Well if I had a penny for every offer to hold my camera bag, reflector or tripod, I wouldn’t be writing this article.

As a developing semi professional photographer over the last 2 years the author had worked in marketing for 16 years now. Producing everything from brochures, to web sites, to videos and conferences.

The corporate straight jacket required an escapologist manoeuvre if some sanity was to be retained. So, the passion for photography, which had always been there, brought the author from buying in professionals, to retraining as one.

In photographing various subjects, seeing what appealed and looking for a style of my own – which is still being sort, I did think that glamour photography might appeal as an extension to my love of fashion, so with an open mind I gave it a go. But how do you approach photographing glamour models? Well this is where all the hormones has to be left firmly outside of the studio, else that’s where you’ll be very quickly. I attended a small workshop style shoot with 3 other photographers at Blue Moon studios on Dudley, West Midlands. I’ll admit that I was a little nervous of what they day might bring.

We had plenty of options to work with. The studio offered a wide range of photography services meaning it had various themed areas or “sets” and of course provided a professional model. Blue louvered blinds gave scope for a more creative lighting set up as well.

The day was a greater challenge than I imagined – I found my creativity drying up and was struggling to come up with concepts that worked. I prefer much more subtle and low key lighting effects than the modern “all white” look. Less was certainly more – but not when it came to clothes, the shots I felt worked better with a hint of what you couldn’t see. You certainly have to be clear in your mind as to what you want and how to instruct models. It’s hard not to be put off at the end of a sequence of images when your model comes running over to pinch the camera off you and check the shots on the back in her birthday suit.

It’s good to work to a theme and to build a set a group of shots that tell a story or show a sequence. Also shots that show the process of an action rather than just the end result – it makes for more feeling and adds anticipation. Personally I like to try and get a bit of attitude from the girl into the shots – something that shows their personality.

As for tools, there was the trusty Nikon DSLR mainly used with an 18-70mm lens. Also some shots were taken from the mezzanine of one of the sets using a 70-200mm f2.8 to give a different perspective. Studio flash was one or two Bowens Esprit 500w flash heads with radio triggers and soft boxes. The lighting was kept at a low level – firstly in relation to the model and secondly in terms of power, so that the mood ambiance was conveyed in the pictures. Most of these shots were taken using one flash head, soft box and all the windows darkened using the blinds, this being the preferred set up for the professional photographer. Strobe head power was set to one quarter for starters then reduced to suit.

As for camera body settings I rely on my favourite starting position – 160 sec and f8 – camera on Manual. Then the rest is done by eye and a quick check of the histogram. With low key lighting and the model wearing partly black and seated on a black sofa I expected the histogram to be skewed to the left.

I was looking for something alternative to the typical cliche topless shots and eventually found the great contrast in black and colour with low key lighting.

The only variation to this was the portrait shot with the models hair over one eye, I absolutely love this shot, which is now on my web site and was cropped out of a wider three quarter shot.

All in all a good day and a great experience, on reflection it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. So would I do it again? Yes it’s a challenging area to work in and a great test of your creativity.

A yeast infection is not an early sign of pregnancy, and the existance of the condition cannot cause a pregnancy test to be erroneously positive either. Usually, only pregnancy causes positive test results. A pregnancy yeast infection can be caused by being pregnant (or other hormonal changes) though.

Is Pregnancy Possible with a Yeast Infection?

Yeast infections cannot harm your chances of getting pregnant. There are some people that say if you have the infection for a long period of time without it being treated it can cause problems, but this is extremely rare and highly unlikely.

Is It Common During Pregnancy for a Yeast Infection?

It is said that 20% of woman will get a pregnancy yeast infection because of increase in hormones and bacteria.

It is generally not harmful to an unborn baby but should be treated more carefully, so you won’t pass the infection to your baby during the birth. Left untreated, the baby could develop the yeast infection in the form of thrush in the mouth. This is not dangerous to the baby and is easily treated should it occur.

What Are The Symptoms?

The symptoms of a pregnancy yeast infection generally build up over 1 to 3 days, and include an intense vaginal itch, irritation, soreness, burning and redness in the vagina, and a thick, white vaginal discharge. If you have any or all of these symptoms, it is advisable to seek further advice and guidance from your local physician. Don’t leave it unchecked.

How Do You Treat a Pregnancy Yeast Infection?

Yeast infections may be harder to control when you’re pregnant. They may require frequent treatment or longer treatment (10 to 14 days instead of 3 to 7 days).

Vaginal creams or suppositories used for treatment are safe during pregnancy, although most physicians recommend avoiding treatment during the first trimester. If you develop a yeast infection, it is safe for you to use over-the-counter products, such as Monistat. However, if you are early in your pregnancy (i.e. before 12 weeks), use the cream externally only. After 12 weeks, it is safe to gently use the applicator internally.

If you don’t have success with over-the-counter medication, you may want to try Boric acid, which is very mild. It won’t harm you but will alter the vaginas pH level slightly discouraging yeast growth. Probiotics are also useful in combating pregnancy yeast infections since they build up your healthy bacteria.

When you hear about morningsickness, you usually automatically think about expectant mothers. This is because the majority of expectant mothers end up getting a bout of morningsickness.

For some women, the morningsickness, which includes nausea and vomiting, can occur when the women awaken in the morning. Morningsickness is sometimes due to the fluctuation in hormone levels that happen when a woman is pregnant. Because of the tremendous hormonal fluctuations in the body that take place during this time, women sometimes tend to suffer from nausea and exhaustion. This usually happens between the third and 12th week of pregnancy.

Some women tend to experience morningsickness in the evening. Although it is called morningsickness and many other women feel these pangs when they wake up in the morning, yet other women feel it at night or even during the day. Morningsickness can really occur at any time of the day.

Though many women sometimes get a degree of morningsickness when they are expecting, for most it is not very severe. The nausea will diminish around the 12th week of pregnancy as the hormones have time to readjust themselves. Some women, nevertheless, report that they get morningsickness throughout the pregnancy. They are sick constantly and have trouble keeping any of their ingested food down. This can be quite dangerous as it is important that a pregnant woman gets proper amounts of nourishment when she is having a baby. Doctors will usually give the pregnant woman a special diet if she is having some severe troubles with morningsickness.

If you are pregnant or are considering getting pregnant and are worried about morningsickness, you should not worry. It is always a brief and normal condition that can cause a minimum of discomfort during your pregnancy. It does however, pass. In most cases, eating light meals instead of large and heavy meals, can, to a certain degree, alleviate some of the symptoms of morningsickness. It can also be quite helpful to eat crackers when you feel an attack coming on.

Once your hormone levels begin to adjust, you will no longer have the kind of nausea and fatigue that usually accompany morningsickness. You will begin to have your old energy return. It is very rare that morningsickness ever accompanies a woman into her second trimester of pregnancy, although it can sometimes happen.

In most cases, a woman might experience bouts of morningsickness after she has had her baby. This is due to the fact that the hormone levels are again adjusting themselves. In such cases, the attacks will be brief and will not last any longer than a week, if at all.

There aren’t any safe medications that will quell morningsickness. If you find that you are sick all of the time and are having some trouble keeping down food, you should talk about it with your doctor. They might then be able to recommend a special diet that you will be able to take that will alleviate the sickness. In some very rare cases, morningsickness can be aggravated by the vitamins that are prescribed during pregnancy as well as iron tablets. The doctor will usually give you some other vitamins to take to see if it can help whilst relieving you from feelings of sickness.

Whereas it might be a great nuisance, morningsickness is usually a very normal part of pregnancy and is nothing over which you should ever fret. You should try to always eat small meals and not forget that the end result of this will be a very beautiful new baby to look after.

Important Note: While the information contained in this article is provided in good faith, we always recommend you consult a qualified doctor or physician. Your doctor can provide you professional advice for your particular situation.