Editing Maternity Photos: From Just Fine to Jaw Dropping

Editing is key in photography. It can take a poor image to good, a good image to great, and a great image to a jaw dropping one!

Editing is crutial to an amazing image.

 

I love having fun with edits. Often what I envision just can’t be captured with a camera – at least not without a huge space and production team. Luckily, since I’m a graphic designer, that doesn’t have to limit me.

With this image, straight from the camera, photographed in my Calgary studio, I have the bones I need for the final image in my head. I have a stunning dress (handmade from Mii-Estilo in the Netherlands), I have two lights (to perfectly light the areas I want lit), a fan (to blow the hair and dress) and a flattering, powerful pose.

I spent quite a bit of time editing this maternity image.

 

I like to find the light and paint with it – that’s my style.

 

I play a lot with highlights and shadows. It’s art so it’s subjective but, for me, that’s what creates the wow factor.

I wanted the end result of this image to be a statement piece. I envisioned it as a huge acrylic art piece on a wall. This is a double-spread magazine image, without a doubt.

This is the kind of image that makes the pregnant woman who feels swollen, slow and heavy feel confident, powerful and beautiful. In this image she conquers the world… all while making a human! With this image she remembers all of the amazing things about being pregnant (the butterfly flutters, the sweet baby hiccups) and the less glamorous symptoms fade away in the shadows.