Maternity Silhouette with a Point and Shoot

So have you seen this gorgeous picture on Pinterest?

Well there are tons of pictures very similar as well. The other day I had my personal photographer (my very patient husband :) ) to snap a few pictures before I had the baby. I remembered this picture and played around with the settings on the camera. Eventually it was super easy to recreate.

Here are the steps that I took:

1. Start with being back lit and diffused the light with sheers across the windows. These were taken around 2 PM in my bedroom
2. Wore form fitting clothing that showed off my belly
3. Stood on a step stool so my whole body was silhouetted. 
4. Used Av mode (aperture priority) and turned the F# to the lowest number. 

I did some super light editing to soften the edges and adjusting the contrast. 

I'm not a professional photographer (obviously since I don't even have an SLR) but this is what worked for me! I would love to see what worked for you. The best pictures of the whole series I think would be the ones of my husband modeling for me while I adjusted the settings on the camera but I think he would be very embarrassed if he saw I posted them :)

The day I met Kristen Duke

Have you heard of Kristen Duke? She's an amazing photographer and the author of the Say NO to Auto ebook/book. I'd seen her book featured on various blogs and started following her on Facebook. I would visit her site and wish for the opportunity to go to her workshop, or meet her! Then my opportunity came! Kristen does photography sessions all over and she was asking for some helpers for some upcoming shoots. I quickly volunteered and was able to help out with a family photoshoot! It was really fun to help out. My job was to keep the kids engaged and smiling and carry the gear =) I think I did pretty well, though I hope Kristen didn't get sick of me saying "Pickle doughnuts!"

 

Kristen and Me, after the shoot. Tired! Scarf tutorial

Then earlier this year, I got to attend Kristen's Say NO to Auto Workshop which was awesome! It was the piece I'd been looking for. I'd had a DSLR for over a year and tried numerous times to understand the various different controls for manual settings without any luck. I didn't understand how they all worked together. Kristen's workshop helped it to call come together. I realized the three controls worked together and trying to understand them separately doesn't work! By the end of the workshop I was taking photos with manual settings and I haven't looked back since!

Progression during class

Kristen also has a really fun blog. She's writing about how she met her husband and their love story and it's inspired me to write down my own. She's has a fun feature called Capture the Joy in Front of the Lens which is about taking photos with your loved ones. She's also got some really fun DIY projects, like the barn door tv cover, pictured above!

If you didn't notice, I'm a Kristen fan, but she didn't ask me to write this and I hope she doesn't mind I wrote it in fact! I'm just thrilled with what I've learned and continued to learn!

Trying out my new skills

Hawaii!

I set this shot up and Anne's husband snapped it (from my birthday party!)

Anne's beautiful daughter

So check her out already!

Angela Marie Photography

My dear roommate, Angie, is an aspiring photographer going to school to get a BA in Photography with a minor Tagalog (yes, she's so cool she speaks Tagalog from serving as an LDS missionary in the Philippines.) These are some of her fun shots. She is from Alaska. She loves colors and loves nature. The film process is what drew her into photography along with expressing emotion to others through an image. I love her pictures and wanted to share a few! Angela Marie Photography