Boudoir Shoot

We set up our Studio for a Boudoir Session. We used a large Soft Box for Main Light and Umbrella for fill, all lit with Alien Bee Strobes controlled wirelessly. A small Nikon SB600 Sppedlight was also used as a Hair Light (not in this picture). The trick is controlling the light and being able to see The Light.

We like to shoot all Portraits, Boudoir using a HD Monitor which is connected to the Camera. This way we have immediate feedback for both the shooter and The Model about lighting, poses, blinking or other things. This makes the shoot flow quicker and with superb results!

Historically, the boudoir formed part of the private suite of rooms of a lady, for bathing and dressing, adjacent to her bedchamber, being the female equivalent of the male cabinet. In later periods, the boudoir was used as a private draw room.  A boudoir was a lady’s evening sitting room, and was separate from her Morning Room, and her Dressing Room.  As this multiplicity of rooms with overlapping functions suggests, boudoirs were generally only found in grand houses. In the United States, in the same era, boudoir was an alternative term for dressing room, favored by those who felt that French terms conferred more prestige.

A great deal of “boudoir” is now created in the photographer’s studio or in luxury hotel suites, where it has become very fashionable to create a set of sensual images for women in “boudoir style”. This often takes the shape of partly clothed images or images in lingerie, and has become more than just a passing fad for brides to surprise their future husbands. Although in the past there were many negative connotations associated with boudoir photography, in recent years the trend has begun to gain momentum, and the entire look of boudoir photography has begun to change.

Bridal boudoir photography is becoming particularly popular. Brides often have an album of boudoir style photographs made as a present for their soon to be husbands. Other common themes for boudoir photography are anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, weight loss, maternity, any form of body change or alteration (breast augmentation or reduction, etc.), and for soldiers overseas.