Weekly Baby Bump Photos

Capturing weekly baby bump photos is something that I have always wanted to do. Over the years, I have seen other people’s photos and I have collected inspirational photography ideas on my Pinterest board. Now that I am finally pregnant, I have the perfect opportunity to create my own photo memories. I think that everybody should take weekly baby bump photos and I encourage you to do the same!!

TIP: Take weekly baby bump photos for memories of your pregnancy. 

It May Take A Bit Of Planning

This type of photography does take a little bit of planning. You need to think about which day you want to start, what you are going to wear, what background you want to have in the photo and what camera to use. Once you have a basic idea of the type of photo you want to capture, the rest becomes easy.

TIP: Create a plan and know what type of photos you want to capture. 

When To Start

We took our first bunch of photos in Week 7. Technically I knew about the pregnancy for about 3 weeks, but I didn’t get around to taking any photos during that time. Daily life was not very productive and I spent most of my days sleeping and eating. I really didn’t have any energy for a photography shoot but I knew that we had to get started as soon as possible or else we would miss our window of opportunity.

TIP: Get started ASAP or you may miss your window of opportunity.

What Day To Start

Our due date changed a few times with the dating scans and so it was difficult to know how far along I was in the pregnancy. The doctors told me that I was ‘six weeks pregnant’ for about three consecutive weeks. So, getting to week 7 felt like a big achievement. Week 7 fell on a Sunday for us, so we took the photos on that day. This is very convenience because we don’t work on Sundays and we have more time to focus. It is also the end/beginning of a new calendar week which makes it easy to remember.

TIP: Pick a day that is easy for you to remember and commit to.

What To Wear

I found my dress at Sportsgirl. They had a few different colours in the same style and I was very tempted to buy all of them. I picked a dress with the navy blue and white horizontal stripes. Normally horizontal stripes is a big ‘no no’ in my wardrobe because it can give an illusion that you are wider/bigger than you actually are. This is no longer a problem when you are pregnant and I actually want to show off my belly size. For the first time ever, horizontal stripes is working in my favour. I went for the largest size they had in stock because I know that I will grow bigger and I want to wear this same dress in all of my photos throughout the pregnancy. The dress is fitted but the material is very stretchy so it looks ok on my now, but I feel confident that it will still fit me in 7 months time.

TIP: Find an outfit that you can wear throughout your whole pregnancy. 

How To Choose The Background

We took our photos in our spare room. This room will soon become the nursery. We used a wall that is plain in colour coloured and avoided having too much “stuff” in the background. The sign is a blackboard which I picked up from one of those cheap shops (the reject shop) for a couple of bucks and we just used white chalk to write the week. I am a teacher, so the black board seems to highlight a part of our lives and to me the blackboard represents positive learning, growth and creativity.

TIP: Try to incorporate your own style in to the photo.

KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid

Originally I wanted to use a white picture frame. I saw the idea on someone else’s picture and loved the style. It was a very pretty idea however my husband convinced me that the blackboard would be better for us because we can edit or change the words very easily and we don’t have to design and print new images each week – which sounds like a very time consuming task.

TIP: Keep it plain and simple so that you can continue the theme each week. 

Take Lots Of Photos

It takes a bit of time to get the lighting and positioning right. In fact, it took us ages just to get started because the camera battery wasn’t charged and we couldn’t find the tripod. But once everything was in place and after a few practice shots we both started to relax. My first few photos were terrible. I wasn’t sure how to stand and I was doing some really awkward poses. However we just kept on snapping and after a while we got a few that we were happy with. My advice is to take as many photos as you can. Try standing in lots of different positions and just do whatever you feel like doing in the heat of the moment.

TIP: jump in front of the camera and have a bit of fun.

Commit To It

We have successfully taken our first bunch of baby bump photos but the hardest part is still to come. Committing to weekly photos will be a challenge. Life gets in the way and sometimes the weeks fly by too quickly for us to stop and play. I really hope that we can commit to the weekly challenge. But if it becomes too hard, then we might change it to a monthly pregnancy photo.

TIP: Choose what will work best for you and commit to it: Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Tri-Semerter Photos. 

Have You Taken Baby Bump Photos? I would love to know about it. Please share a link to your photo in the comments or send me a tweet.