Today’s Post by Blue Moon Staff
I wasn’t really naked. I simply didn’t have any clothes on.”—Josephine Baker
Modern boudoir photography is characterized by empowering its female subjects. Boudoir photographs are sometimes given as a gift with the intention of re-affirming and encouraging romance between partners. It‘s common for women to have boudoir photographs made as a gift for a partner on the occasion of an engagement, marriage or before an enforced separation such as a military deployment.
Increasingly, boudoir photography is seen as something a woman might do purely for their own enjoyment, for the pleasure and affirmation of seeing themselves as attractive, daring, sensual and desirable. What all this means to you is that you are in control of how you look and the image that you want to portray, which can be a side of your personality not normally seen or kept private for your loved one.
Nudity? How much, how little or even at all is always the model’s decision, although purists might argue that the client at right is not actually nude because she’s wearing panties. And if that’s your comfort zone, who are we to argue. Ultimately it’s your choice as to what to wear or not wear,
Some clients do some parts of a session in lingerie like the above right photos or later in the shoot when they’re more relaxed, as an implied nude, topless (as in this shot) or nude. You get to decide.
How I Made this Shot: Shooting available light portraits under low and mixed lighting conditions can be a challenge. This featured image is a portrait of Amelia, a student chef at Johnson & Wales University, who was referred to me by another young model that I had worked with previously. And just as referrals are a key part of a traditional portrait business getting referrals from models who you worked with before is one of the best, especially in these post-COVID time when the modeling business, like almost everything, has been badly scrambled.
This portrait was shot in a dining room with most of the light coming from a window in the door she’s standing next to. The camera used was Canon EOS 50D with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens. Exposure was 1/200 sec at f/2.8 and ISO 200 with a plus one-thirds stop of exposure compensation. The final photograph is a actually a composite of three different image files that were made in rapid succession from 11:04:19 to 11:04:46 AM and were assembled in Photoshop using layers.
