PREGNANCY

1. Don’t wait till the last minute
Six weeks before your due date is a good time to have your portrait taken, says photographer Fiona Cunningham, who specializes in pregnancy portraits. “You’re certainly past the stage where people sometimes wonder whether a woman has gained weight or is pregnant. But it’s before the very end where you might be retaining water.”

If you go earlier than the third trimester, your belly may not have that full, ripe look. “The form isn’t developed yet,” says photographer Steve Stober, renowned for his portraits of families, children and pregnant women, “so you don’t get that beautiful half-moon shape when the belly is positioned sideways.” However, if you wait much later than six weeks before and your baby comes early, you may miss your chance. Or you may go into labour during the shoot. Don’t laugh. According to both Cunningham and Stober, it does happen.

2. Make clothing optional
Sure, there are shots au naturel like the famous Vanity Fair cover of Demi Moore. But if doing the full monty seems daunting, don’t sweat it. You can do a shot that reveals your belly, but uses your arms and legs or lighting to cover parts of your body you’re not too keen to expose. Or you can go bare belly and drape other parts in swaths of silk or muslin.

There are lots of clothing options too. “You can wear something casual, with a big smile on your face, like a pair of jeans pushed down under your belly and a tank top pushed up,” says Cunningham. You can wear a blouse, and unbutton it to drape around your belly, or a sarong. And if you don’t want to show any skin, you can wear a tight T-shirt or form-fitting sundress that shows off your belly’s curves.

Thinking about why you want to do the photo can also help you style the shot. For example, do you want your portrait to be a surprise gift for your partner? A keepsake for your unborn child? A celebration of motherhood that captures and records the amazing changes in your body?

Originally published in Today's Parent Pregnancy & Birth, Spring 2007