5 Tips for Beautiful DIY Maternity Photos

You are pregnant! Congratulations!

While Tenley and I, as professional photographers, recommend treating yourself to professional photos, that’s not always possible. Never fear! We are here with 5 tips for beautiful DIY maternity photos.

Whole Family

Often the only photos we have of our pregnancy are selfies or mirror photos documenting the weeks (if we even have that!)

Involve the whole family by standing in the new nursery or with a baby item and having everyone cuddle. The closer the better! A good rule of thumb is to make sure everyone is touching someone else with both hands. 

Side-Lit

Whether we have other kids or not, a signature image we all want for maternity photos is the bump. 

One of the most flattering angles is backlighting your bump and  standing partially to the side while holding the arm closest to the camera on the bottom, and the other arm on top. The shadows will camouflage any areas that may not be your favorite right now. 

Seated with Siblings

Sibling and bump photos are a must for anyone with multiple children. 

Have your child interact with your bump by turning head on to the camera and having them put their hand on your belly and feel the baby, smell it to see if it's stinky, or listen to see if the baby is talking to them. 

Head-on

Photographing a bump head-on is one of our favorite ways to photograph a pregnant woman! It's also one of the easiest self-portraits. 

You can do this with bump covered or not, but use your hand to define your bump on top and bottom. Make sure your lower hand isn't too close to your crotch. 

If you don't want legs showing, a flowy dress is perfect for theses!

Document the season

Whether it be with a Christmas Tree, Halloween costumes, fall leaves or a beach on vacation, we love involving the time of year in your images. 

Take this opportunity to do a little staging with cozy sweaters or a big-brimmed beach hat to capture the feelings of the season. 

If you want some more tricks on how to engage your other children during maternity photos, or more lighting and photography tips, you'll find them in our online photography course for parents to learn to take better pictures of their kids and get in the frame, Capturing Everyday Magic!

It will teach you all of that and more!