If you want to have an original souvenir of your pregnancy period or a pregnant woman, why not try the trend of the moment which is the time-lapse. This technique allows you to photograph the evolution of your belly month after month until the arrival of the baby. The objective is to make a quality video of a few minutes. You can then retrace this long period in a time lapse movie. Here are some tips on how to take time lapse photos or pictures of pregnant woman.
Make a pregnancy timelapse : useful tips
Basic rules for taking time lapse photos of pregnant women
To successfully time-lapse a pregnant woman, it is not necessary to be a professional photographer or have expensive equipment. However, a few rules must be respected.
Choose a neutral setting
To take time-lapse photos of a pregnant woman, you should choose the same location with a neutral background in a bright room where you are sure to be able to take the shots during the pregnancy period. However, if the details of the decor vary too much, for example with a painting, a piece of furniture or a lamp, in this case, the time-lapse will have less magical effect. The alternative is to opt for a changing decor to show that time is passing. In this optic, showing the progression of the work in a baby's room, which in the end will become a teenager's room, seems to be a good idea.
Define the framing to have good quality photos
For a pregnancy time-lapse, the silhouette of the woman's belly is an interesting profile to highlight the beginning of the child's life. In this situation, the front framing is mandatory. The alternative is to alternate in a clip Black and White shots. Note that the camera must remain set at the same size for the visual effect of the changing images to work. It is therefore in your interest to stabilize your camera as much as possible to obtain quality photos.
Other basic rules for a successful time lapse of a pregnant woman
For the scenario and the staging, it is preferable to keep the same outfit and the same decor or to travel in several places. In any case, it is important to define the overall scenario from the beginning of the project. But keep in mind that it will take several dozen photos to obtain a video of a few minutes. Ideally, you should take about twenty photos per week to have a video of about one minute.
Then, choose the same outfit, the importance is that it is comfortable and adaptable to the growing belly of the mother. The goal is to give the impression of a continuity in time.
How to equip yourself to make a time-lapse of a pregnant woman ?
To make a time-lapse of a pregnant woman, it is not necessary to have a lot of equipment to succeed.
A stable tripod
To ensure the stability of the shots, it is essential to have a stable tripod. Indeed, it is the most important element, because the effect of the video can be quickly spoiled by blurred or badly framed photos. The important thing is to choose a reliable and solid tripod suitable for shooting. It is not necessary to buy a tripod costing several hundred euros.
The camera
The ideal is to have an SLR, compact or bridge camera to make pictures of a pregnant. Models such as those from Canon allow system upgrades to access additional features. It is also important to have a memory card since it is easy to take more than a thousand photos for a time-lapse video of a pregnant woman. If necessary, buy a second battery to have more autonomy on your camera.
Use an intervalometer
An intervalometer will allow you to take images, photos or pictures of a pregnancy at defined time intervals. You have several choices for this equipment. First, choose an intervalometer integrated into your camera, or on the contrary choose compatible models such as those proposed by the brands Linkdelight or Canon for example. There are also advanced DIY models like the Promote Control.
Having a computer
The computer will allow you to rename and resize the photos in batch to generate time-lapse videos. Tools are available on Windows and MAC. There are also applications to help you in the realization of time-lapse. You can for example use Images to video on PC or Time Lapse Assembler on Mac. Classic software are also available on the market like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker
But if you use your smartphone for editing, free applications are available like the time lapse Video editor pro on android, or timelapse free on IOS.
Some practical advices to realize the time lapse of a pregnant woman
If you still have questions about the angle to give or the story to put forward in the video, do not hesitate to go on the internet to find examples of time lapse of a pregnancy or maternity. Then, once you have a scenario in mind, you can start taking the pictures of a pregnant woman. To do this, try to keep the tripod in the same place. Also take the initiative to add objects to the photos to make a timeline in the evolution of the pregnancy until the birth of the baby. The father-to-be can also participate in the time lapse.
Once the baby is born, it will be necessary in addition to dolling it to pass to the assembly of your video. It is not necessary that you are a professional of the assembly since free or paying software are available on Internet and should be enough to edit the videos time lapse of the mother during the 9 months of the pregnancy. Finally, it is possible to add a nice music to finish the editing of your maternity memory video, a memory that you can share with family or friends.
To conclude, there are some mistakes to avoid when you make a time-lapse whether your are pregnant or not. First of all, you must avoid leaving the camera in automatic mode during the shooting. Then, when choosing the interval, it must be done according to the speed of movement of the pregnant woman to avoid having jerky images. Finally, don't forget to take many pictures or photos of pregnancy during each session, because the final video will be played at a speed of 24 to 25 frames per second.
