoot Posing

When it comes to posing, aim for a natural look that highlights the mother’s beauty and the love and anticipation that they feel for their child. Consider using poses that incorporate the mother’s belly, such as holding it gently or cradling it. Keep in mind that the mother may be uncomfortable if the poses are too strenuous or difficult, so encourage them to take breaks when needed. Finally, be sure to capture candid moments as well, such as laughing or enjoying the scenery.  For more information on maternity photography posing, see our articles on Foundation Tips for Maternity Posing and Couple Maternity Photoshoot Ideas.

Choose the right timeframe

It’s important to consider your client’s safety and schedule the shoot no later than the 7-8 month mark, depending on your client’s comfort.  Of course, you also don’t want to do the photoshoot too early either, as the belly may not be showing enough yet.  The ideal timeframe, for most couples is between 6-7 months into the pregnancy.

Technical Considerations

It’s essential to have the right equipment to get the best results.  Besides the camera, here are a few items to consider bringing to ensure a successful beach maternity photoshoot.

Bring a combination of lenses to your beach maternity photoshoot that allow you to tell a complete story.  Medium range primes and zooms in the 50mm to 85mm range will help you capture beautiful portraits, and wide-angle lenses in the 16-35mm range will enable you to capture the vastness of the beach and create dramatic shots.

Consider using polarizing filters to help reduce glare and create a more vivid sky.  You may also choose to bring a tripod to take capture movement in the waves with long exposure photography.

Conclusion

Beach maternity photography is a fantastic way to capture an unforgettable moment for mothers-to-be. A great photoshoot will require communication and preparation, utilizing the right props and equipment, and a focus on natural poses. By keeping these tips in mind, you can create beautiful and memorable photographs that your clients will treasure for years to come.

For more information on nightscape photography, don’t forget to check out our workshop, Photographing the Milky Way.

Joshua Tree Star Trail Video

Watch our step-by-step process to creating a beautiful, long exposure Joshua Tree Star Trail Photo.

Joshua Tree Star Trail Final Photo

Here’s the photo we’ll be working to create in this tutorial.

(Click HERE to see a larger version!)

The Equipment and Settings

The Joshua Tree photo above was created with the following equipment

• Nikon D700
• Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm
• FotoPro C5i tripod
• 120 sec @ f/2.8 & ISO 3200, ~20 exposures stacked together
• Manual Exposure, Manual WB, RAW
• Aputure Pro Coworker II (wireless intervalometer)

How We Shot It

There are a few critical things to keep in mind here.  First and foremost, you have to figure out your exposure for the essentially pitch-black night sky.  Unless a half-to-full moon is shining, or you’re near some light pollution, there’s a good chance you’ll need to shoot at ISO 3200 or 6400, your aperture wide open or nearly wide open, and with a 30 second shutter speed or longer.

To get a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds most cameras will require an intervalometer; simply set your camera to “bulb” exposure and then set your shutter duration via the intervalometer.

Personally, I prefer to work with shutter speeds in the 30-120 sec. range.  The fewer image it takes to capture an hours’ worth of star trails, the fewer images you’ll have to layer in Photoshop later!

Of course it goes without saying that you’ll want to use a rock-steady tripod, and any bumping of the camera during the entire 1-2 hr sequence could ruin your star trail.

However aside from having a decent tripod, pretty much any camera and wide angle lens will do.  Don’t have an exotic f/2.8 zoom or f/1.4 prime?  Fear not, this technique doesn’t really rely on those things; though you may have to push your ISO up a stop, or opt for a slightly longer shutter speed such as 4-8 minutes.  (Google “dark frame subtraction”, if you often need exposures that are longer than 1-2 minutes!)

By the way, for tips on how to focus on the stars at night in very dark conditions, check out our article “15 minute self portrait under the stars“!

Anyways, the next critical thing is to make sure your images are captured back to back, so they look seamless when you composite them all in Photoshop.  If you wait more than 2-3 seconds between 30+ second exposures, the star trails will  begin looking like dotted lines.  So be sure to play around with your intervalometer, and make sure it is clicking images as back-to-back as possible.  Or, if you have a fast enough lens, just set your shutter speed to 30 sec, stick a small ball of tape to your shutter, and then wrap a rubber band around your camera to press the shutter down continuously.  (Watch out, Nikon users, there is a max shutter release in Continuous shutter mode, usually 99 clicks..)

You may have to swap out your batteries half way through in order to get a more extended star trail; most DSLR batteries will die after about 1-2 hrs of consecutive open-shutter image recording, regardless of the number actual images being created.  Especially if it is near or below freezing!

After all that, you should wind up with a ton of images that look like this.  Now, all we have to do is blend them together in Photoshop!

Post-Processing The Joshua Tree Star Trail Photo

Since I didn’t mention it in the video, I’ll point out that these images were all RAW frames and they were processed in Lightroom 5 using the new SLR Lounge Preset System for Lightroom 5/4.  There is a full array of presets that allow you to get the perfect “look” for landscape images with just a few clicks. 

Once you get the images into Photoshop, here are the important points to remember:

• The layer blending mode you are looking for is “Lighter Color“.  There are a few other blending modes in there that work similarly well, and I do recommend toying around.
• The fastest way to do this to 25-50+ photos is to create an action in Photoshop.  Make sure that the action you record doesn’t attempt to select specific photos, but simply copies the current image, closes it, and then pastes it on the next open image. As long as you always select the main PSD image just before you select your next RAW frame, it will run smoothly. (And let the action create a layer mask and change the blending mode too, of course.)
• Unless you have a huge amount of RAM, you may want to flatten the image every now and then, close Photoshop completely, and re-open it.  This will help clear your cache when stacking dozens of large RAW photos!
• Whenever something you don’t like enters the photo, simply mask it out.  Oppositely if a lot of your foreground frames are really messed up, you can simply mask in a final image. (Set to the normal blending mode)

And there you have it!  A simple technique using almost any camera and lens, capable of accomplishing one of the most eye-catching types of photos possible!

Take care, and happy clicking,
=Matthew Saville=