boudoir | maternity

[paigew]

I did my first boudoir session, and my model just happen to be 8 months pregnant. Looking forward to hearing your feedback.

1 (okay 1 non boudoir )

N - maternity-4.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

2

N - maternity-12.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

3

N - maternity-5.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

4

N - maternity-14.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

5

N - maternity-7.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

6

N - maternity-15.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

more on flickr

 

[AnnieHuley]

Love the first. Like the second, would be better if it was less grainy.

 

[amolitor]

Her skin tones are not at all flattered by your b&w conversions, and the brightly lit hair in #3 looks like a straw stuck into the corner of her mouth.

#2 has fantastic light and would be very nice with a better look to her skin. Watch the calves in those kneeling shots, you're showing us a little too much there. Squished together legs parts are also not very flattering.

#1 makes no sense to me.

Overall I am not getting "boudoir" per se, I am getting "mom lounging around her bedroom" which is a perfectly wonderful vibe. It's just not a "boudoir" vibe.

The girls is lovely and looks completely charming, though.

 

[Ilovemycam]

Nice work! I enjoyed them all.

 

[Ilovemycam]

Love the first. Like the second, would be better if it was less grainy.

This is all personal taste. I liked the grain.

 

[weepete]

I like 1 and 6 personally though I agree that the grain takes away from the model in this instance.

 

[tirediron]

Excellent points raised by Andrew, with which I agree. A couple of other thoughts. Some of these (esp. #s 2, 4 and 6) would have really benefitted from some fill light. Remember that the eye is naturally attracted to light over dark, and you have a bright/blown window area and dark shadows on the model, all of which serves to pull the viewer's eye from the subject to the window.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

I think I would have liked to see some in color. There were some areas that could have used additional editing (wrinkles and whatnot). The black and white accentuates these textures where as the same photo in color will not provide as much contrast and those spots aren't as noticeable. If you like the b&w then just edit those areas. I know if it was my wife she'd prefer that.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I agree about the contrast and exposure, bright windows etc.; I think that emphasizes the messy rumpled bedding and draws my eyes to that instead of to the subject. The framing/crop in the first one doesn't seem to work but the exposure looks better.

 

[paigew]

Thanks for the tips. I do need to do some skin smoothing, I only used the LR brush but I could take it to PS. I have never done that type of retouching before. Her skin does look worse here than in LR. I think I had it set to sharpen on export...

I shot these knowing they would be in b/w. So all the texture and contrast (even the messy bedding) were on purpose I did get a couple in color as well, those can be seen on my flickr.

I love the love/hate views about #1. I think if you have ever 'carried' two children, you will enjoy that photo/perspective. It is something you will never forget, holding your toddler on your huge belly. Its just very symbolic (to me) of motherhood. Thanks for all the feedback

 

[kathyt]

Thanks for the tips. I do need to do some skin smoothing, I only used the LR brush but I could take it to PS. I have never done that type of retouching before. Her skin does look worse here than in LR. I think I had it set to sharpen on export...

I shot these knowing they would be in b/w. So all the texture and contrast (even the messy bedding) were on purpose I did get a couple in color as well, those can be seen on my flickr.

I love the love/hate views about #1. I think if you have ever 'carried' two children, you will enjoy that photo/perspective. It is something you will never forget, holding your toddler on your huge belly. Its just very symbolic (to me) of motherhood. Thanks for all the feedback

Take your adjustment brush in LR an go very lightly over some of those troubled areas of the skin and then just decrease clarity and/or contrast to your taste. That is all you need to do. No need to even drag them into PS.

 

[paigew]

Thanks for the tips. I do need to do some skin smoothing, I only used the LR brush but I could take it to PS. I have never done that type of retouching before. Her skin does look worse here than in LR. I think I had it set to sharpen on export...

I shot these knowing they would be in b/w. So all the texture and contrast (even the messy bedding) were on purpose I did get a couple in color as well, those can be seen on my flickr.

I love the love/hate views about #1. I think if you have ever 'carried' two children, you will enjoy that photo/perspective. It is something you will never forget, holding your toddler on your huge belly. Its just very symbolic (to me) of motherhood. Thanks for all the feedback

Take your adjustment brush in LR an go very lightly over some of those troubled areas of the skin and then just decrease clarity and/or contrast to your taste. That is all you need to do. No need to even drag them into PS.

Thanks, that is what I did, I did the skin smoothing brush but obviously didn't help. I think I need to redo them, do some sort of skin smoothing layer in ps then add the grain after. If I do it now it will smooth the grain no?

 

[amolitor]

I think your b&w conversion is flawed, it's doing something unpleasant to the skin tones by pushing too much contrast in there. I would back up to that step, and fool with whatever options you have available to you in your conversion tool, and try to find a combination with more pleasing skin tones.

 

[paigew]

I think your b&w conversion is flawed, it's doing something unpleasant to the skin tones by pushing too much contrast in there. I would back up to that step, and fool with whatever options you have available to you in your conversion tool, and try to find a combination with more pleasing skin tones.

you know I bet its the orange luminance..I pushed it farther than normal.