DIY Maternity Photo Shoot

Maternity photographers are VERY good at what they do. There is no question about that. I love seeing the gorgeous shots that they are able to catch and I am definitely an advocate for supporting photographers. With that being said, true professional photography sessions are expensive, and rightfully so. The time it takes alone to retouch photographs to get them just right is worth as much as they charge for the whole package. Seriously. But with diapers, daycare, car seats, clothes, cribs, bottles, boogie wipes, and the endless list of baby gear that continues to grow {well after you think you have it all} - paying for yet another expense is stupid scary. If you have the money to spend on professional photography - definitely do it. No question about it. But if you truly just do not have the funds - like poor me, then you can host your own photography session and still get gorgeous pictures! Even some of the less expensive cameras can produce quality pics that you can retouch using regular ole' software, like iPhoto. Google is your friend. Use it. I got the DIY maternity photo shoot by using it. Shameless! This post by Lindsey from The Accidental Wallflower was a HUGE help in getting me started in the right direction.

Pinterest is your friend, too. And if you are one of those people that have been living on the moon for the last 2 years, discovering Pinterest should be your #1 priority - after reading this post, of course. I spend many o'hours wasting time on Pinterest. Sometimes, however, I become productive and take some of the things I've seen on Pinterest and put them to use. Case in point: my wonderful DIY Maternity Photog Board. I was able to steal borrow some of my favorite poses that I found and use them during my own photo session {during which I had a dear friend take the photos using my Sony DSLR camera - an investment EVERY new parent should make}. Below are some of my maternity photos from my el cheap-o DIY photo session. I edited most of them using Photoshop {and FYI...I'm by NO MEANS a Photoshop expert - and again, this is where Google comes in handy}, but some of them I edited just using iPhoto - so that you can see that you don't need fancy software to get your pics looking like you want them to look. Another good, less expensive photo editing option is Photoshop Elements, software that you can download for about a hundred bucks and can be used by the dummiest of dummies out there with a little patience. Photo editing software is a great investment because you know you will ALWAYS want to take pics of your babies and you will ALWAYS want to make them look better than your neighbor/sister/friend's photos. You know it's true.

 

So, don't panic if you're newly pregnant, short on cash, and you know you want to have some awesome maternity photos taken. This is also my plan for my birthing photos. Which may or may not end up being a great idea. More on that later.

19 days and counting until my little angel makes her debut!