A Boudoir Photographer Makes a House Call

The vast majority of boudoir photoshoots take place in a photographer's studio.  Many women find this to be a comfortable choice.  Leaving their usual environment behind allows them to free their sexuality for a short time and enjoy creating sexy images that would normally be a step too far outside their comfort zone.

But some women are more comfortable posing in their own homes. It certainly is more convenient for them if they can find one of the rare boudoir photographers who makes house calls.  The resulting images have a much different feel than images created in a studio.  More natural and informal, even though the body is just as carefully posed.

As is my usual practice, I prefer to start with my client fully clothed.  I use these initial shots to "learn the face" which means that I'm watching how her features change as she moves her head and changes her expression.   We were using window light here, so I was carefully watching the shadows.

Pretty soon I'm comfortable with the light and have figured out the best angles.  My client is also getting comfortable working with me, so we can move on to the next stage of the shoot.   

So far, all these images were done with the Canon EF 35mm F/2 IS on my Canon 5D3.  I find this to be a great combination for bedroom shoots where you need a wide angle lens, but not so wide that it distorts the subject. Also, the image stabilization is nice, since the natural light is often limited.  This lens is sharp, but not painfully sharp like the Sigma Art lens.  When shooting lovely ladies, I find that I prefer a softer rendering.

The following three photos make use of the softest form of window light, when the photographer has his back to the window.  And just in case you are curious, there is very little retouching on any of these photos.

Starting with the next photo, I switched to the Canon EF 24-70 F/2.8 L II.  The focal length was recorded as 25mm, which should cause some definite distortion of the perspective.  And yes it does, see how her hips and legs look unnaturally small?   Personally, I don't care for that look.

In order to add some variety to this shoot, I decided to do some art nude poses.  Not strictly boudoir, but who is going to complain?

For the last scene, we used a stairway to create some unusual poses.  I do love a good hair flipping photo and this seemed like a good place for that.

Of course my style differs greatly from standard commercial boudoir, that is entirely intentional!  

Thanks to my friend Devi for playing the role of the happy housewife who wants naughty photos for her husband to look at while on his business trip.  

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.  There are lots more blog posts here if you'd like to explore further.

Arizona Shootout Part Two

NSFW

Welcome back for more photos from the November 2015 Arizona shootout.  I've already discussed most of the details in Part One, so this blog post will consist mostly of photos from the second day of the shoot.

The photo below was taken in a narrow alley between two old buildings.  The width was roughly 5-6 feet, which allowed no direct sunlight to reach the model.  The available light bounced back and forth between the light colored wall you see behind the model and the opposite wall which was weathered wood.  This gave the light some very unusual characteristics and I just had to try it out!

The next three photos were taken in the shade with main illumination provided by a single strobe with umbrella.  The blue sky and the light colored ground provided the fill light.

All the preceding photos were edited without any significant retouching.  The one below has been touched up a little bit.  I made the tan lines a bit more visible and lightened the eyes slightly.

If you are a photographer or model and want to hear more about the Arizona Shootout, feel free to contact me with questions.

Yes, you can have your own private bondage photoshoot!

Very NSFW

Potential clients always have their own ideas about what they wish to include in their private erotic photoshoot.  As a sex-positive photographer I am constantly asked if I will photograph a particular fetish.  of course the answer is yes, as long as it doesn't involve a snake (apologies to our reptile friends) or anything that's illegal or non-consensual. Everyone has to have limits, right?

Pretty simple so far, but what if a client needs another person to help complete the scenario she has in mind?  I don't mind helping when I can, but I'm limited by the need to stay behind the camera and take lovely pictures.  

If you are a follower of this blog, you know that when clients pay me for a private photoshoot, their images never appear on these pages.  So, what you are about to see wasn't a paid photoshoot, it is what I call a trade shoot.  My two friends received free photos, you get to appreciate the result and I get to promote my services.  Win, win, win!

The female model is a 30-something single mom who has minimal experience with bondage, but does have a burning desire to experience as much as she can.  She doesn't have a partner, but was fortunate to run into my friend at a fetish party in a large city.  

My male friend who has the great rope bondage skills loves to tie up willing ladies and is available to do so again if you are interested. He is very safety conscious and highly trained.  There are various terms for people who have these skills - I like to call them "riggers."    

If you are curious about bondage, perhaps a big fan of Fifty Shades of Gray, but don't have someone to tie you up, you do have the option of scheduling a rope bondage photoshoot with Beyond Boudoir Photo.  What you do with the photos is entirely up to you!  A lot of my work seems to turn up on a site called FetLife.com.

The rope used in these photos was made by an artisan in the Seattle area.  The use of custom made, natural fiber, rope is now a big thing in the world of rope bondage.

The person being tied is often called a "rope bottom" or "rope bunny."  You will also notice that the rigger is using some lengths of bamboo.  These help keep the rope bottom in a particular position and it allows the rigger to apply various kinds of leverage.   In this case he is twisting a rope that goes between her legs which applies a pleasant pressure to a sensitive area.

Most of the techniques currently in use are borrowed or adapted from Japanese practices that date back hundreds of years.   You can look up kinbaku here to learn more.

Rope bondage play does not have to be sexual at all, but in this case our intrepid performers wished to explore some of the erotic aspects of the art.

Some riggers are purists and never mix rope bondage with other forms of bondage.  However, my friend wanted to try out his new toy which was a beautifully made wood device something like stocks.   Our model certainly liked it!

One of the reasons people like to get tied up is that it puts them in a mildly altered state of consciousness.  One current popular term for this is being "rope stoned."   Some say it's caused by the release of endorphins.  It certainly makes people relax, often their eyes will roll back and their mouth will go slack.   That's great for them, but as a photographer, I wonder if that looks attractive in the photos.   What I do is ask the model/client if she wants images that show her looking rope stoned.

Careful hair pulling is another way to create an altered state of mind.  

Lots of people combine SM play with bondage.  In this case, that wasn't the plan, but we decided to use a pretty (and expensive) whip as a prop.   It's called a "Tomcat" and it is a very sensual toy.  In these photos the rigger is just dragging it across her skin.

An important goal for me is to show the "bottom" enjoying the fetish activities.  Since Fifty Shades of Gray became popular, there is a lot of interest, but there is also a lot of misinformation out there.

Beyond Boudoir Photo does private erotic photoshoots for women and couples.  If you want to know more, read the FAQ, check my rates and contact me with your questions.

Technical notes:  The entire shoot was done with a Canon 5D3 and an EF 24-105 F/4 lens.  Lighting was provided by three Alien Bees monolights with various modifiers.   The first photo was slightly retouched - all the others are unretouched.

Another Fine Art Nude Photoshoot in the Art Studio

I had to go back to my friend Glenn's art studio for another shoot.  The great daylight, the big stunning paintings and the old run down parts of the building were calling me back.  I waited for the perfect model to be available.   This lovely young lady uses the name Glass Olive on Model Mayhem.   She travels around working with photographers, so if you are a photographer and she happens to be in your area, you should give her a try.

The first two photos make use of the vertical wooden beams that are 100+ years old.   None of these photos have any significant retouching, just cropping and exposure adjustment.

The next three photos show the lovely window light and rustic interior.  I added a bit of fill light from one of my trusty Alien Bees with a simple umbrella.

Now we begin to include some of Glenn's amazing paintings!

This shot with the black, white and red painting was so dramatic that I felt an urge to add something unusual.  Guess I got a bit carried away with the grain slider!

That really is a painting behind Glass Olive.   It is all black, only the texture is visible.

If you think those paintings are big, wait till you see this one!

Believe it or not, Glenn doesn't really have a web site to promote his art.  If you'd like to contact him about buying one of his paintings, drop me an email and I will forward your contact info.

That's all for now!

The Kinky Wedding Photographer

When I started Beyond Boudoir Photo a few years ago, one of the promises I made to myself was that I would not shoot any weddings.  I've done a few for friends and relatives over the years.  I enjoyed the challenge, but it comes with way too much stress for what photographers get paid.  I really admire wedding photographers.  They have to hustle, they have to have good technical skills and they need to be good at promoting themselves.   That doesn't fit in with the fact that Beyond Boudoir Photo is my retirement business.   I just want to enjoy the art and science of photography, promote a sex positive philosophy and help people feel better about themselves.  I leave the stress to others.

So how did I end up agreeing to photograph a wedding?

Well,  a couple from the Portland BDSM community found me on FetLife.com last year and asked me to do a private photoshoot for them.  So now they are getting married and... who ya gonna call?    

So why did I agree to take on this job?  First the couple in question are just about the sweetest people you can imagine.   They really deserve to have nice photos of their wedding.  

Second, the wedding ceremony is going to be very kinky, probably involving some artistic bondage and morphing into a BDSM play party for the invited guests.   And the couple is, shall we say, an atypical pair.  Can you imagine trying to find a regular commercial wedding photographer who would be comfortable with that kind of scenario?

So that's why I broke my self-promise and decided to shoot a wedding.   I'm actually kind of excited about it!

POST WEDDING UPDATE:

In case you were wondering, I survived the wedding and created some great photos for the bride and groom.  Some of my favorite photos were taken in the hours before the wedding as the bride was preparing with the aid of her kinky bridesmaids.  They had a great time in the master suite of the mansion where the wedding was held.  I will only share one photo here.  Hope you enjoy it!

An NSFW Fine Art Nude Photoshoot

There are plenty of photographers who do fine art nude photography.  You can tell it's "fine art" because the model is not smiling... seriously!   Well, maybe that's a slight over-simplification, but what definition would you use for fine art nude photography?

Another common characteristic of fine art nude photography, is that the model is placed out of the usual context. Instead of being nude in her boudoir, in her bath or with her lover, she is standing nude in a forest, on a deserted city street, or in an empty factory.   If those locations are not available, you can pose her in front of a featureless background and still call the resulting image an art nude if the lighting is dramatic enough.

Just for fun, I decided to do my own "Beyond Boudoir" style of photoshoot that could be undeniably labeled "fine art," so here's what I did.   I contacted a friend who is a painter and asked if I could shoot in his studio surrounded by his works of fine art!   And just to make sure, I even took one shot where the model was not smiling!   

Who can argue with that?

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50 1.2 L, F/1.2, ISO 800, 1/100 sec.

The photo above would probably be a big hit on Model Mayhem, but to me it looks like she's thinking, "This photographer is sooo... annoying, why did I agree to work with him?"   I really prefer smiling models in my portfolio, because it looks like they enjoyed shooting with me!

All the photos you see were captured using available light (and with minimal post-processing in Lightroom.)  One of the great things about art studios is that they always have nice window light, which is wonderful for photos of people if you know how to use it.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50 1.2 L, F/2.8, ISO 400, 1/100 sec.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 35 F/2 IS, F/2, ISO 100, 1/30 sec.

If you check the exposure data on the shot above, you will notice that I used the stabilized lens at 1/30th, a bit slow for me, but there is no loss of sharpness.  This 35mm prime is great for full body portraits under available light.  They say this lens has some vignetting wide open, but I wanted more so I added some in Lightroom.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 35 F/2 IS, F/2, ISO 200, 1/30 sec.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50mm F/1.2 L, F/2, ISO 200, 1/50 sec.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50mm F/1.2 L, F/2, ISO 200, 1/50 sec.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70 L II @35mm, F/2.8, ISO 400, 1/50 sec.

Window light does tend to be pretty blue, so you have to adjust the color balance to your own taste.  If you compare the photo above and the one below, you will see that my mood shifted slightly while I was working in Lightroom. :)   Generally, I feel most viewers of nude images prefer a warmer look.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70 L II @50mm, F/2.8, ISO 400, 1/50 sec.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50 F/1.2 L, F/1.2, ISO 200, 1/40 sec.

OK, enough with the art studio.  The next three photos were taken in a different part of this old historic brick building in Portland, Oregon.  There were no big windows to flood the room with light, just small windows that gave a more directional light.  We had to be careful, as this area was used to store all sorts of odd stuff and debris.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50 F/1.2 L, F/2 ISO 400, 1/100 sec.

The photo above uses the small window as a back light, which makes the hair the center of attention.  I wanted a little light on the face, so I picked up a broken piece of white painted wallboard with nasty nails sticking out and carefully held it up with my left hand while holding the camera in my right.  Then we moved away from the window to a pretty dim area of the room.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50 F/1.2 L, F/1.2, ISO 1600, 1/100 sec.

These last two photos are far from any window and I had to push the ISO up to 1600 on my trusty 5D Mark 3.  I tried the backlit hair trick, but this far from the window it didn't work.   You can see where the window light is behind the model.   And yes, that is a Christmas tree back there!

Fortunately, there was a second window behind me that provided enough indirect light to illuminate the model.  I forgot to ask my artist friend about the odd sculpture, but I think it may be a fish - or not.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 50 F/1.2 L, F/1.2, ISO 1600, 1/100 sec.

If you are interested in a sexy photoshoot of your own, please contact me here.

If you are a photographer and want to know more about Chrissy, our lovely model, you can find here here on Model Mayhem.  She really is quite talented and well worth her modeling fee.  Check her out, she may be traveling to your area!