Boudoir Photo Poses for a Single Light Source
March 19, 2012 by Photoguy
Filed under All Articles, Boudoir Photo Poses, Boudoir Photography Lighting, Boudoir Photography Poses, Boudoir Photography Tips, Featured, Single Light Setups
Boudoir Photo Poses for a Single Light Source
If you are like many just starting out in a small photography business or hobby you don’t have all the money in the world to start buying equipment, let alone lighting. Here are some lighting techniques and boudoir photo poses that work well with just one single light. Typically a single light source can deliver very impressive, dramatic photos because single source lighting can be very dramatic. Here is where new photographers should start, with one light. Practice your boudoir photo poses with one single light for a while, then move onto two lights and so one.
One single light can be a monoblock strobe or a speedlight, it really doesn’t matter, they can both be accomplished easily and effectively. A softbox is recommended for both styles of lighting from a monoblock or a speedlight, and speedlight softboxes as well as larger softboxes for strobes can be purchased from Amazon.com.
Softboxes soften the hard edge of a single light source to give a nice fall off and soft edge to the shadows of the single light photo. Softboxes can also be made to imitate natural light of the sun coming through a window. Of course you don’t necessarily need a softbox to accomplish this, dramatic hard edges can be desirable at times. The dramatic lighting style of one light source is often used to accentuate body shapes and body scapes.
Boudoir Photo Poses for a Single Light Source
Here are some boudoir photo poses and images of models with a single light source. Many of the images have tight cropping and may not include a face. Images like these, as mentioned in previous posts, can be sold for stock imagery. There is no face to define/restrict the picture so a viewer can insert whatever face they want with a little imagination. Sometimes this is good if you intend on selling your images to other places beside the client who wanted the boudoir photo shoot.
Photo with a single strobe and softbox used to imitate natural lighting
Single, directed strobe for dramatic lighting
Single strobe lighting
Single strobe lighting for boudoir photography
Single strobe lighting for boudoir photography
Boudoir Photo Poses for a Single Light Source
Something you may notice in the #3 image above, the lines in the models skin from her undergarment. another good idea for your clients is not to wear tight restrictive clothing the night before or the day of your boudoir photo shoot. Have them drink lots of water too, this helps with garments leaving impressions in the skin and lessens the amount of Photoshop you will have to do on the images.
Notice how the single light and angles of that light are used to accentuate curves and body parts. Women want to remember their appearance years later and will want to see how good they looked. The same goes true if they are giving these images to their prospective groom or boyfriend as a gift, they want to look their best so accentuating what they have is always a good idea.
Another good idea is to have on hand a deck of card or a flip book of boudoir photo poses to have on hand at shoots for the client to practice and you to keep in case your memory fails you. Also have a list of the top 5 boudoir photo poses to use in case all else fails.
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