Maternity Photo Session...Using a Selfie Stick (and the Hubs)

I never had maternity pictures taken when I was expecting the first three boys...many years ago.  :/ It became one of those wish list kind of things for me to do during this pregnancy, and I figured I'd have a friend take some or hire a local photographer. And then suddenly we were planning our trip to Florida and the idea to take them there just sort of took over. I knew I'd have to rely on myself, maybe with a timer, and my husband to take the photos. I bought two dresses, dreamed of sunshine and warm breezes, and hoped for the best.

And I'm thrilled that I have some photos that I truly like, ones that capture so much of what I've been feeling. I'm not one who particularly enjoys being in front of the camera, so this seems like nothing short of a miracle. I'll start with the ones that I took using a regular ol' selfie stick, which I had just gotten as a joke the day before, ha ha. I'm truly surprised by some of the images I was able to get...you should try, too!

Destin, Florida

34 weeks 

 

My advice for trying self-portraits with "the stick" is this: take LOTS of pictures! Try millions of angles and then try some more. Even if you only love a handful of photos, like I did, it will be worth it to have those few special ones. (And I use Pic Monkey, upgraded, to edit- their basic service is absolutely free!)

You'll also want to pay attention to any shadows that the seflie stick creates. Several photos looked pretty good but were ruined odd stick shadows trailing across my face or neck. (Check your background, too! I liked some other photos but there was an ugly porch floating above my head. If I had noticed, I could've easily moved to one side to avoid that. There may also be random people- okay, family members- playing games in the backyard, and while you love that, you don't want them to be your background.)

 Note that I didn't edit this one; if I had, I would definitely adjust the angle to make everything more upright, which brings me to the next tip...

This is unedited also, but no amount of rotating the image could ever justify the strange angles of the porch columns, the railings behind me, etc. These are the things that can truly make or break a photograph. It may take a few (hundred!) tries before you get the hang of holding the stick just the way you want it, but it's worth it. Promise.

These were taken the day after the tornado that zipped through Pensacola, so the wind was a downright nuisance at times. However, when looking through all the pics, I discovered that that annoying wind blew my hi-lo dress just right and made it look much more flattering than when it simply hung there, basically like a ginormous floral tent. Thanks, wind.

Here are some that my patient husband took:

(Helpful Tip # Whatever: you may want to avoid dead grass as a background as well. ha ha)

They aren't perfect- me, either (do you see those icky swollen legs, feet, wrists and hands?!?!), so it's all good.  =)