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Shoot: Transitional Posing

Lesson 14 from: Pregnancy and Newborn Photography

Ana Brandt

Shoot: Transitional Posing

Lesson 14 from: Pregnancy and Newborn Photography

Ana Brandt

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Lesson Info

14. Shoot: Transitional Posing

Transitional posing isn't just for newborns. Learn how to work variety into maternity sessions by directing transitional posing for a mom-to-be. Go behind-the-scenes of a live maternity shoot, through multiple outfit changes, and gain insight into posing that's flattering for that baby bump.

Lesson Info

Shoot: Transitional Posing

so we're gonna need the reflector and I'm just going to use a fan because of her hair I'm going to go in details of the fan and I know it's hard to hear me with the fan but I'm just gonna let's just do a very basic what a transitional posing its right okay so transitional posing is you're looking right at me we're gonna start your legs in where he's kind of sitting in our head way are looking down to our belly john has the reflector up on we're getting right in any face bring your chin up just a little bit beautiful were no light in there john bring your head up a little bit more there there there now stay there but let's keep that but just looked out beautiful now look great in me beautiful now just kind of look here just a little yeah right there but when you did that for your fine you're got it you know what I'm saying we're gonna turn your body more towards john this'll ike is out and just turn your body there and when you're doing that I want a little arch in your back you can kee...

p the hand on top below and just arm away from your body shoulder down and just there right there love it give me a little straighter head john we need to get under that I wear just losing that yeah I say even just get this hair back a little bit more good beautiful good and remember that position where we were I'm just gonna slowly transition you so I want this hand in here and just lean a little there stay there with the other hand on top of the belly a little closer to me beautiful and just leave their chin down a little and smile beautiful now we're getting somewhere stay there and you're gonna just slightly yeah good and look down eyes down gorgeous you're gonna stay there take this left hand and you're just gonna do this and just looks beautiful stop smile bigger smile look right at me okay way seeing that little bit is um we're gonna have you change is transitional posing so if we go back see those slights to those slight things very slight that we're just saying even if we go back a little bit more are we able to do that so we're there okay so see how these now we're going to go forward so she's looking at me so she's looking down okay and now work we're fixing things along the way so I'm gonna just keep shooting and be like okay I like that and like where her here wass so I'm doing another exposure seeing the hair is falling down a little bit more and then I'm gonna direct her she's smiling cc have that one out of those three we like right and then she's going to look up at me so it's like automatically if I'm calling I've got six I knocked it down to did you see that done and that was a thirty second set but the idea of transition imposing is just enough movements to get it where you want it when you got it you move on and you do that same thing through each thing okay so you're going to change and we're going to bring in natalie any questions how do you determine the best location an angle for the fan and you typically move the fan to different angles during the shoot clean yeah yeah absolutely um yeah but we may need to put something in your way yes um okay so the fan I want to bring in a little bit closer by x experimenting I mean most of the time I'm shooting on my fan so you'll see if we could see this and we're doing the whole segment on fans I'm not gonna get into this too much but I'm usually shooting like this and I'm angling it I'm turning it so we will when we get into the fan segment we're gonna go over all the details about the fan great thank you so much any other questions when you do you ever bring in stylists like do do do your own clothing styling or do over but you do my own because even mine I design dresses right so we have a whole closet full of all of our gowns and um we do suggest hair and makeup okay so we have a girl that we work with that we the client calls in book sir but she comes and brings the hair and makeup to our studio and so she discusses the hair and makeup but we kind of do our own little mini styling session so when they come in I have tongue I I will first say is there anything of my work that you've seen that you like well say yeah I like the long flowing stuff that you do I like the rapping on like the news or whatever and I'll say okay I'm gonna open up my closet doors go shopping what do you like and they'll go I want this and I want this now with this and then I'll say let's look in your bag did you bring anything oh I have a necklace I have a scarf and we literally style out two to three outfits and sometimes it's a combination of both of ours I have more than once taken the sweater that I'm wearing and put it on a woman and so has my assistant where I'll be wearing like a you know just a sweater that's open number like this would look really good on you so yeah there's definitely definitely styling for sure and are you jiminy like secret box of tricks like binder clips and things that you might attach to help the clothing for a little bit better body so we have not in my hands in my hotel room but I will find one my little clips tip I have one in my in the bathroom in my hotel room I don't know why check came back uh laptop back I have these little tiny binder clips and if we can't find one now it's in my hotel room so when tiffany goes to get the kids I'll get it that are my favorite there like this big but I also have a little kit for tape fruit for you know when it's open we have we have like an emergency girl kid that you get at like any where I found it in teaching max and it has like the tape and nipple covers and we have all different things with the nipple covers any financial jay max but we do have like a little kid like an emergency kit and I also have a seamstress next door great which is helpful it's not an energy use just next door do you use things like clips mostly you know for the different sizes or do you have like a whole range of different sizes if a pregnant woman is maybe you know from a size six to the size of your okay so that's a really good question so with the fabrics because I did bring fabrics that we're going to use that doesn't matter I'm buying at least two yards of fabric and I can clip so the size doesn't matter for our gowns thie average size fits most women but we do south plus and petite so I do have a couple of different plus gowns for my ladies knowing that not every gown should fit everybody type and so I have a teeny tiny things for more petite women and then I have plus sized things for more bigger women and a plus size could just mean that she's five ten you know it doesn't mean that she may be big in size but we do kind of have a range and that's just kind of experience over the years building up your claws it's like your props stash over the years you just start building up your closet and that's where sometimes I've taken the sweaters I'm wearing I buy extra large sweaters because I layer and so no one believes me if you look at every spotter habits like extra large and so it fits women better twelve fourteen and also take it off maybe like this looks good and so yeah I definitely have a range of sizes the sizes we bought today I think should fit should fit everybody in there most of them are average size before you get started a couple people have asked this including waxman ireland and alicia young talking about women that are much curvy er yet maybe it's hard different differentiate the fact that they are pregnant and how do you flatter flatter their bodies I go tight tighter great and there's a gown that I have that's a lace gown that I had a very curvy woman in and I'm like we're doing this and I think that curvy women have much more confidence I don't know what it is but every time a curvy woman she's just confident and even if she's not we just make her confident but I find that you want to go tighter in the clothing and then emphasized that belly cover the arms sometimes we've like double layered bandeau tops to minimize the boobs and cover the arms and really get things that air tighter fitting because if you do a gown like this she's gonna look bigger so you've got to go tighter and sometimes I've handed women could take down there like I can't wear that and then was to get on and then they've got they bend their leg and they've got that curve I love it I have a pregnancy video on youtube but we were trying to link in here and we could because of the music but if you go to my youtube channel the woman in the field is wearing a very tight dress and she's curvy and when I handed it cherishes like there is no way and you want to put this dress on in the fields I'm like yeah I dio and she looks amazing in it skin type and I'm like let's work those curves let's work that valley and it looks good so I think you've got to go tighter for sure okay I feel like she needs a halter and I feel like we need to lift these girls and maybe just give her maybe one of the cream halters but I think it was supremely shelter the boots that this is this is an important topic is the bosom area when it enlarges when you're pregnant for some of us that's a good thing for me I was like yes but you've got to definitely be aware of that okay so what I'm gonna ask you to dio is you're going we're going to do transition imposing but you're going to move with me for me because I don't know how you move but I know you can move their pressure insurance try either one and so I do want a leg bent for to start just yeah see what she's doing are you watching her I don't even have a camera in my hand that's what you need to watch for she automatically and this is what happens sometimes before I pick up my camera I'm like we just move a little bit and they start and I'm like I got it I got it I got it let's go let's go let's go with it and let's see what we get so I will direct you but see how you get exposure on her see how you were kind of just holding your hands you are holding the dress sorry yes yes and kind of pulled that shoulder down thiss shoulder down a little bit I don't want to blow your hair like your hair and I'm gonna ask you to start moving in a transition away what that means is you're gonna be like this I'm gonna say can you look down you look to the side you look up and I want you moving your hands and even moving your your hip area and we're just I'm just gonna keep shooting and we're just gonna keep moving for just like two minutes the whole time you're already have great posture just make sure to keep those shoulders down okay so let's just do a test shot let's just do relax test shot for a minute just kind of relax just put the hand just hear a song just relax put both hands on the top there just pull back get that arm away from the body thank you this right leg I want facing them yes and then good just relax just relax straight ahead thiss way way too much go a little bit back a little straighter little straighter good so she looks good yeah good now we're moving ready music so you're gonna hold your dress and when you're holding it you're pulling to the valley and what would you do if I asked you to just move now when you do that yes when you're moving you can switch feet but leg closest to the camera I always like it bent because if you if you pull it back it's gonna look emmy so we have to be aware that if you're doing this and you go back you might wanna try a little bit okay watching that leg closest to the camera you wanted defend because if if the other one is gonna look heavy okay so let's see and be gentle in you're grabbing of the dress because it's stock dress to be very gentle in your movements okay natalie all right let's just start moving and put the other hand under the belly material drop I know why you just going to start twisting and turning yeah and when you do that put the other hand under the belly and really pull back yeah beautiful on then and then take the other take this this other level of that other leg I want to see it a little bit more front so putting both likes together for a minute we're too far apart and now just bend a little bit of a lead yet just a little bit I wanted yes yes stay tall I want hand underneath I want you on the bus so I'm gonna show you the movement your first like this under you're looking at me then you're gonna go you're gonna give me a little more forward yeah but that's when you're yeah but maybe even when you're up you're going like this so you're dropping that hand yes you're pulling a little bit yes look at all this I'm not even doing with the camera this is beautiful so let's do this again okay so the hand is here and sometimes this is what you need to do I will put my camera down and worked through it so let's put the hand under the belly then we're gonna put it on we're gonna do this we're gonna pull back all right let's try it all right let's see what we d'oh okay so first we're like this you could let the dress drop and when the hands you're more like this good and she down and looked right at me beautiful and now you're gonna start roaming moving hands good and you're leaning forward and your head is going a little this way oh back off a little bit more chin down look to your right shoulder and down and really give me a belly really stretch that beautiful keep moving really stretched look out the window I like your stretch out so that we know look at good and then back down good look right back to me hands under the belly both of them good relax that right shoulder good look down to your belly just slightly beautiful love in one hand and top twenty below one hand on happened one hand below and look down in the belly pull that right shoulder back stretch that you now and keep looking to the bailey good look straight up in front of you that way arch back arch get the hand on the back she not up up up up up up up up up up china yeah other hand under the belly and just smooth beautiful and relax how do you feel stretch stretch but we should cook it so you see I'm like totally shoot crooked I swear I'm on a horizontal plane my husband bought me a level for the top of my camera that's how bad it is um if this was a straight shot how fun was that previous shot right wasn't that one the other one look at that imagine it straight um fun rights can't eat with me look look she's straight and over she's looking down she's looking down no no I just had an idea oh yeah so my idea was she's looking down here like give it give it time anna and this is straight and then I like put words on a page and that's like the center of her book you with me so you're working through all of that and you're going there it iss but sometimes I don't know what it is so that would that set of me okay I gotta work with her I gotta feel it to what do I have what's happening let's work through it together and let's suggest the chin let's adjust the head and let's go angle the back have fun love that I work on my street shot um since that one before her head was too crooked so then I straightened her head you with me we're gonna try one more little transitional set with jen does anyone have any questions so I think we can keep shooting okay good so we have ten minutes so I want to follow the same we're gonna still works still transition opposing this is all standing we're gonna be sitting laying down doing all sorts of things before after but I want to get you through basic movements do you mind that I took because here's what I hear from photographers all the time I get him in my studio there looking at me I'm looking at them I have no idea where to start I do not do laying down in the beginning I do that towards the end because once the woman's laying down I don't have to keep getting her back up right and so you're gonna actually face the window more we're going to start sideways and so I say um that I'm going to start with the standing in the movement and then we go to sitting and we goto laying it is a transitional thing okay and we are going to go in more in depth in the next segment but let's just try one more um transitional just to see if we get it let's take a little just a little more room to direct you okay so she's sideways now the leg again is quit it closest to the camera is bent good and really meant and what I wanted to do is your hands are underneath the belly this leg has been and I want you to just twist back towards me just keep twisting a little more and we're twisting that leg is still there now when I asked the woman and twist you might need to get a little help because she's going to twist a little differently than I would twist so that's where you need to come in so I'm going to say bend this leg a little bit and you're going to keep your body here and I want you to choice even more thank you I want this arm away from the back the belly beside whatever I have this thing with body parts I'll be like can you touch your ankle and I kind of like my ankle's going home here and so I say if you can understand what's in my brain will have a great shoot but you have to understand what's in my brain so I want an arch so I'm going to go in here and we don't hold her and I'm going to say I want you back okay and then what happens is it really shows the belly I'm going to align her chin to her shoulder and down the the was in line so she's gonna go down here and she's just going to stay like that for a minute okay john let's weigh d'oh just stay right there smythe shoulder a little bit right there beautiful looked right at me gorgeous now take the right hand and put it on top of your belly perfect now I want you to pull back a little bit more yes yes and bring your chin this way beautiful on looked down this way even more downtown down take yes right there love it little smile bigger smile we're so happy now stay here and you're gonna take two hands because we don't forget them and you're gonna gently put him here and turn so two hands very soft keep chin out yes and just turn beautiful right there writing me take the right hand and put it below your belly a little more this way now drop your hands and I want you to take your material then you're gonna open up a little bit and you're gonna take both hands both hands are holding the material yeah and you can open up your tummy I want you to stand tall and I wanted to just kind of do this I'll probably need you to turn a little bit more turn me a little bit more we'll save that for when we're using fan dropped the material trapped them in terror but I like I like were you when it was open you had your hands here put your hands just right here yes and keep that other hand on the belly and turn more this way ok I had an idea just now take that left hand put it under your belly and let's just get a belly shot justus I was looking at matt I was like way need a belly shot so part of transitional posing is your working through the images as well you're going okay I think I got that I'd like that I don't like that you know you gonna work with your clients it's okay to not love everything keep turning your belly a little bit more little bit more now go let's go straight on and just do a little belly shot good even with the belly idea transitions so you're facing me and you khun bend one leg a little bit just like a little bit good and let's just even do this now we're just gonna do some belly transitions so I want one hand above one hand below then we're gonna put hands in the middle hands below and we'll do a little heart so just a little fun transition so we're just straight on and do me a favor and tuck your hair behind you beautiful okay so we're just like that now both hands are in the middle beautiful now let's do one hand above one hand below do we do that one good and now let's give me a little heart good beautiful perfect so you can forget about belly transition because sometimes I don't know what I'm gonna like so especially in the partners don't go let's just do a little belly transitions just a little bit of this a little bit of that little bit this so what's transitional posing small movements and it's in anything you do did you see in that last set how what I was really doing was fine tuning that I will just pick one or two images from that sideways when she was sideways and I was just turning turning and then she had her hands and then turning turning there's going to be one or two that I'm gonna bet yes that's it and you do these small sets and different in different segments yeah okay good ok any questions I have a question when you have a client that has larger boobs or they're not you know as perky as you want it to be and you can't get the fabric to work with you do you just fix that and photo shop or do you leave it now no fixing booms and photo shop is torturing us I do everything in my power to make sure those girls were up where I need them to be and if I have a woman who is heavier on top and then I can't get them firm where I want them I will not use loose wraps I will get them in tighter fitter called tighter clothing and you know that's kind of experience you won't know till they come in right band does so band does have been does somewhere um okay so we have a small band does big man knows lined fan does but I know there's another bando around here that I actually have left behind there was a laced bandeau that I wanted to show you that I'd actually left behind from photo week that will find that you could just find in a store tiffany will bring it out so this is obviously for a teeny tiny girl as well right so when I'm shopping I bye littles and bags you know so this is lined obviously this is from our gowns is this the same materialist line but for one like this she can wear her bra underneath this one that tiffany is going to show is nice because it's supportive you can find these in any store so it goes back teo if you're going to do pregnancy photography have some staple items I don't really buy underwear for people but we do buy these and I tell women you know go ahead and pick these up they're just so easy to do it's kind of that kind you know have a good bra you have to have a good bra just lifted up I'd even rather have a woman wear a sports bra that I could work with in a in a shawl or uh I mean I could put a shawl over her I could put a cardigan over her but there it's important because you want to focus on the belly so you do have to educate your clients and then stop up on some essentials your client will thank you for it I'm sure any other questions yes and um do you ever shoot tethered in this in the studio okay the only time I've ever done it is for here and for gucci I did a celebrity event and actually in for parenting when I'm doing commercial work so go team parenting both asked that I was tethered because we were doing on the spot events and it's fun I actually liked it but no I would I would never shoot tether to my studio I'm a crazy questions from your finger myself question online from scott hamel would like to know if you ever have you ever done multi month pregnancy photo shoots capturing the evolution of pregnancy and you think that that would be a good thing to sell in your studio yes if you work for me you have no choice but you have multi month photo shoots because anyone that works for me that's pregnant I'm like good morning tipping how're you feeling today feel like trying on an outfit and shooting for me and I think tiffany and I've already had three photoshoots stephanie had stephanie's on the wall in the middle back there in one of the gowns I photographed her from the minute I found out she's pregnant until the minute she delivered but that's because they work for me I did um on ly one time in fourteen years did I have a client requested and willing to pay for it because it's expensive and she did come in threes she did three six nine my nine months and we did a book and each time we use the same materials the same wraps the same poses and it was expensive and so I I'll do it but it's an expensive venture that usually people don't want to do so if you're gonna offer it offer it but you know it's tricky because you have to charge for your time there's still the shooting in the processing each time and so it sze I feel I feel it's a costly offering teo do and have but go for it I'm sure people will love it

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Pregnancy Guide.zip
Baby Love Guide.zip
Ana Brandt Product Guide.zip
Baby Pose Sample Guide.pdf
Kaynote Day 2.pdf
Keynote Day 1.pdf
Keynote Day 3.pdf
Additional Discount Codes.pdf
Transitional Pregnancy Posing Poster.jpg
Nursing Food Guide.jpg

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I enrolled in your course because I was wanting to expand my photography business to something other than weddings. I never knew just how amazing and important pregnancy and newborn photography would be. I am feeling so much joy, love, inspiration and the need to do this now; all because of you and this course. You have captured me and led me to believe I was meant to do this type of photography. Thank you for your amazing course, your talents in what you do are unmeasurable! I look forward to learning more from you in the future while watching your course over and over. I can't wait to start this new journey of imagery. Thank you!

Mindy St Onge
 

I cant believe I got this on sale! So happy with this purchase. The one thing I feel I would have changed is I feel she rushed through the newborn sessions really quickly and spent ALOT of time on maternity. I would have liked to see a lot more of the newborn posing and info versus a dozen maternity. But all in all its full of a lot of great info and I love that its not voice over....it is true time so I can see how she is interacting with the clients. Thankyou Anna I love love love your work always!!

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