My first boudoir shoot (semi NSFW - no nudity)

[theantiquetiger]

This is the first (and my favorite). This is a friend of a friend

jaime1 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


Take that back, this maybe my favorite

jaime3 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[Marko]

Both are pretty interesting for me and imo, these types of angles are more challenging in terms of flattering the model and you've done a good job on both. - I favour shot 2 though as it has more of a connection. There's a healthy dose of sultry in those eyes and the diagonal pose. I dig the hair layout. Interesting comp as well.As for critique on shot 2 - Hand position seems a bit awkward and I think removed footwear would have somehow worked better. Bw looks good overall, skin tones are too grey on my monitor though and could use a contrast boost. Since I know you're cool with shoppin', that bedpost at top mid right could be cloned out. Fairly sure the model will be super-happy with both these images -

[theantiquetiger]

Both are pretty interesting for me and imo, these types of angles are more challenging in terms of flattering the model and you've done a good job on both. - I favour shot 2 though as it has more of a connection. There's a healthy dose of sultry in those eyes and the diagonal pose. I dig the hair layout. Interesting comp as well.As for critique on shot 2 - Hand position seems a bit awkward and I think removed footwear would have somehow worked better. Bw looks good overall, skin tones are too grey on my monitor though and could use a contrast boost. Since I know you're cool with shoppin', that bedpost at top mid right could be cloned out. Fairly sure the model will be super-happy with both these images -

Thanks Marko. As for the hand placement, that is actually intentional. I watched a few hours of videos on boudoir (I know, someone has to do it) and it is actually a trick in hiding a natural flaw in the armpit when the body lays like this. Granted, her armpit is not seen here because of the shirt, but I had her do this because I didn't like how the shirt was falling, so I did kind of a "Peek-a-boo" with her hand, holding the shirt up just a tad.

As for the angle, this angle was actually my easiest and best angle to work with. The model has a pear-shaped figure and just a little healthy (granted she is 45, mother of 4), so I had a tough time with other poses, making sure I was catching her the way I wanted.

As for the skin tone and bed post, these edits were just 5 minute edits in LR. I plan go back and spend a good amount of time on the final images she picks. I have exactly 100 images in LR, about 3-5 images per pose, so she will have about 25 images to choose.

I am a little upset I missed the bottom eye and don't have another one in this pose this good, but she will love it.

jaime7 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[theantiquetiger]

Here is one, I practice my Liquify in PS. I noticed a few flaws after upload, easily fixed (these are just rough drafts). I know, color selective, but I wanted to change the blue corset to red.

Before
jaime12 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

After
jaime12a by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[christopher steven b.]

I hope you don't mind if I offer critique on the shots. I don't do boudoir but can imagine how challenging it really is (earnestly speaking).

1 - This photo has nice dramatic off-axis light working for it. It also has her crossing her legs creating sensual diagonal lines that makes her hips work for her. This works really really well here. I don't like how this angle has, given her orientation, somewhat nullified her bosom region. It's totally possible that with another garment / bra or with another gal, this angle wouldn't have flattened her out as it seems to have done.

2 - I regret to say that I don't think this is a good B+W conversion. The skin tones are flat and very dark. Perhaps the flatness isn't helped by the negative clarity (?) applied. The deep black shadow at the center of her cleavage seems not to help evoke sensuality.

3 - Sensual angle to be sure. I find the element on the top left to be distracting. You rightly point out that covering the eye with the bracelet is a problem. The smoothing also seems overdone and not really preserving of detail--it sounds like you're totally aware of that. Her right hand seems slightly odd in terms of its placement. I think showing the hand more open (ie. the inside of her hand) would have worked better. But this is the sort of thing I also might totally fail to consider when in the heat of a shoot.

[theantiquetiger]

Thanks for the critique, and I don't mind at all (or even editing for a sense understanding).

The biggest thing I learned about boudoir (for a client) is that the photographer is trying to capture what the model wants to show or express, contrary to other photography, where the photographer is trying to capture his own expression. The good thing about this, the model is not a photographer and will not go over the image with a fine tooth comb like we do as photographers. The model will mostly just want to look "Hot" or "Sexy". Make sure there is no double chin, wrinkles, etc. This doesn't mean I will slack on post processing, I do want to try and get some of my "expression" in the image as well, and make it the best I can get it, but if there is a flaw I cannot fix and I know a non-photographer will not know it is there, I can live with it. I have done about a dozen images so far with a quick post processing and sent to her. There were a few that if they were my images, they would have hit the recycle bin, but she LOVES every image I have sent so far, simply amazed at the outcomes.