Boudoir Part 15 : Keep it Simple
Boudoir Photography does not have to be complicated with all sorts of staged shots, props or complications. Here we have a very simple lighting set-up…. black backdrop and only one single Softbox to create this dramatic image. Regarding gear, Nikon D90, 100mm Prime, radio triggers for the strobe and off camera flash. Always Manual on the Camera and shoot in RAW or as Nikon terms it, NEFF! This gives flexibility during Post Processing. JPG is OK for everyday shots but, each time you save it, info is lost forever!
For this shot, Kathleen asked if our wonderful Model, Jovis, could envision 1930’s Hollywood poses. She immediately got the vision that Kathleen had envisioned and we had a spectacular session. Kathleen is so Masterful about posing! She brings out the best in everyone! Such a Gift! Now a bit about Glamour!
Glamour originally was a magical-occult spell cast on somebody to make them believe that something or somebody was attractive (Crazy, eh?). In the late 19th century terminology a non magical item used to help create a more attractive appearance gradually became ‘a glamour’. Today, glamour is the impression of attraction or fascination that a particularly luxurious or elegant appearance creates, an impression which is better than the reality. Typically, a person, event, location, technology, or product such as a piece of clothing can be glamorous or add glamour.
Virginia Postrel says that for glamour to be successful nearly always requires spreezzatura – an appearance of effortlessness, and to appear distant – transcending the everyday, to be slightly mysterious and somewhat idealised, but not to the extent it is no longer possible to identify with the person. Glamorous things are neither opaque, hiding all, nor transparent showing everything, but translucent, favourably showing things.
This is how we wanted this shot, alluring, subtle and provocative! Thanks for visiting our humble Photoblog and if you have ANY questions or would like a Photo Session, just drop us an Email at contact@kerstenbeck.com
Kathleen and Erik
Boudoir Part 14 : Dramatic Lighting
This stunning image of our model Danila, was taken using very simple techniques. A black backdrop stretched from floor to ceiling, Two strobes left and right provide the wash over Danila. We converted this to Black and White for added effect. Kathleen is “The Mistress of Posing” and just has a way to bring the best out of all of our models! One Professional Model once asked if KK would help with some Pro Sessions – wow.
Studio Lighting does not need to be expensive or complicated. The best source of light is the Sun! For soft light, take your subject to a window. Have her/him turn the nose towards the light and watch as the sunlight goes from Dramatic to Rembrandt. These shots are the easiest and perhaps the most complimentary since they convey a subtle mood. The most important thing is to get your DSLR out of “Portrait” or “Auto” mode and learn a bit about Exposure, Light and just have Fun! You will be amazed with your results!
Thanks for your kind visit and if you have ANY questions, just drop us an email contact@kerstenbeck.com
Kathleen and Erik
Boudoir Part 13: Soft Lighting, High Angle
This continues our series of Boudoir Photography from our Studio. Here, we again, have our lovely Model, Daniela (You should look at some of the other posts of this stunner). Boudoir Photography does not have to be overly complex, crazy Studio Lighting or elaborate sets. This was shot with a simple black backdrop, large softbox to the left and we adjusted the fill lights on the right to get a soft wash over her face. To get the high angle, we used a small step stool shooting down. Most of the time it is a good idea to shoot women from a higher perspective. It allows for accentuation and concealment of good and trouble spots. Men are a different story – usually from a lower angle to give a sense of power. Sometimes for Corporate Women, you can also use the lower angle, but for Boudoir, this is not typical.
The Gear: Two Alien Bee Strobes, Radio Triggers, Nikon D90 with an 18-55mm lens. Light Modifiers are from Paul. C. Buff, large softbox to left and large reflective umbrella to right. The softbox has a silver interior that can be further softened with a velcro attached diffuser and focussed with another velcro attached grid. The umbrella surface can be changed from silver to white and again, one can also add a diffuser on top. It all depends on the vision, some experimentation and most of all, just having fun!
Thanks for the visit to our humble PhotoBlog! If you have any questions or would like to book a session, drop us an email at contact@kerstenbeck.com
Happy Holidays, Kathleen and Erik
Boudoir Part 12 – Softbox and Fill
This is another shot of our stunning Model, Daniela. As you may recall from previous posts she has gone through an amazing transformation and has become our “Own Biggest Loser”. The effort and persistent that she has shown is be an inspiration to us all who want to Live Fit. We hardly recognize her, but, Wow! So proud. Kathleen has been having her ass kicked every morning, waking up at 4AM by this dude: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001071686692 Kudos to K and M to keeping this going!
Now a bit about this shot. Black backdrop, and from the Catch Lights in the eyes, you can immediately see a large softbox 45 degrees left and a small fill umbrella 45 degrees right. Always look at the Model’s eyes and you will find the lighting! Cool. eh? Our set-up is simple and effective. Getting the exposure correct takes some practice, setting up the gear with wireless controllers and HD Monitor for Model Feedback is a chore, but getting the pose…that is the fun!
Thanks for visiting our humble PhotoBlog – if you would like us to work with you, just email us at contact@kerstenbeck.com
Happy Holidays, Kathleen and Erik
Home Studio Boudoir Part 11
This is another shot of our lovely Model “D” from several weeks ago from a Glam Photo Shoot in our Studio. We have been privileged to shoot her Family Pictures and have witnessed a huge transformation. She has worked so hard over the space of a year to transform herself into a new person. Diet, exercise, everything to become the stunning beauty she is now. We are so proud or her and to be able to be part of her Journey! You may recall some older posts:
https://kerstenbeckphotoart.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/total-transformation-our-own-biggest-loser/
Here we used a black backdrop and as you can tell from the “Catch Lights” there were two strobes in action. Clearly the one to the left is a large Soft Box, and the right is smaller umbrella. The trick to these shots, when the Model is lying down is to adjust lights to get the most flattering image.
You also do not need to buy expensive gear – you can start experimenting with lights that you can but at Home Depot or any Hardware Store, and they are inexpensive!. Any Incandescent light can be used for Hair Light, Back Light etc. Just adjust your White balance and you are set! You can fashion Diffusers out of white cloth, stretched with a K-Mart Hula-Hoop and Duct Tape!. Then focus on Composition, and get your Camera off your Auto Setting. Then have Fun!
Thanks for visiting our Humble PhotoBlog and please, if you have any questions, contact@kerstenbeck.com
Kindest regards, Kathleen and Erik
Boudoir Part 10: Nude Implied
We have found that shooting nude models, although it sounds exotic, is really hard. Nobody is perfect and light can be a harsh reminder of that. It is up to the photographer to bring the best out of the model, and out of the vision of the shot. We have discovered that imagination bests everything when it comes to nude.
In this shot, our lovely model, Jovis was naked. We covered her up on the bottom and had her front face away from the camera. The lighting was very simple. Large Softbox which washed light over her back. We instructed her to look a bit left to silhouette her face. We think this is very subtle and delicate – somewhat classic in composition.
What do you think? Thanks for visiting our Blog. We are currently on location in Maui and will bring to you many spectacular shots of Landscapes, Tropical Rain Forestst, Surfers, Sail Boarding and More. Stay Tuned!
Boudoir Part 9: Simple Lighting
This continues the series of Boudoir and Studio Photography. The previous post detailed a bit about Complex Lighting and showed a behind the scenes shot of the lighting set up. There were Speedlights everywhere, large Soft Box etc. The results were wonderful, but to haul, set up and fine tune all of this equipment is quite a chore. To do things right, many practice shots need to be taken before the model should even consider entering into the set. It is somewhat boring for a model to have the photographer give instructions like, “Just stand there. OK. Can you wait a second while we adjust the brightness of this light? OK, one more. Hmmm, looks like the angles are all wrong”. You get the idea. Everything should be set up and ready to go – a model’s job is to help create the vision of the photographer, not to be a dummy for light balancing!
The point of this is that sometimes simple is also good. For this rather dramatic shot, a large Softbox was used in a dark room with black background.. This is an easy set up to haul, construct and dynamically adjust as the session progresses. It is also relatively inexpensive and can be used for dramatic Profiles, Rembrandt, Flat and High Key. There is no Hair Light from behind or fancy edge lights, but sometime you just don’t need this – and often all that stuff just gets in the way of a nice shot!
Thanks for you kind visit to our Photo Blog!
Boudoir Part 8 : Complex Light
This behind the scenes shot demonstrates the gear involved with a shoot. Here we wanted to conserve the Rembrandt Light on our model and get High Key Back Light. The concept was to get a bit Hollywood into the shot – like Runway Photographers. The background flare comes from a bank of portable Speedlights. The main light is from a large soft box. To get the Rembrandt Lighting one only needs to direct the model’s nose position to look to or away from the light. Here is a shot of the setup.
Studio set ups do not need to be expensive or overly complex. One does not need to invest hundreds of dollars for Nikon or Cannon TTL Sppedlights – you can buy older models for a fraction of the price and not have to worry about when you drop them. We have broken several expensive Nikon SB600 Speedlights through incidental damage. An old Vivitar does the job just as well. The only other tools one needs is some light stands, perhaps a few light modifiers like umbrellas and most importantly, radio triggers to control the lights. If you shop around, all of this gear is really not that expensive.
The fun part is learning how all of this works with your camera, lots of trial and error and learning to see the light.
Thanks for the visit to our Blog – we really appreciate it!
Boudoir Part 7: Use of Props
Ready for The Show
When we were studying The Art of Boudoir Photography we noticed that there are some common props that are used, like the acoustic guitar. The guitar is typically used to hide portions of the model to generate an “Implied Nude” shot. Here we tried something a bit different – we went Electric and Rock and Roll. One can imagine a lead guitarist walking onto a smokey stage, her “axe” ready for a great show, high heals and fish nets. Somewhat Eighties feel like Pat Benetar, don’t you think?
What is fascinating about this shot is that the female form follows the lines of the guitar in a very flattering way. Perhaps the designers at Ibanez had this in mind? We think it worked. As far as lighting goes, black backdrop, low lights, great music and as one can see from the reflections on the guitar, a huge gridded softbox. The grid (aside from adding complementary textures to our models fish nets) allows one to create soft lighting and yet it is very directed. Think about shooting a flash through 100 straws, very similar to a single Snoot but a lot more of them.
Please let us know what you think of this shot and thanks for visiting our humble blog!
Boudoir Part 6: It’s For Everyone
Hot Mommasita
It is easy to take stunning pictures of the people who are in their twenties and thirties. They have not yet developed their “experience” lines. In the Studio, they can be illuminated with harsh flat light, 90 degree light, Rembrandt and essentially anything (even Monster Lighting) and they look wonderful. The job of the Photographer is to make their models look fabulous, period. This requires some analytics technically for lighting and also knowing how to pose the model during a shoot to make them look fabulous! Boudoir is for everyone – as mentioned in previous posts, this is not about “Gentlemen’s Magazines”, it is all about subtle and sensual images that are shared with a loved one. Implied is always better than displayed in our opinion.
Standards of Glamour Photography have changed over time, reflecting changes in social acceptance. In the early 1920s, United States photographers like Ruth Harriet Louise and George Hurrell photographed celebrities to glamorize their stature by utilizing lighting techniques to develop dramatic effects. During World War II, Pin-Up pictures of scantily clad Movie Stars were extremely popular among US servicemen. However, until the 1950s, the use of glamour photography in advertising or men’s magazines was highly controversial or even illegal. Magazines featuring glamour photography were sometimes marketed as “art magazines” or “health magazines”. How times have changed!
Thank you for visiting our Photography Blog!
Boudoir Part 5: Different Perspectives
Are those Handcuffs?
Sometime the use of different perspectives makes the model provocative without going over the top. In this shot, immediately the eye is drawn to the red shoes, the tattoo and then follows the lines down to the model who is on her back. What an Ab Workout! Her hair flows into darkness. Often these types of shots are about subtle suggestion and not necessarily how fancy the britches are (We purchased all of the garments for this shoot from K-Mart by the way) and how “The Girls” are displayed.
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.
We have been increasingly developing our Portfolio in these areas, working hard and producing eye pleasing and tasteful images. We welcome any inquiries. Thank you kindly for the visit to our humble Blog!
Boudoir Part Two
This continues The Boudoir Series from our Studio in Ramona, California. The key to successful Boudoir or Glamour Photography is developing trust between the Photographer and The Client. Many women fear the way they will look in front of a Camera. With exception of High School Senior shots or Weddings, it is unlikely that she has been photographed by a Professional Photographer. Every session should be positive. Here are some helpful Hints:
- Don’t take any photos that you couldn’t show your best friend.
- Get inspired before taking your photos by checking out other boudoir portfolios
- Look for a photographer whose photos you love, and not necessarily a “boudoir” photographer
- Bring your favorite Music along
- A good photographer will highlight your best assets so be proud of your body
- Be comfortable with yourself – the photographer wants to capture the best possible shot and will direct you to achieve this
- A good boudoir photographer will ask questions like “Is there any particular feature that your fiance loves or that makes you feel especially good about yourself?” or “What body part would you like to me avoid taking pictures of?”
- Don’t forget to take some smiling. Your Dude probably likes seeing you with a smile on your face as much as he likes seeing you play the role of the seductress.
Kerstenbeck Photographic Art 