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| Blogs > Xenia0natop > Musing of a Sexual Nerd Girl |
Boudoir Photography for Beginners
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Boudoir Photography for Beginners So you want to take some sexy pictures of yourself, but don't know where to start. I've put together some tips and tricks from both research and experience that might take your pictures from you just looking good, to having men willing to crawl over broken glass just to get to you. This article will not be about the technical aspects of photography - I am not a photographer, but I've posed and gotten advice from quite a few photographers. This is about you, the model, mistakes you can avoid, and things you can do prior to your shoot to be prepared. It took a photographer friend 6 years to convince me to do a boudoir shoot. I was nervous as hell, and was sure that the pics were going to dreadful. My was only 2 months old, I was carrying 30 lbs of baby weight still, and I could see nothing sexy about myself at that moment in time. To my shock and amazement the pics were wonderful. I gave those pictures to my husband as a Valentine's present, and he said it was the best present he had ever received. Since then it's been my belief that every woman should do a shoot of this type at least once in their life with a good photographer. Even if you never share those pics with anyone, I can't think of anything else in life that boosted my self esteem the way that first shoot did. No matter what size you are, how short or tall, or any other imperfections we as women magnify by 100, trust me when I tell you that you will see yourself in a completely different way once you've taken the plunge to do this. If a picture speaks a thousand words, what is it you're trying to say in your pictures? Do you just want to look good, or do you want to communicate something to the viewer? If you're just wanting to look good, you will come out of it with some nice shots, but in my experience, you're going to look posed and stiff. A good boudoir photograph draws the viewer in. It seduces them, and makes them curious about the woman in the picture. Ask yourself a few questions. Do you want your pictures to be classy and elegant, or are you going for completely pornographic? Or both? Do you want these photos to be PG-13, or do you want them XXX, and an inspiration for sex? If you're going to use these pictures on a website, what are you trying to say about yourself? Are you looking for a play partner, or a more serious relationship? Are you a sub trying to attract a dom? If you're a domme trying to attract a sub, and you want to portray that, there are certainly outfits and props you can use to change the tone of the photographs. Maybe you just want your photographs to say "I'm a cute sex kitten, spoil me." Whatever you're trying to convey about yourself can be achieved with hair, makeup, outfits, and the right attitude, but it takes forethought and planning. Showing up at a photographer's place with no idea what direction you want to go with the shoot is not a good place to start. The photographer can only give you so much in the way of ideas, and regardless of his experience, it's also dependent on how well he knows you. The focus of the shoot is you, and you're the one who should know what you want. I've done shoots where my mind was blank of ideas, the photographer had limited ideas as well, and it was a total grind that left me exhausted at the end of it. On the other hand, I've also done shoots where the creative juices were flowing, and I came away from the shoot energized, and exhilarated. It all depends on how much of your own creativity you are willing to contribute to the process. You've now got an idea of what you want to convey about yourself in your photographs, but you have no idea how to get that across. Meeting with whomever is going to be shooting you prior to the shoot is key. First, you can make yourself clear as to what you're comfortable with, and what your not. Communication is key. It's a great time to look at his/her former work to see how good he is, and possibly get some ideas. Looking at a photographer's former work is also paramount if only to find out whether the guy is just some no talent hack that picked up a camera as a way to girls naked, or if he's someone who takes photography seriously. It also shows you whether you are on the same page creatively as well. Some of this depends on how you met the photographer. Did you meet this person online? How long have you known them? Did he/she come recommended by a friend? Having someone with at this meeting as well as at your shoot might an idea for safety's sake. This is also a good time to discuss what happens to your photographs when you're done. You don't want to find your pictures all over the internet without your permission after all. If you're like me, the photographer is going to ask you what you want to get out of your shoot, and your mind is going to go blank. What I do is get online and look as examples of sensual photography. Pin up is something I'm a huge fan of , so I look at a lot of examples of that. I highly recommend Dita Von Teese's book The Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese. I put that as one title because it's kind of two books in one - one half being dedicated to each title. It's got some great examples of fetish and boudoir photography. I also looked up photos of some of the all time great bombshells from the 40's and 50's. It's impossible not to be inspired by Marilyn Monroe, Betty page, or Brigitte Bardot, just to name a few. Those ladies really knew hot to portray smoldering sensuality in a photograph, and you can take what they did and put your own personality into it. So you now know what direction you're going, now here's a few things that I didn't think about when I did my first shoot. Don't set up a shoot, freak out, and starve yourself in the days leading up to your shoot. There is no amount of weight you're going to lose in only a few days that is going to make any conceivable difference in your photographs. Instead, stay away from things that are going to dehydrate you, or cause you to be bloated. No salt, no caffeine, no alcohol, and drink plenty of water so your skin looks it's best. Make sure you eat at least a little something before your shoot as well - you'll need the energy. No photographer wants to deal with a model that has starved herself for days, looks like the walking dead, is dizzy, and can't think straight. A shoot is a collaboration of ideas and energy, and you can't put either into it if you're in that kind of shape. If you anticipate that your shoot is going to be more than an hour, stretch. It sounds a little silly, but holding poses, and being in positions your body isn't used to being in for extended periods of time can have you feeling very sore the next day, so trust me, stretch. Get a decent sleep the night before your shoot so you don't look tired. Also, put body lotion on before you crawl into bed so your skin doesn't come off ashy in your pics. Lip balm too, so your lipstick has a nice smooth surface to glide onto. If you wake up and your eyes are puffy, makeup artist's trick...Preparation H - it doesn't just shrink hemorrhoids, it works on the bags under your eyes too. Do not wear a bra or socks for at least 2 hours before your shoot, or you're going to have a line on your leg where your socks were, as well as lines from your bra showing up in your otherwise sexy photos. Same advice for glasses. Unless you plan on wearing your glasses during the shoot, you're going to end up with red marks on your nose showing up in your pics. If you don't have a makeup artist doing your makeup at the shoot, practice various looks ahead of time. Make up needs to be darker than you're normally used to. You may think you look like a drag queen, but in photos it will show up more subtle, and keep you from looking washed out under the bright lights. Matte red lipstick is also a good investment because it's got a little more durability, and makes your lips look full and luscious. Revlon makes a good one that photographs beautifully, and has a finish that reminds me of rose petals. I love it so much I have 4 tubes of it. Invest in a good primer so your make up stays where it's suppose to, and your skin becomes a flawless canvas to apply your make up to. I recommend that if your going to do some more natural faced shots, do them at the beginning of the shoot. You can always put more makeup on, but once you've hat to take it off, it's never going to go back on as good as when you were fresh faced, and you could possibly end up all red and puffy. Don't forget to do your eyebrows as well, but never ever use black eyebrow pencil, you'll end up looking like Morticia Adams. Eyebrows are the anchor of your facial expressions, especially in photographs, and doing them well makes a huge difference in your pics. Don't do the big smile thing while putting blush on the apples of your cheeks. Once you stop making that face, your cheeks are going to drop, then the blush you just applied falls to beneath your cheekbone, and it doesn't look natural at all. If you don't happen to be blessed by the goddess of beauty with long luscious lashes, use false ones. Practice different techniques applying them, because you don't want to show up at your shoot to piss off the photographer by waiting the first hour trying to get your lashes to stay on and look natural. Ru Paul recommends cutting them in half because it's easier to do them in two pieces - and hey, Ru Paul always looks fabulous. If they are too wide fro your eye, trim from the end, because they look unnatural otherwise. If your lashes are stick straight and refuse to curl, use your eyelash curler after you've put on a coat of waterproof mascara - it helps hold the curl. Follow that by a non-waterproof variety. The waterproof adds length, the other volume, for beautiful soft lashes. If you have a problem with your mascara flaking, I found that primer took care of that problem for me - Lancombe makes a really good one. Do not use HD powder containing silica. While it can make your skin look flawless under normal conditions, it looks like you didn't blend your make up and have white patches all over once the flash starts going off. Angelina Jolie had the tabloids thinking she had a cocaine problem because of the white patches that showed up on her face when the paparazzi photographed her on the red carpet a couple of years back, very unattractive. Speaking of blending, blend your makeup down onto your neck and chest, especially if you plan on being naked. You don't want a sharp contrast between the colour of your face, and the colour of your neck in your pictures. Also, keep water on hand during the shoot, but use a straw, you don't want to mess up your lipstick. If you need ideas makeup wise, Kevyn Aucoin's books are a good place to start. He was one of my heroes. He was a brilliant makeup artist, and a really cool guy. His books are not only full of great ideas, but they're educational, entertaining, and inspirational. He's quoted as saying he saw beauty in every woman he ever met. I also have to have respect for a guy who could transform Gwenyth Paltrow into James Dean via makeup and hair. I've had to replace my Kevyn Aucoin books 3 times now because I've lent them out, and they're so good, the people I lent them to refused to give them back...damn drag queens! Youtube has some great people on it too. Wayne Goss is simply awesome. He does comprehensive make up reviews, has easy to follow tutorials, and is a pretty funny guy as well. His channel on Youtube is gossmakeupartist. On the pin up side of things, look for Cherry Dollface. She does detailed, easy to follow tutorials, and doesn't talk down to her audience like some do. She also has a couple of tutorials on posing which are helpful for those of us that aren't pros at it. She helped me, and I'm an absolute uncoordinated clutz. Ashley Marie on her channel PinupDollAshleyMarie is phenomenal. She is a good one to watch for instruction on how to do vintage hair and makeup. She's also got some easy to follow halloween make up tutorials that just made me go "Wow!" Some little things...Make sure the bottom of your feet are clean. You don't want to be on your stomach looking all cute, with your knees bent, your feet crossed behind you, and have the bottom of your dirty feet be the thing that ruins your pic. Details, details, details! Suggestion - paint your fingernails and toenails the same colour. If you're a smoker, you may want to do Crest white strips a week before, the shoot - they really do work. Think about what props you may want to use in your shoot, and bring whatever the photographer may not have. Be creative. I spent 4 hours naked and wrapped in lighted rope so that two photo nerds could test out various filters and extended exposure techniques, and the results were spectacular - although I wouldn't recommend that for a first shoot. Try on all kinds of looks before your shoot, and bring more than you need. It's better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. For your first shoot, keep things simple. A first shoot is not a good time to do a black light<b> suspension </font></b>bondage shoot complete with glow in the dark body paint. Try not to be nervous, put some music on and relax. If you're uncomfortable and nervous, it's going to show in your finished product. You're first shoot is a learning experience. Whether you're doing this with a professional photographer, or your significant other, the key here is to have a fun, enjoyable experience. It's your decision whether to share your photos when you're done, so really, there's no pressure to be perfect. At the end of it you'll now have photographic evidence that you are a goddess - beautiful and perfect just the way you are. |
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