The art of boudoir

With the right gear, lighting skills and a few posing ideas a boudoir shoot needn’t be a daunting prospect.

- James Paterson

Boudoir photography is big business at the moment and if you’re into portraits, it’s a useful skill to master. You’ll find lots of technical advice over the next couple of pages but first off it’s worth thinking about the style. Glamour has its place, but it’s not here. It’s not just about hiding the rude bits – the odd nipple on show isn’t the issue. It’s more about a shooting style that celebrates the shape of the body without objectifying the subject. There’s an element of empowerment to boudoir, which is why, more often than not, it’s women – rather than husbands or partners – who willingly seek out and pay for this type of photo shoot. It’s a boost for the ego, and a chance for them to say ‘I can look like this if I want to’.

So how do we get this sense of empowerment across in the photos? Firstly we talk to our model and find out the kind of looks and styles that appeal to her to give us an idea of what she wants to show – or hide – and what she considers her best assets. The best portrait photographers learn how to emphasize a person’s most interesting or alluring assets and play down the unflattering parts. With boudoir, this is vital. On the technical side, there are choices that we can make to take our shots out of the Reader’s Wives category and into the realms of the pros…

Key skills Enter the boudoir

Approach a boudoir shoot with the right gear and camera settings for great shots in challenging conditions

01 Camera settings

There’s no stock setting for all scenarios, but most of our shots here were taken in Manual mode with the aperture around f/2.8 and shutter speeds around 1/100 sec. We then adjusted ISO to perfect the exposure, with the sensitivity ranging from ISO400 to 1600.