First time shooting boudoir, tips needed!!

JustJazzie · Nov 17, 2013

I'm preparing for my first attempt at boudoir photography. I would love some tips! My setup is going to be tricky I know. I will be working with 3, 1000k watt soft boxes, (the cheap fluorescent kind that are probably not really 1000k watts) 1 reflector and I have a small bounce flash for my camera. (Guide number 7)

The room is BEAUTIFUL (IMO) with lovely furniture, but it is very dark, the only window source is a French door that never sees direct sunlight. There is a large mirror across from the bed which will hopefully reflect some light from the soft boxes. My bounce flash will probably be useless on the 8-15 foot sloped wood ceiling, but will possible be able to be bounced off a wall in portrait orientation.

My model luckily is the perfect subject to start with. Tall, thin with a hint of a 6 pack. However, her skin is medium dark/dark, which will probably add to my lighting problem right?

All my limitations considered I am going to be going for a low key effect in most of the poses.

So tell me, What should I watch out for? It's only for a friend who knows it will be my first attempt, so please don't tell me it's gonna be a disaster and not to bother. I'd really like to try it at least!!

mmaria · Nov 17, 2013

You are so worried about lighting that you forget to tell do you know how to pose her? What lens/lenses will you use?

JustJazzie · Nov 17, 2013

bmmision said:
You are so worried about lighting that you forget to tell do you know how to pose her? What lens/lenses will you use?

I have a few weeks to study, so I've been watching YouTube and studying poses on flickr. I'm pretty sure I am headed in the right direction there. As for lenses., I'd like to use my 50 1.8, because it really shines. However my camera is cropped sensor so it might be too tight for the space. my only other option will be my 18-200 which only opens to 3.5-5 before I hit 50 mm. And at 18 I notice quite a bit of distortion. I'm having a friend come over before the shoot to test some lighting/lenses out so I'm not flying completely blind. If she can't make it then I guess I'll have some romantic picture of my kids giant teddy bear. ;-)

My "back up plan" is to shoot any shot I can with the 50 and only use the 18-200 for full body poses.

amolitor · Nov 17, 2013

If you don't already have a pretty good grasp of how much of a person can be framed at what distance inside a room with your preferred lenses, spend some time getting to understand that. It is somewhat startling how far away you have to get to get a whole person in-frame with a 50mm on a crop sensor, for instance.

Look at the whole frame when you're shooting, and be ruthless about moving furniture, pictures, around. Just because it's a nice piece of furniture doesn't mean it belongs in the frame.

runnah · Nov 17, 2013

50 is tight. When I shoot head shots I am a good 3-4 feet away to get just the head and shoulders in frame.

JustJazzie · Nov 17, 2013

amolitor said:
If you don't already have a pretty good grasp of how much of a person can be framed at what distance inside a room with your preferred lenses, spend some time getting to understand that. It is somewhat startling how far away you have to get to get a whole person in-frame with a 50mm on a crop sensor, for instance. Look at the whole frame when you're shooting, and be ruthless about moving furniture, pictures, around. Just because it's a nice piece of furniture doesn't mean it belongs in the frame.

runnah said:
50 is tight. When I shoot head shots I am a good 3-4 feet away to get just the head and shoulders in frame.

the room is 19x18 and depending on framing I can backup to 21 feet if I go into the master bathroom. I'll be stripping the room down to just the furniture and maybe a candle or something on the night stand. Here are some bad iPhone pictures of what I'm working with if that might help for suggestions. (Yes I'll be ripping that black draft thing off the doors.)

Edit: besides the rocking chair, I can't move the furniture. It's WAY to heavy for me to move.

Propsguy · Nov 17, 2013

You will probably want to black out the window and leave the flash in your bag. Your continuous lights likely have a color temperature of around 3200K, and the difference in color temp from your flash or the outside light will be impossible to correct in post. This can easily be remedied with gels, mind you... but unless you are willing to add another element of complexity to your situation, stick to using only your continuous lights for now.

Continuous lights are not ideal for portraiture as they require low shutter speeds, but if you increase your ISO to an acceptable level and decrease your aperture such that you are still getting enough depth of field, then you should be alright... just make sure the model holds still during exposures, and bring a tripod just in case you are slightly nervous and tend to get shaky....

On your first attempt, don't let concepts of artistry take place of good photography. If the images aren't turning out as you have planned in your mind's eye, remind yourself of the basics and stay focused on getting the exposures right and your framing as good as possible.

It may also be greatly beneficial to bring a friend as a stand-in while you set up and rig your lights, bounces, flags, stands, cables, etc... If this is not possible, then have the model for a prelight session, then send her off for hair/makeup/wardrobe while you screw around with your lights, and then bring her back in when you 95% happy with your setup. It's rude to ask a model, particularly during a boudoir session, to sit around on set while you try to figure out your lighting, so get that sorted out before bringing her to set.

Derrel · Nov 17, 2013

The dresser and mirror combo will offer a few good image possibilities. Pose the subject on the foot area of the bed, and shoot into the mirror and back top her. Bring her close to the mirror and have her brush her hair or apply lipstick, shooting into the mirror, with her fairly close to the dresser. You will need to be back a few feet, and using a zoom lens will allow you to control the angle of view of the lens to a greater degree than being stuck at one focal length. Keep in mind, in mirror photography, the focus distance is from the camera, to the mirror + the distance from the mirror to the subject.

Propsguy above has some VERY sound advice, where he stated, "On your first attempt, don't let concepts of artistry take place of good photography. If the images aren't turning out as you have planned in your mind's eye, remind yourself of the basics and stay focused on getting the exposures right and your framing as good as possible."

I agree with that 100 percent; stay focused, stay calm, make haste slowly, etc.,etc.. Keep the fundamentals in mind. Set the lights, and figure out the RIGHT exposure, and only then shoot. A minute or two spent on figuring out the exposure will be well-spent. Don't rush...get the exposure "nailed down" for each pose, and only then start to shoot it thoroughly. Keep the basics in mind: background good? Good focus? Is tripod support needed?

Forget the flash...shoot it all using the continuous lights.

JustJazzie · Nov 17, 2013

Propsguy said:
You will probably want to black out the window and leave the flash in your bag. Your continuous lights likely have a color temperature of around 3200K, and the difference in color temp from your flash or the outside light will be impossible to correct in post. This can easily be remedied with gels, mind you... but unless you are willing to add another element of complexity to your situation, stick to using only your continuous lights for now. Continuous lights are not ideal for portraiture as they require low shutter speeds, but if you increase your ISO to an acceptable level and decrease your aperture such that you are still getting enough depth of field, then you should be alright... just make sure the model holds still during exposures, and bring a tripod just in case you are slightly nervous and tend to get shaky.... On your first attempt, don't let concepts of artistry take place of good photography. If the images aren't turning out as you have planned in your mind's eye, remind yourself of the basics and stay focused on getting the exposures right and your framing as good as possible. It may also be greatly beneficial to bring a friend as a stand-in while you set up and rig your lights, bounces, flags, stands, cables, etc... If this is not possible, then have the model for a prelight session, then send her off for hair/makeup/wardrobe while you screw around with your lights, and then bring her back in when you 95% happy with your setup. It's rude to ask a model, particularly during a boudoir session, to sit around on set while you try to figure out your lighting, so get that sorted out before bringing her to set.

I will definitely be reading this post a couple of times to make sure I absorbed all of that great advice. Thanks for chiming in.

Derrel said:
The dresser and mirror combo will offer a few good image possibilities. Pose the subject on the foot area of the bed, and shoot into the mirror and back top her. Bring her close to the mirror and have her brush her hair or apply lipstick, shooting into the mirror, with her fairly close to the dresser. You will need to be back a few feet, and using a zoom lens will allow you to control the angle of view of the lens to a greater degree than being stuck at one focal length. Keep in mind, in mirror photography, the focus distance is from the camera, to the mirror + the distance from the mirror to the subject. Propsguy above has some VERY sound advice, where he stated, "On your first attempt, don't let concepts of artistry take place of good photography. If the images aren't turning out as you have planned in your mind's eye, remind yourself of the basics and stay focused on getting the exposures right and your framing as good as possible." I agree with that 100 percent; stay focused, stay calm, make haste slowly, etc.,etc.. Keep the fundamentals in mind. Set the lights, and figure out the RIGHT exposure, and only then shoot. A minute or two spent on figuring out the exposure will be well-spent. Don't rush...get the exposure "nailed down" for each pose, and only then start to shoot it thoroughly. Keep the basics in mind: background good? Good focus? Is tripod support needed? Forget the flash...shoot it all using the continuous lights.

Thank you for that valuable information on focusing into the mirror. I was already planing on trying a few mirror shots, I had never heard that before though.This is probably a novice question but I'll ask anyways. My camera uses contrast autofocus and has a handy feature called focus peaking. (It highlights what's in focus for me) will this work in a mirror? Or do I need to use your method? I'll go ahead and play with it to try and answer myself, but I thought I would ask the experts.

As for the bed, I was going to try and have her balance on the footboard for a few shots, but I tried it this afternoon and it WAS NOT EASY.

I've already warned the model that I will be working slow. My plan was to come up with 5 good poses to work with and see where we are at time wise. I would rather come out of the shoot with 1 great picture than 1,000 "okay" shots. In fact, my model and I had this exact conversation this morning, when she sent me 20 shots she liked. Is 5 poses going to be too much my first time, or is this a reasonable goal?

Propsguy · Nov 17, 2013

A small number of poses that work within the confines of your lighting setup is a perfectly reasonable goal. One of the many benefits of working with experienced, and thus often expensive, models is that they are knowledgeable not only about posing and timing, but also about how to present themselves to the light... so if your model is quite good, 5 poses might be a cakewalk.