This blog is one that I know so many of you will love! I am all about providing you with great education to make you more confident in your boudoir photography business. One of the things I get asked about the most is posing. How to do it, what to do, and what happens if you get stuck. So I decided to write a blog about boudoir posing! You may feel overwhelmed by learning how to pose people for boudoir but boudoir is like all other types of photography; once you know what you’re doing, it’s like riding a bike! 

There are a few key posing tips that I always use as bases and then work off of them. Once you have the foundation of boudoir posing, you can really get creative and let your artistic eye work the magic! I may make this into a series but to start off, I want to give you guys three of my top boudoir posing tips! You ready? Let’s dive in. 

1. Hair-ography

Use your client’s hair! It may sound crazy but their hair is truly a part of their boudoir pose. You can strategically use their hair to make them feel more confident and it’s the best prop out there. For instance, are they self-conscious of their neck? No worries, cover up parts of their neck with their hair! Hair is also amazing to use if you don’t know what to do with their hands! Have her play with her hair, toss it around and run her fingers through it. When you’re working with their hair, you want to be sure that you’re watching out for them and making sure it’s laying the way they prefer and fixing flyaways (with permission). When they get their photos they will appreciate this! 

2. Shift perspective 

The rule of thumb is that whatever is closer to the camera is going to appear larger. Don’t be afraid of that though, use it to your advantage! As photographers, we can shift our perspective and position clients to showcase things they would like to be larger or smaller. If you want to accentuate your client’s butt or chest and make it look larger, make it closer to the camera. Vice versa, if you want their waist to appear smaller, position their waist further away from the camera. This is a super helpful posing tip! 

3. Be believable

As photographers, we are storytellers. Yes, you want to create gorgeous photos for your client but part of that is making the photo believable. A large part of making an image believable is getting your client to feel a certain way! Is your shoot moody, flirty, sexy? Figure out the vibe they are going for and this will help you give them posing guidance. For instance, if they are doing a sexier pose, have them look away from you, out a window, or down. In the final image, this will look much more believable than if they were staring straight at the camera. If their shoot is more flirty and carefree, it may make more sense to get them laughing and looking at you versus a more sexy shoot. 

These are just a few of my tips that I wanted to share with you guys! I have so much more to share with you all and offer a full course on boudoir posing. I highly suggest this course if you want to feel confident in your posing or struggle with knowing what to do with your clients to make THEM feel confident. You can check it out right here! Drop any of your questions down in the comments and make sure to join my Facebook Group for more free tips and tricks with boudoir! 

-Emma