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Pregnancy Portraits

Capturing Your Pregnant Glow

By Laura Cone

Hart advises people who want to take their own pregnancy portraits to use natural light.

"It makes women look so much better than artificial lighting in a studio," Hart says. "You don't need a lot of makeup when you use natural light. Shoot at the end of the day when the sun is going down. It's so much better for the light and people just feel better at the end of the day when the sun is going down."

Finding the perfect background for the photographic shoot may be tricky. Avoid going to parks where children are playing in the background, she says. Hart often takes her clients to the beach.

"Make sure your background is clean, which means there are no people," she says. "I shoot at the beach at the end of the day when there are a lot less people there. Even going to a park and shooting behind a bunch of trees with leaves is great."

Some people like to have their pregnancy portraits when they are six to seven months pregnant, while other women wait until their due date.

"Basically, I always tell my clients when you have a nice size belly and you feel good, do it," Hart says. "Don't wait until the last month, because you get a lot more tired and more bloated and you really want to remember your pregnancy from these pictures. You might as well look as perfect as possible."

Want to see more?

• Maternity Portraits: Capturing the Beauty of Pregnancy
• Managing a Plus-Sized Pregnancy
• Pregnancy Fashion Emergency: Solutions for Taller Moms-to-Be
• Talk about it!