I absolutely love maternity sessions. While they feel similar to an engagement session or a couples session, the bump brings the posing of the session to a whole new level. Here are some of my favorite maternity posing tips for your maternity session:
Maternity Posing: Hand on Belly At All Times
This is the number one rule at my maternity sessions. Ideally, you would be wearing a form-fitting dress that shows off your bump but you want to make it SUPER clear to the viewer that there’s a baby in there. It doesn’t matter whose hand is on the bump – Mom’s, Dad’s or both – but keep a hand on there to really draw attention to the baby. If you are wearing a more flowy dress, you may choose to have two hands on your bump. If you do this, I always recommend that the hand closest to the camera is underneath the bump while the hand further away is on top.
Be Aware of Your Ring
Sometimes, towards the end of a pregnancy, you aren’t able to wear your ring any longer. If that’s the case, it’s not a problem at all. I was so stressed about this during my pregnancy (it’s amazing my daughters are as laidback as they are) so I went out and bought a fake ring. $8 at Kohl’s and I had a brand-new “wedding” ring to rock at my maternity session. Obviously, it’s completely up to you but you definitely have options. I always remind the mom-to-be to make sure the diamond is always twisted towards me as much as possible. And if your husband has a ring that he doesn’t wear all the time, this might be a good time to dig it out of the nightstand and bring it along.
Maternity Posing: The Knee Pop
Ah, the knee pop. This is a great posing trick for moms-to-be because it adds more angles to your images. The more angles you have, the better. I always recommend during a maternity session for the mom to pop the knee that is closest to the camera. There are some other nuances to the knee pop, but I’ll save those to share with you at your session.
Using Your Hair
If you wear your hair down during your maternity session, we will use it strategically during posing. When you look down towards your baby bump, there will inevitably be a line created by lowering your chin. I’ve always got your back and will help you drape your hair so that it is a flattering look and hides any lines that you may not want to show.
Solo Mom Pictures
Believe it or not, you’re going to miss this. Not the heartburn or the not sleeping or the baby bouncing on your bladder at 2am, but the rest you are going to miss. As a mom myself, I’ve been there. Because of that, we will make sure to get a lot of pictures of you on your own. Even if you have your family or partner with you, I will pull you away to take a deep breath and truly enjoy the moment. These are some of my favorite images and the images moms treasure forever.
There is no greater privilege than that of a pregnancy and I am so excited to help you capture this exciting time. If you want to take a look at some of my suggestions for how to dress for your maternity session, you can check those out here. My maternity portfolio can be found here if you would like to see some posing in action. And as always, if you’re thinking about a maternity session and want to chat ideas, I’m always here to help.
