Today boudoir attempt

cauzimme · Dec 12, 2015

I had a Out of the city Contract with a lovely escort who tried to book me in the past. Long story short, she's into girl, I'm her type, look like her ex girlfriend. But last time, after contacting me, she went back to her ex, and most recently her client (we were suppose to meet the 3 of us in Montreal, change the destination for Toronto which at that time Icouldn't travel too)
So she books a shooting with me, and we just talk and had fun all afternoon, I'm not falling in love, but i'm definitively falling in lust with her. I don't know if it's because I'm very attract to her, but I feel that I did a better job.

DanOstergren · Dec 13, 2015

Your photos seem to be getting a lot better. I like your lighting.
I feel that the lamp doesn't need to be in the third picture; it creates a bright spot that draws my eyes away from the more beautiful aspects of the photograph.

I think having a lust for your subject can definitely have a positive effect on a photo shoot. I actively seek out bearded men to photograph because I think bearded men are beautiful, and those photos always seem to be what I feel are my best photographs.

Donde · Dec 13, 2015

Agree these are very nice and show considerable improvement. And know what you mean, I have a lust for the two girls I take most of my snapshots of.

cauzimme · Dec 13, 2015

DanOstergren said:
Your photos seem to be getting a lot better. I like your lighting.
I feel that the lamp doesn't need to be in the third picture; it creates a bright spot that draws my eyes away from the more beautiful aspects of the photograph.

I think having a lust for your subject can definitely have a positive effect on a photo shoot. I actively seek out bearded men to photograph because I think bearded men are beautiful, and those photos always seem to be what I feel are my best photographs.

Yeah, I even tried a different cropping and then removing the lamp, but i'm having a hard time with the curtain. Next time!
Awsome beard is awsome

Thank you.

tirediron · Dec 13, 2015

C&C per req:

These are good, but I think there are a number of small points that could be addressed to make them a much stronger overall set.

1. Your key light is too strong/too close here. There's a distinctly 'flashed' look to her face, breasts and left hand. I think lighting this would have been better done with two lights; your key light as-is, where is, but at least 1 stop lower and then an on-axis fill light to bring some light to the legs/feet. Watch the wrinkles in her bra & panties as well; some small clips and/or gaff tape can be invaluable for issues like this.

2. Lighting here is really nice; I might tone down the highlights at the RH edge just a bit, but that's minor I would also adjust the crop so that there's either none or more of the stocking showing.

3. I actually like the idea of the lamp in this image, but while the pose & composition are great, the lighting, quite frankly sucks. The window and lamp are blown. My approach here would have been to meter for the curtains, and then adjust the lamp's output, either by putting a cut or two of ND gel in the shade or using a lower wattage bulb to be appropriate, and then fill in as required with a 1-2 speedlights.

Just my $00.02 worth - YMMV

Derrel · Dec 13, 2015

I like the third photo quite a bit, especially considering the back story you've provided! This is a split toned re-envisioning of your lovely photo that I did in Lightroom, trying to work with the over-exposure...yes, the window is "blown"...but that's not always a bad thing. The lampshade is also blown out, but who wants to look at a lampshade when she's in the room? I know I wouldn't. I can tolerate highlight blow-out in some scenarios.

Shooting contre-jour like this, your best friend is a large 42 x 72 inch white fabric panel reflector, and about 250 to 600 Watt-seconds of flash fired at the panel (or a wall!) and allowed to bounce back toward the window, providing a lot of "lift" for the inside of the room. You want fill light, and then later in post, you can "pull down" the windows with an exposure adjustment, and then use a Lightroom adjustment brush and just "paint on" your dodging to lighten up the shadowed side of the people. The goal is to create a good "digital negative" for later processing. Cutting the total scene dynamic range down is a good idea when shooting contre-jour.

To render the lighting of a desk or bedside hotel lamp "warm" and tungsten-y? Or to make it look like daylight and normal colored? I go with daylight, because the yellowish lampshades so many places have give enough warmth. If you want to use these lamps in shots, get one of these, the Morris bare-bulb screw-in slave triggering flash, which uses the standard "Edison base" that 95% of desk/wall lamps use. This would have given nice fill on her hair and arm.
Morris AC Bare Bulb Screw-In Slave Flash 690405 B&H Photo Video

This shot also looks good as a regular B&W shot, like this

.

..but I'm not sure that the exposure in-camera allows the photo to be in the right "key"...this would be good darker, but the bright window light makes a totally dark, moody shot seem a bit wrong, in photographer's terms.I dodged it on the hair and stockings and backside, but from a JPG working file, there's not enough information to make it look optimal. From the .NEF file, if you could burn down the upper left and left side even a bit, it would be awesome.

But it's one hell of a sexy, fetching outfit and pose and situation. The room furnishings, and the sheers/blackout curtain backdrop and the chair all scream ,"Nice hotel room!"

JoeW · Dec 13, 2015

cauzimme said:
I had a Out of the city Contract with a lovely escort who tried to book me in the past. Long story short, she's into girl, I'm her type, look like her ex girlfriend. But last time, after contacting me, she went back to her ex, and most recently her client (we were suppose to meet the 3 of us in Montreal, change the destination for Toronto which at that time Icouldn't travel too)
So she books a shooting with me, and we just talk and had fun all afternoon, I'm not falling in love, but i'm definitively falling in lust with her. I don't know if it's because I'm very attract to her, but I feel that I did a better job.

View attachment 112741 View attachment 112742 View attachment 112743

Very nice work--much closer to a boudoir feel (sexy and romantic, softer light) than some of your previous work. You're making big strides very quickly.

#1: like the pose and the shot. Love how her hair hangs down. A couple of small things...
--have the model bring her right knee up higher. That pose looks great on every woman out there. It will also make her right thigh a little thinner (you don't have a thigh on thigh which flattens the upper thigh and makes it look a bit flabbier) so that will compliment her--make her look leaner and sometimes show a bit more definition.
--The light isn't quite as soft and it's a bit too much on her face and chest--if you could bounce the speed light off of a reflector or maybe a scrim, that would soften it some. it would also reduce some of the small shadows on her face.
--Originally I didn't like the lamp being on but instead it creates a bit of a triangle of focus (the lamp, her head, her right thigh/hip) that is a nice composition element.
--Here's another pose suggestion...just about every woman on the planet (including a size zero) is going to get a crease on her upper tummy in that pose. So here's how to deal with it in-camera...just take that right arm and drape it over the side of her tummy casually. It looks natural, it hides the crease, it also gets the hand off of the hip.

#2: I've already told you earlier that I like that pose. Very lean and flowing. I think the edge of her stocking is a bit distracting. Think of a slightly tighter crop and then clone in some more pillow so we lose the black backdrop on top (which I find a little distracting). For future reference, take her right hand and rest her head on it. That will give you a cleaner outline of the face (right now, part of the right hand pops up--she's got great facial structure and I'd like it better if that outline of her face is clearer).

#3: lovely pose, lovely model, lovely shot. Hair obscuring part of the face--adds some mystery and seductiveness. The arched back--just lovely. I'd like to see a little more detail in her hair (but the lighting placement means the hair facing us is underexposed). Yes, the previous posters about the highlights/overblown curtains and lamp are accurate. I don't think those are killers though--just minor flaws to me anyway. But for future, Derrel's points about a honking big piece of poster board or a giant reflector you can set up and bounce a speed light off of--that's the way to go. Remember, for boudoir, you want soft light, you don't want hard shadows with sharp lines...you want softer lines on the shadows. Your take-aways or lessons from this shot: great model and great pose, but next time get a big reflector to produce softer light and fill, and move lamps away.

Here's a hint: shoot a couple of test shots, then put it up on your laptop screen and you and your model critique. Show her what parts of the pose are working and talk through how to adjust. You look at your histograph (for exposure issues) and see what lighting you need to adjust to make it softer and more even. If you're shooting art nudes, great dynamic range can be a good thing but less so for glamour or boudoir. This is what people used to use polaroids for in the film days

Last point: you did a remarkable job shooting someone you have the hots for you in the past has expressed interest in you. A lot of photographers (especially if lust is involved) would lose their perspective and "eye"....and would generate crap. That is not what has happened here.

cauzimme · Dec 13, 2015

Thank you, the 3th image was actually a tad underexposed (compared to the edit) to get the curtain, but I just push it in Camera Raw so I loose the drapes but gain her... I was packing light, a flash head only ((Not even the tripod) and I positioned it behind a curtain because I was not always getting enough sun, no view at all) and my camera, I will have to buy a sb-, my sb600 is not working anymore. And I'll be sure to not forget my reflector next time. It gaves me an idea of what I was actually able to do and what wasn't possible. Any idea about photographic equipment easily transportable (train, plane)

JoeW · Dec 13, 2015

cauzimme said:
Thank you, the 3th image was actually a tad underexposed (compared to the edit) to get the curtain, but I just push it in Camera Raw so I loose the drapes but gain her... I was packing light, a flash head only ((Not even the tripod) and I positioned it behind a curtain because I was not always getting enough sun, no view at all) and my camera, I will have to buy a sb-, my sb600 is not working anymore. And I'll be sure to not forget my reflector next time. It gaves me an idea of what I was actually able to do and what wasn't possible. Any idea about photographic equipment easily transportable (train, plane)

First, that last photo is also a lovely headshot. I did some quick edits and this is what I came up with.

I've traveled in the US, in Canada, and internationally with a lot of carry-on stuff. Here is typically what I was schlepping....I'd have a soft-sided duffle bag that would fit carry-on size for airplanes. In that would go a portable soft box and stand, a portable tripod (to get something that fits carry-on length for airplanes, you usually need to go with legs that have 4 segments which reduces stability...still, it's a tripod), 2 speed lights, some lens--usually 2-3, extra batteries, a small reflector, usually some fabric which I could use for props, and then 2 days worth of clothes and general toiletries. Then in a backpack I'd have bodies and key lens, my laptop, reading material and notes, phone, medicine, etc.

As for what equipment to consider....I know some people swear by various triggers and wizards. But since you've got Nikon, I think it's worth it to go with the CLS unless you're having to trigger great distances or not line-of-sight (like a speed light outside a building shooting in to a window or around a corner). Definitely have two speed lights. First, you're dead if you only have one and it doesn't work. Second, you can do so much more with 2 lights (use the second to bounce off the ceiling. Gaffer tape or a gorillapod or a clamp that attaches to a speed light. You seem to usually shoot indoors in tight space so light stands are not only tough to travel with but you may not have room for them. I think some very light fabric (that is good sized) is good b/c you can drape models but also tape/pin it to the ceiling and you've got a scrim to soften light (which is going to be big for what you shoot). Think about a beauty light for some of the work you're shooting (for escorts that want a beautiful/glamorous shot of their face with gorgeous eyes)...it may or may not be a fit.

Then for shooting models, there is really a bunch of non photographic stuff that is essential for any shoot that your subjects may not be carrying with them: wipes, safety pin or something to clamp fabric or bunch up something that is sagging, derma blend if you want to cover up a tattoo or some scars, and sometimes props (people inexperienced with posing often don't know what to do with their hands--so if you give them a champagne flute, a rose, a classic coke bottle) they look more natural.

cauzimme · Dec 13, 2015

Oh great, very useful thanks!!!

dannylightning · Dec 14, 2015

I like the first one, the second is OK, can't stand the 3rd one , I hate the net she is wearing for underwear. That ruins the photo for me. I guess I am a picky guy, if a girl got undressed and was wearing those I would be really turned off.

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