The other day my pregnant sister came over for a visit.  Partly to catch up and hang out and partly so I could take some photos of her growing belly.  I have to admit I was sort of nervous about the photo bit. 

Since I have been designated the family photographer (mainly 'cause I am always at family events with camera in hand) I get the chance to take photos like this.  But I had never done belly photos before.  I know, if you can take a decent photo then you can take a decent photo of anything right?  Well not so much for me.  You see, I am not a photographer.  I am a scrapbooker.  A scrapbooker who for the sake of her pages has practiced taking photos and has improved.  I learned how to take photos in certain scenarios and what type of framing I like for taking photos of my kidlets.  I am happy with my picture taking ability but I have no delusions about being a photographer.

So enter a request for some belly photos.  I was so excited to be asked and then I thought what type of poses work, what type of framing, what would make my sister feel beautiful (she already is but I want her to feel it), what, what, what?

So I asked for advice on a few scrapbooking message boards and someone directed me to Flickr and told me to search Maternity.  Whamo!  Tons of inspiration!  I looked at all those beautiful bellies (I will admit to briefly longing to be prego but then I woke up!) and all the amazing photos and was slightly intimidated.  Again, I am not a photographer.  I am a scrapbooker with a pregnant sister.  But then I decided to narrow it down to a few favorites and study them.  I looked at the poses.  I looked at the framing.  I looked at all the details.  I looked and looked until I felt I understood what I liked about them. 

So when my sister showed up I felt more comfortable.  Well kind of.  I mean, it was my sister so I knew she would sit for me until I felt I got it right but I wanted everything to turn out OK 'cause these photos would be irreplacible in the future.  Talk about pressuring myself.  My sister - she was totally chill.  I bet she had no idea how nervous I was.  She is in her happy baby growing bubble. :)

So we took about 15 minutes and I took a ton of photos.  At first we were both a bit awkward but she relaxed and I relaxed and things got better.  And then we were done.  I was anxious so I uploaded them to the computer right away so I could see.  There were some not so great ones but there were a few treasures too.  I think that when we see great photos we often don't realize how many "just OK" photos were taken at the same time.  I mean obviously if you are a professional you might take less photos but even the pros take a bunch of shots knowing that there will be one that stands out from the rest.

Take for instance this photo.

I love, love, love it.  It was exactly what I had in mind.  But what you don't see is the 5 or 6 other photos I took that didn't turn out quite as well.

The one on the left is the one I love and then you can see the one on the right isn't quite as good.  Just subtle changes as I moved my camera slightly but they really effected the final photo.  This is what I mean when I say take a bunch of photos (especially if you have a digital camera) 'cause there just might be one that you love more than the others.

The same applies to these next photos.  Took a bunch of each pose but ended up with a particular one from each that I loved.  Of course there were some poses that didn't turn out at all.