Properly Exposed Boudoir

Posted by David

As a new feature to the blog, I'll be offering up some self critiques on images, explaining why I love the images that I do and things that I wish I could have changed or made better. It's a process that I try to go through with every shoot. Once we're all done and it's my turn to go through images, I like to make a short list of things that I need to work on heading into the next shoot. It's a holdover from my days at the Academy of Arts and it plays a big part in why I've progressed so quickly with photography.

Let's lead into this shoot with my favorite shot of the day.

The light in this image wrapped around Chelsea so beautifully, leaving a gorgeous little shadow that defines the edge of her cheek bone and then ends in a little point on her chin. It's that interplay between dark and light that I love so much about off camera lighting. That shift from dark to light, otherwise known as chiaroscuro, continues throughout the image. Light on the arm, dark shadow, light on the jaw, shadow, light on the plane of the face, dark blouse where the curve of the face ends, light on the right shoulder.

The one thing that really kills me about this shot is the lack of a catch-light in her eyes. That little extra glimmer would have really made this image pop. That said, there's so much going for this shot, including Chelsea's natural beauty, that I can't complain too much.


Here we have Chels in a stunning business suit that shows just enough to tantalize.

Time to move to the bed. One of the nice things about having a husband and wife shooting team is that glances like these come across as entirely genuine because more than likely Chels was looking at me while Mel caught this shot.


Chelsea is great at the 'come hither' look.

A little implied can go a long way.


I wish we could take credit for this concept, but it was all Chelsea. She saw our cyc wall and said, "There's this shot that I've always wanted to do." It wasn't something we were set up to do, and it was a shot I'd never tried before with the lights but I'm always willing to give a concept a try, especially if the model is willing to be patient with me while I fiddle with f-stops.

As it turns out, Chelsea has some other outfits that she'd like to play with some time in the future, so if we're all lucky, we'll get to see her again.

Makeup By: Painted Chic Makeup Artistry

Posted by David

In the beginning there was Becky. One of our very first shoots that I'm just now getting around to posting. There was so much involved with her shoot that it was hard sorting through and picking out just what to show. What was amazing was the range of shots possible with Becky. Some girls just want light and airy, others want dominant, still others want the classic pinup, Becky pulled them ALL off. What a day. But I'll let the shots (and some small commentary) tell the rest of it.

The above shot is actually a composite of two shots. Becky really liked her expression in one shot that was taken vertically, but really wanted to get more of the car in, as shown in this vertical shot. It took a little time and effort, but the end result is a seamless merging of the two photographs. I wish we'd have had more time for car shots, but as you'll see, there was a LOT to do that day.

Becky in an insanely sexy mechanic's outfit. I don't know about you, but I'd be taking my car to the shop a lot if she were waiting out front in this outfit. Notice the name tag? It originally said "Betty's Garage" but a little manipulation changes it to "Becky's Garage."

Here we brought Becky in for some fun on the cyc wall. She's a big fan of classic pinup, so we thought we'd try replicating some of her favorite poses. We loved this one so much that it was the first thing we posted to FaceBook. Those curves are perfect for the classic look.

As if the shoot weren't already hot enough, we decided to turn it up a notch and brought out Becky's dominant side. What Becky wants, Becky gets.

Implied is more than enough to make a man's heart start to race. The image itself leads one to think that we were frolicking about. In reality, Becky stayed robed the entire time until we found the right light and position. Drop the robe, click click click, get the shot and then get that robe back on. Of course you'd never know it looking at this shot.

Love this final shot. Matter of fact, we love a lot of Becky's shots. Believe it or not, but there are actually outfits that we didn't have room for in this post. It was a long day of shooting but what we got out of it pushed the limits of sexy. A great big thank you to Stefanie Baker Mekeup Design for doing such an amazing job with hair and makeup. It was a long day and she was right there with us through it all.

An especially big thank you to Becky who came all the way out for the shoot. Boudoir and pinup is a physically taxing form of photography for the model but Becky kept not just her energy level up but also her spirits through it all. It was a pleasure working with her.