How to Take Your Own Bump Progression Photos During Pregnancy
Once you’ve gone public with your pregnancy, it can be fun to document your growing bump with bump progression photos. Whether you take them weekly or monthly, ask someone to take the photographs of you or use a tripod and self-timer, there are some simple adjustments that you can make to give your photographs the professional touch. Read on for my tips…
Use the same backdrop every time
Consistency is one of the things that will give your photographs the ‘wow’ factor when you put them all together. Start by planning which backdrop you will use for your photographs – a plain wall works really well here as it won’t detract from the most important thing in the photograph – you!
Alternatively if you prefer to head outside you could use foliage in your garden, or an attractive wall or gate as the background to your photos. Being outside gives you the benefit of being able to capture the changing seasons as the weeks progress, but there’s also the possible complication of bad weather!
Wear something stretchy
As I mentioned above, consistency will help to give you a really polished set of weekly or monthly progression photos. So, wearing the same thing each week will really help. When you’re photographing a pregnancy bump, it really helps to wear well-fitting clothes – that way the bump profile is easy to see, and there’s no extra fabric getting in the way. Choose a stretchy t-shirt, cami or dress that you can wear throughout your pregnancy.
Posing for your bump progression photos
So you’ve chosen your backdrop, and outfit. Now it’s time to strike the perfect pose. I recommend standing side on for your photographs – this gives the best profile of your bump and will help us to see the progression each week or month. For the best position, drop your weight onto your back foot, and use your hands to frame the top and bottom of your bump.
Use a prop to ‘date stamp’ each photo
Using a letterboard or progress card to let viewers know which week or month the photo was taken in helps to add interest to your photographs. You could count up – for example ‘12 weeks, 13 weeks…’ or count down as Jo is doing in this photograph.
Over to you
I hope you find these tips helpful in capturing your bump progression photographs. I’d love to see how you get on with them – tag me over on Facebook or Instagram so I can see!
And if you would like to order one of the Tilly and Cub letterboards used in this post, Tilly and Cub are offering blog readers a 10% discount on letterboards and plaques – just use code CMPHOTOGRAPHY when you check out.
