How to light boudoir photography? (NSFW... hopefully)

[Thayli]

How to light boudoir scenes is my question for today I'm afraid. I was in the mood for something different and read up on a few tutorials, picked one I liked and fired away. His result was soft and dreamy and floaty and all that wholesome feminine stuff that boudoir should be. And mine was, well, not. Still, it gave me a few ideas which I will put into effect next time. So, first of all, heres (Its called the cut off limb collection) what I've done, critique away if you have time, and secondly, if you take do this kind of scene yourself, what kind of editing do you do after? This is only from the first 20 shots out of almost 100, and I dont think I want to edit any more like this.


You will also have to excuse her expression. We were having a blinding argument at the time (nothing to do with what we were doing), but since it was only lighting practice we charged on.

P.S. After I posted I realised with a bit of careful cropping, I could almost make a magazine centrefold out of those first 2 pics together.

 

[Lmphotos]

I really like her expression lol I think she has a very retro look!

 

[PinkDoor]

Were you using a light source? If this is your first attempt, you did a great job! Boudoir photography is a lot more challenging that it appears.

I would recommend shooting manual (hopefully you already are). This allows your to overcome a lot of lighting challenges.

Regarding the "Cutting off the Limbs Collection" - yes, you sure did, but you will find it can be difficult to apply the "rules" in boudoir sessions. Focus on the posing and the angles, ensuring that you do what is flattering for her. When she shows her loved one the images, I can guarantee he will not think "Whoa! Where did her elbow go?".

It looks like you used a window or natural light source. I would have turned her more towards the light source, and shot from a different direction. Unless you are going for drama and shadows, you will want to always watch that the light is nicely illuminating her face and other important areas.

Best of luck!

 

[Robin_Usagani]

i thought it is pretty good. I would go easy on the grain.

 

[PinkDoor]

i thought it is pretty good. I would go easy on the grain.

Yes! What Robin said - Poor lighting brings on unwanted grain!

 

[Robin_Usagani]

I bet you most of the grain is added on post.

i thought it is pretty good. I would go easy on the grain.

Yes! What Robin said - Poor lighting brings on unwanted grain!

 

[Mully]

Kick the contrast up a bit as they are a little grey....I like the set!

 

[tirediron]

It looks to me like you need a bit more diffusion on your light source(s); the shadow edges are a bit harsh for boudoir.

 

[cgipson1]

Reminds of of the 60's.... lol! As john mentioned, a bit more diffusion, softer light would help a lot.

 

[Thayli]

Thanks for the replys guys.

I actually did a batch edit right at the start and piled on the soft focus and contrast, and absolutly hated it. It just looked like the old 'cover up bad shots with photoshop trick,' and I ended up scrubbing and starting again, funnily enough with the retro look. (The B&W and grain was supposed to be Fuji Neopan 100). So that bit worked, kind of... (I even did some cross-proccessing at one point).

The light source was two strobes. This was about 9pm last night so definitley no sun, although the 'bathed in light' shot was supposed to emulate that kind of effect, I just couldnt get it soft enough in the time we had. (30mins, And there is another 15 almost identical shots with tiny variations on the light as testament to my enthusiastic but ill-fated attempt). As far as diffusion goes, I had one strobe with softbox, the other was being diffused (kind of ahem) by a vase, visible on pic. That was me stealing ideas off a youtube tutorial lol.

These were my batch/rough idea edits I did, if you think I should lean more to contrast. Or maybe I should completely start again in the edits?

 

[651stp]

i think too much smoothing was done on the 2nd set

 

[Pallycow]

I like number three on the first set. Only thing that bugs me is the piece of wall between her legs at her crotch...shoulda made the pillow or sheet or something there...easily fixed in post. and maybe flip horizontally.

 

[TCookieMonster]

You've done a pretty nice job of lighting, one thing you could work on a bit is your posing and composition.

 

[Sue5606]

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You will also have to excuse her expression. We were having a blinding argument at the time (nothing to do with what we were doing), but since it was only lighting practice we charged on.

^^^this^^^ is the best part of the whole thing...that she continued to pose for you in her undies while fighting with you...THAT is a woman to hold on to!!

 

[DiskoJoe]

Lighting seems a bit to bright. NOthing wrong with what you did here but there are some hot spots occurring. maybe just wait until later in the day of diffuse the light more. And as a general rule you dont want to edit pics of people too much to prevent things from getting chunky. Some of these are kind of chunky.