Boudoir photography can be a daunting subject when you are a newbie. With posing, lighting, composition, and figuring out the basics of using your camera effectively, being just a few of the aspects you will need to learn. To that end, here are some tips to help you on your journey.
Learn Your Camera
Shoot More
Educate Yourself
Look for Compositions
Follow Non-Boudoir Photographers
Get Feedback
1. Learn Your Camera
Learn how to use your camera on the fly so you can concentrate on other aspects of the shoot such as posing, lighting, or composition. The last thing you want to do during a shoot is to have to stop so you can look up how to change a setting. To help you with that, keep reading.
2. Shoot More
I’m not just talking about shooting boudoir, you should do that as much as possible too, but it could be travel, landscape, or street photography. The point is to get time behind the camera as this will help you with learning how to use it, while also practicing lighting and composition techniques. A good genre that synergizes well with boudoir is portrait photography.
3. Educate Yourself
I am a self-taught photographer and my platform of choice while I was learning was YouTube. I perused other sources too, but I would say YouTube was my go to 90% of the time when I needed to learn something related to photography. And thanks to Michael Sasser’s channel, it was where I learned about boudoir as well.
Given everything I just said about free photography and boudoir education, don't ignore paid education either. There are some great photographers out there that have products that are well worth your money.
4. Look for Compositions
Always be looking for compositions. When you go anywhere, keep a watch for compositions. Once you begin doing this you will start to see them everywhere. My favorites are leading lines and ways to frame a subject. You can see my article on compositions to learn more. After enough time you will be able to more easily spot compositions on the fly.
5. Follow Non-Boudoir Photographers
Not only should you be following boudoir photographers, but I suggest you follow photographers in other genres of photography as well. It could be street photography, swimwear, portrait, or fashion. I have gotten a lot of inspiration by following photographers who don’t shoot boudoir.
Some of my favorite non-boudoir photographers are:
Thomas Heaton
Sean Tucker
Aaron Brimhall
Cameron Hammond
Peter Coulson
Tiffany Roubert
Steve Lyon
Troy Booker
Pascal Thomas
David Dubnitskiy
6. Get Feedback
I will say this is one area where a traditional photography class shines. You get an actual photographer to look over your images and give you feedback. The way I see it you have two options. One, post your photos to online photography sharing sites asking for feedback, which has its own set of drawbacks. Two, and this is the better option in my opinion, find a boudoir photographer that offers critiquing or coaching services to look over your photos and give you advice.
Final Thoughts
These are my tips to help you improve at shooting boudoir photography. Take it slow and pick one or two to concentrate on so you don’t overwhelm yourself. If you have any tips you would like to share, leave a comment below.
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