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Boudoir

Lesson 19 from: Unique Posing for Weddings

Doug Gordon

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Lesson Info

19. Boudoir

Next Lesson: Posing Recap

Lesson Info

Boudoir

we're going to do boudoir as I was telling you before boudoir is one of the most popular type of shooting styles now there are people who specialize in it and it makes a world of difference with them no obviously were a little limited on what we can do based on being inside this type of environment so we're not going to go over the top but I want to kind of welcome you into it the idea riboud y isn't as much people think it's about oh it's going to be sexy you don't wantto over sex it up the idea is you want to try to make it so that you make the person feel good about themselves showing less it's maur if you know what I mean we don't want complete nudity if you get into complete nudity that's a completely different type of photography that's more of a high end glamour type what happens with it is ultimately you're going to have to do more work more specialized lighting toe work do I do it of course ideo but it's more of a fine art where's a boudoir is a soft seductive photography with...

someone who isn't perfect comes in there not supermodels but your job isn't just to take the images you're job is a boudoir photographer is to create a moment for them it's to create a personality it's to take them outside of who they really our it's about a seductive moment so when starting a boudoir I don't automatically saito ok come in strip down to your lingerie let's do it I let them warm up with some clothes on whether it be you know a simple how wearing a boyfriend or husband shirt I want her to feel good about herself and I want her to feel comfortable with me and that's killed out of times I'm going to play it one point for in this situation I want to keep it simple and it's simple and it's almost kind of like the wedding for opposing the idea behind it is to make her feel seductive if she feels seductive I feel seductive we're going to get what we want you a what do you mean you feel seductive I have to look at a boudoir subject and think what I like is a man so and I don't mean that and kind of that perverted way that you may think this has to be done so tasteful so elegant because I don't ever wanna course the line I could wipe out my whole boudoir business by her saying oh my goodness I went and saw a dog and he his pitches are beautiful but the guy was checking me out he was a pervert so part of it is me always keeping eye contact and scanning and having a connection with her now do you know how I'm a toucher do you think I touches much during the boudoir no actually a lot more that's more fun that way no I don't really touches much what I'm doing is a moving and manipulating a little bit but this I have to ask is it okay if I just kind of push and movie around so I've already had the discussion with my model I want to make sure that she feels okay but again it's not about over the top you know when doing a boudoir do I take them topless yes but do I want a gratuitous breath shot no I want something that makes her feel soft with the hands coming down just a little bit one natural now in most cases I'm going to try to light this in more of a daylight hi kik sort of aspect to make her feel good now what are some of the things that I may do with the end I may start going in and liquefying and pulling and pushing just a little bit in photo shop but it's all about softness it's about making her feel good so I'm gonna call over my beautiful model and what we've done right now as we set her up on what we're basically doing is this is even a little bit more than what I'd normally start with I wouldn't say okay take off your bottoms let's go for it I have earned a shirt but obviously due to time constraints we don't want to overdo this so we're gonna bring you back some of what we should name him beautiful karen with a k a nice to see you you're gonna come right back here beautiful okay so the idea here is in most cases I'm going to start with her on the wall when she's in this type of setup so I'm going back on to the corner what I'd like you to deal with unbutton just about one button equally that middle one open okay and what I want you to do it because I want to start tio see it a little bit but I don't want to overdo it so it's okay if I touching good I want to bring you into the corner push yourself in and now what I want to do is take your front lee that god did you see that curve she's already created a beautiful curve and by bringing herself on a toe like a ballerina caf tightens up that's what you're looking for now I want you to kind of open up the bottom just a little bit with your hands good that ago now push your hip back but leaning forward looking down turn your head to your right now here's the difference between forward off the wall here's the difference do I care about sloppy hair in this case no because that's kind of seductive I don't care about it what I do care about is making sure that she's comfortable on that the sloppy hair doesn't cause the shadow and you know what I mean by sloppy hair hair in the face so we got I'm going to keep this simple amusing all day looking down beautiful push your hip back a little bit good dada girl now lean your body off the walker with a k axel and just like that looking down wonderful stay right there you're doing spectacular beautiful good now what it's like you two deal can you some button one more time you gonna button all the way for me and I want you to kind of open up just a little bit and I want you to push out just a tad but leaning towards may turn your head to your right turning your head to me a little bit leaning forward just a tad turn your head that a girl looking at may drop one hand a little bit lower excellent stay they're beautiful don't move now let's take a look again it's beyond about creating a softer look so what I'm gonna do is bring myself up looking down now beautiful open up just a little bit open up your shirt just a tad bring it into you a little because looking down pushing a shoulder and excellent beautiful now look at how was softening the body is we go down so what's happening is starting to really see the top of the cleavage were starting to soften her up just a little bit now watch what we do we're going to pull her off the wall for a second it's kind of a flow isn't it moving her around making her feel good but most of all I'm pushing her body out can you come behind the couch for me beautiful on what I want you to do is kind of sit with your back to munich educator I want your hands turn around bring your head back with spread your arms wide head back all the way now this is a bridal pose isn't it but it's pretty sexy with hard right now you know why because you know what's there watch how we pull it and make it sexier I'm gonna pull your shirt down a little bit okay now the magics really happening so again just like every other time I have to identify where the main lights coming from turn your head a little bit to your left but your head back close your eyes and your head back more so now I have that hot light back there don't I I have to be careful because if I meet a wrong I'm going to hit the hot light everything's going to get ruined told it so I'm going to go right into her hair and take a look that should blow out the background which starts a flow now is the blown out background ah good thing the blown out back grounds a great thing because what's gonna happen is the glowing light is going to thin her out isn't it really starts to thin her out now what we're going to do here it is do you mind sitting up do you mind if I take this off accident thank you do you notice I make a lot of crude jokes at times am I doing that at all now I can't do that there's a very fine line this has to be on the up and up it has to be the most respect that you could ever give a person now the reason forest she's nervous she's naked in front of a guy practically that she doesn't know and even though the guy looks like may she still nervous you know she could look a bit call look at this guy I know that he's experienced yes and you still use the same language like beautiful gorgeous always use that always always um and people have said it all to remember everybody likes hearing everybody likes hearing I don't remember when I developed it when I first started shooting I used to be like look here everybody say money everybody say pickles because that was kind of the way my dad did it but me I think because I went into the wedding with a different approach in terms of looking to connect on a different level not necessarily a professional level when I was younger I was looking to date people so I was looking and making them feel good but the fact is I like it when people say nice things to me people aren't thinking oh he says that to everybody and if someone says you say that to everybody but no you should see some of the people I met I really don't wolf say you're lucky I'm saying it to you because I want them to feel good about them good okay so what we going to do now is I want to see you let your arms back and bring your head back to me so lay back on your elbows if you can for me and now your head back good now what I'm looking to do head back beautiful now I'm looking toe what I'm trying to get the body flowing a little bit this is a perfect time for an eighty five millimeter one point four but I don't know you know what let's go for it can I have that please thank you so we're gonna go in with an eighty five one point four because we focus on her eyes again what happens to everything else this is an ideal but we're going to make it happen head back I'm sorry pretty good so we're going to go here and we're gonna go after priority one point for head back sorry we need to get higher again the lighting's great I can't beat the lighting close your eyes close your mouth up let's take a look I'm not getting a shower adept a field as I would want but I'm getting enough sexy right now I'll probably crop out of legs because I don't like the way they look they look like two nobby legs down there because of the out of focus not that that has anything to do with you girl good so watch what we do here again it's about using what you have so I want you can you kneel behind the couch for me let me see if you kind of lean into the couch when we know what your seductiveness could that a girl she just gave me something there now is every model going to be able to do that the fact is this is wrong in every single way if you two opposing because she's enlarging her shoulder she's lucky she could pull it off will it work for most people no but we got to bring her head to that direction now the one thing I need to be careful of is making sure that her head doesn't kind of tilt your head to your right beautiful eyes down does it work is well that way it doesn't bring your head back to me nope tilt the other way turn your head to make eyes their chin down a little bit good girl I know that's how it good stay right there beautiful we'll get may hold on I'm almost there take a look reacts so again on spot me doing on the face I'm allowing the background to pull out so nice soft images in it no let's watch what we start to do here let's bring her I want to see could you lay on the top of the couch without killing yourself good one leg up one leg down good if you have to keep one like no lay back and bring your head back again well that's pretty hot good that works looking there again should I stay at one point four now guess what this is nowhere near is hot as it can big I'm going to show you how great we could make this look head back beautiful hold on one second you're doing terrific this looks phenomenal but it's nowhere near the way it could look watch the difference this makes hold on one second that looks pretty good you like that girl not very that's good I'm really cheap now watch how I can change this watch this I'm going to take my life and here I'm gonna go backto flash I'm going you're going to stay right there mind you do I have a little bit of pole on the corner now so what I need to do is bring up behind her it's pretty far behind her at this point right now that hot light of the window's not exactly great I'd really like it to be on a black wall if I could so let's see what I deal I'm gonna change to flash I'm gonna bring my I s o down too one sixty I'm gonna bring it emmanuelle I'm going to go to sixty f ate let's see what happens now do I need to turn off all the lights in the studio no because I'm trying to cut it out with the am pm on the shutter speed head back beautiful close your eyes had back just like that and you know what makes a world of difference when you turn the flash on it actually fires its spectacular head down beautiful head back there I opened up a little bit let's take a look and see if anything good happened that looked pretty good right there that looks really good doesn't it now do I like that hot light back there no but this is an ideal of where I'd shoot this but what I want you to look at his look at the beautiful perfect profile lighting now watch how we make this more dynamic if I want that window to go doc what do I need to do increased the shot of speed so we're going to stay at seven point one we're going to go to two hundred let's see what happens head back again gorgeous all I know is that the lighting pattern is what terrific now the window is going to go doctor but I'm still hitting it with the light it's not gonna work what as well so let's take a look at what comes up you see I'm still getting it so now my camera set for what high speed sync I'm going eight hundred let's see what happens head back and all that's gonna happen is I'm going to keep seeing that bright spot inside the window so here's my option I didn't even get it then because the high speed I guess I wasn't set for high speed sync watch what I do here so I'm going to change it I'm going to stay it's seven point one but I'm going to go to complete opposite rather than be it's sixty I'm going yeah I'm going to go to fifteenth of a second go on tripod right who needs to work that hard stay right there beautiful I've got to take a look and when it comes up you'll get a better idea what we done I'm not blowing out enough but it still works so rather than keep wasting time on this image the idea is when you're in available light let the window blow out it works but dynamically if I was on a black background how would that look would look pretty phenomenal so let's go back here let's go off of two thousands over about five minutes left with this beautiful motto we're going to go back here too after priority again and we're going to change it down to one point for again on what I wanted teo is I want to bring you right over here on this side of the couch I want you we're going to sit and we're going to do this a little different going to bring you here I want you to sit here we're going to throw your legs up on the wall for me so what we're going to do at this point so I back you're going to slide all the way and then you're practically gonna hang off the couch but your legs up head back bring your hands behind you but your legs up a little bit okay good and bring one leg down don't scratch up the wall head back turn your head to may to your head back turn your head to your right okay turn you head to your left not so much not so much head back relax look at the flow of that image beautiful hair working real soft real simple and again one point for no flash okay all day like take a look make sure that sounded faster than I wanted stay right there beautiful pretty nice image huh now you're head back or just you know keep your head back good head back a little bit relax notice what a doing again I'm softening up by focusing on the ice and everything else behind it go softer picking up little areas of the body so watch back open your mouth a little bit beautiful I'm getting a little bit of armpit but I'm going to crop it out look at where I focus focusing on a mouth you like that you know I'm really good now can you sit up for a second beautiful looking us soft and elegant that isthe you know the new thing now is that most people think that women are the only one who can do boudoir it's not about that men can do it too it's about being able to create something from nothing so watch what we do here I think this is one of my constant lights isn't it no this is so I'm gonna turn this on and I'm going to use this come right over here beautiful it's going to take a second for it to heat up it's not as wide as I want but come over here I'm going to turn it up all the way let me see you stand in front of this light turn your body to may bring your arms up through your hair and look down back up a little bit slide over a little bit to your there you go looking down lean forward pushing eyes down shooting that into a soft box and enough that's gonna work well it will if I let the soft box over exposed correct so I'm focusing and again at one point four no smile accident let's see what we got what should happen if I expose right is that she should blow out from behind and get a beautiful glow that's a nice little backlight is in it now what I want to do is bring your hands off into your neck a little bit turning heads to me lean forward and just open him out I want you to go at desk disco close your eyes stay right there you're doing great don't move hold on I'm sorry with the one point for as you can imagine it gets a little bit difficult let's say so look at where I cropped I went right into the mouth and I bought it down that looks kind of seductive because it's about her body now what I want you to dio I don't want you to take your bottoms off but you wearing anything underneath um ok can you bring you hip down and pulling down to sort of remember not too much okay but down a little bit remember I don't think even if it wasn't the way it is I wouldn't overdo it right now anyway because it serves me no purpose if you see it there's no adventure to it remember you want to keep the adventure part of it okay so we're gonna bring it down bring in her again into a high key cities pull down a little bit so I might see a little bit of the hip there what am I really in actuality shooting here the belly button the curve of the hip good bring both hands and good just like that now push that hip back just a little bit nope the other way that girl why do I want to push it away now I'm getting a little bit of george for you have the drawer string there can you just pull that down so I don't get the shot off perfect stay there good getting a little bit of shadow from this light which I'd kill but push your hip back its head I don't know if I'm in love with it because she doesn't have you have a beautiful stomach but if I had more of a little bit of definition between the two I actually made her look bigger she's not going to like that I made her waist look bigger even though I shot down because I didn't push him enough on it okay so that's key so how can I try and change it bring it down a little bit your panties under anything good just like that not too much ok push you hit back a little bit now bring your hand up there we're creating a little bit pulled out and I bring the other hand up creating a tattoo distraction not know bring your right left right in there and bring your left hand up by your belly button okay I'm not finding what I want so I move on that's the whole idea of it you move on forman and you try and look for the best definition now obviously with her beauty I could stay here all day you're wearing a boy short underneath there do you mind going to the boy short for the last shot okay can I have you on the couch lying on your belly okay you could take the boxes off yes again it could be playful the idea of a boy short okay as you want to create color and different definition between it so you're hoping that they have something that's a little bit you're gonna lay flat on your belly beautiful good bring your legs for me bring your hands back looking back over your shoulder good dada girl look down now is that good no because I'm lighting the front of her like I need to throw her leg into shadow and the reason I need to throw her leg into shadow is why to make a look then a short verse broad head back beautiful cook down I'm sorry yes please thank you bring your legs up and cross them that a girl bring him to you I'm gonna try low and see what I get and then what else should I try hi and go for a second look so let's take a look pretty nice right I don't think if I go hi I think I'm going to see more of her backside I don't think that's going to work and we're running out of time you did a spectacular job carol what a k thank you so much excellent job now one of the things that we didn't does anybody have any questions yes still teetering on her under the I'm still meet oring under the eye just like I always have but when I was shooting her belly I was not meeting under the I I was meeting under the skin area of it okay yes you find things not working for you do you tell them force I tell them it's not their fault it's my fault I'm not gonna press a button just to make someone feel good about themselves because they're no big why don't I have that image I'm going to be like this isn't working I'm sorry let's move on I have to admit when I don't got it the way I want or have it the way I want it's a matter of making it work for you

Class Materials

bonus material

Day 1 Slides
Flow Posing Guide
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop A
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop B
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop C
Bonus Video: Workflow: Doug Gordon Photoshop D

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I loved every minute of it! I watched and re-watched the Live show 3 times and now have the video version to burn into my mind. I don't get sick of watching it, I learn something new with each viewing. I have notes upon notes, inspirational quotes and I was truly inspired. I saw you live at your workshop and I wish we would of covered the business section a bit more in depthly because after watching you here on creativeLive I was floored! I can't wait to attend another one of your workshops because you are a wealth of knowledge, energetic and you inspire me to be better! I'm so glad I wasn't afraid to try even though I was terrified at first. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such an amazing mentor!

a Creativelive Student
 

Doug is AMAZING! The way he teaches makes it fun and easy to understand. The way he poses his couples are so fast and easy to learn, I have taken my photography from mediocre, to world-class. I would love to meet him and thank him personally one day. Thank you Creativelive for introducing me to Doug, and thank you, Doug, for introducing me to CreativeLive! The best community for learning!!!

Adrian Farr
 

Doug has so much enthusiasm, it is beyond measurable. He is truly a fantastic motivator. He helps you understand the best ways to work with the light you have and shows you some very simple yet effective posing techniques. I highly recommend watching and buying this course if you want some great advice on improving your photography.

Student Work

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