first maternity shoot

[shawnee_pedraza]

<p>I'm doing my first maternity shoot!! I'm courious about what lights to use. I want a very soft even light.. she will mainly be against my black backdrop, then some outdoor shots.</p>

<p>any ideas? will one softbox be enough? or should I use two umbrellas?<br>

thanks<br>

also, if anyone has some ideas or websites with cool maternity shots please let me know...</p>

[nathan_stiles]

<p>Shawnee, softboxes come in different sizes. If you are doing 3/4 shots, then a 72" softbox will be fine. Since you probably want very softlight, the softbox will be very close, you may want another as fill.</p>

<p>I have a shoot like this coming up for a model friend of mine in a few days. I plan on having a medium (48") softbox light the body, and either a 36" umbrella or beauty dish placed above that to light the face. Both of theses will be short lighting the subject and just outside of frame.</p>

<p>In front I'll place a 42x78" 1/2 stop scrim in front to help w/ fill, and behind it a 48" umbrella firing into at low power and slightly above the model (so the shadows stay natural, as they would look when lit from an elivated light source). This will probably be a 6:1 or longer ratio to start out w/, and I'll adjust from there.</p>