Ballet hands, soft hands, often with pinkie finger or the edge of the hand toward the camera, diagonals and womanly curves. This posing video is a vertuoso performance of fluid pose transitions.

Pay particular attention to the way the model holds and moves her hands.

If you hit ‘pause’ in the video at any time, tyr it a few times, there is almost always a nicely poised image ready to be captured with a click.

The model’s body is constantly ripe with forms we read as feminine, beautiful and elegant.

Mostly curves, diagonal lines, small ballet hands, well placed. Soft fingers, gentle touches and caresses.

When she transitions through poses which are less than elegant, she speeds up briefly, then immediately slows again into a smooth beautiful flow.

She also moves kind of slowly. This slow movement gives the boudoir photographer, or portrait photographer, a chance to catch her doing something right.

Anyone doing full length posing in front of a camera will benefit from watching her hands and arms and learning some of her movements and transitions.

Anyone in a boudoir photography session who can learn from her hand positions will have much better outcomes when the turn comes before the camera.

The post appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

Mixed lighting situation with 600EX-RT Canon Speedlite mounted inside ‘lamp’ behind the subject giving the look of a lit bulb. The ‘lamp’ is actually a vase with a lamp shade and speedlite only.  It isn’t even a real lamp.

Professional boudoir photographers with have their sessions either in studios or on location and will have lighting and modifier technologies and tools in place to properly light our boudoir sets.

Boudoir sets may be indoors or out.  They may use natural light, studio strobes, or small portable battery operated strobes called Speedlites (Speedlights is what Nikon calls them).

This particular boudoir photography set was shot on location in a luxury home in Greater Phoenix.  The challenge was getting my large powerful and versatile studio strobe units to play well with my smaller sized portable speedlite strobe units.  As seen on the image at right where a speedlite has been used to give the illusion of lamp lighting, small speedlites, in addition to portability, can be used in a number of uniquely creative ways to amp up a boudoir portrait.

In my case, I currently use radio controlled smart controllers and studio strobes made by Paul C. Buff and Speedlites made by Canon, as well as third party knock off speedlite flash units made by Yongnuo.

Gear Tested

• Yongnuo YN600EX-RT Speedlite Flash
• Yongnuo YN-E3-RT Wireless Remote Flash Controller
• Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite Flash
• Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter / Controller

What I wished to do is to be able to remotely control the power output of both my studio strobes and speedlites simultaneously, in a radio control mode.

Mission accomplished.

The problem trying to control both studio strobes and speedlites

There is a hot shoe mount on the camera where the strobe triggers mount.  There is only one mount, and I wished to control two different technologies via the one mount.

While this is an easy fix in software, the software is not available to the casual user.  There was no easy apparent solution.

The folks at Canon Professional Services were very helpful, though confirmed, both the 600EX-RT and the ST-E3-RT were incapable of working together when not mounted onto a smart camera, like the Canon 5D Mark III camera which is my main body.

Solution to controlling both Canon Speedlites and Smart Studio Stobes

Yongnuo’s YN-E3-RT smart controller will in fact control the output of Canon 600EX-RT speedlites even when not mounted on the smart Canon body.

One need only mount ones current studio flash controller unit onto the camera hot shoe mount, and use a radio receiver unit, which is then plugged into a Hot Shoe Flash Mount with something like a PC Sync Adapter port and attach the YN-E3-RT onto that mount.

I use Paul C. Buff Cyber Commanders, Cyber Sync Receivers and Transmitters.

My Gear Set up

• Paul C. Buff Cyber Sync Transmitter mounted on the camera
• Paul C. Buff Cyber Commander, to control the Buff unit power outputs
• Paul C. Buff Cyber Sync Receiver attached to the Yongnuo YN-E3-RT via a Pocketwizard HSFM3 Flash Sync Cable with Hot Shoe Mount
• Canon 600EX-RT and YN600EX-RT Speedlites

The YN-E3-RT can control the Canon 600EX-RTspeedlites when the group settings are used in a Manual Power mode.

Studio flash units are generally used in manual power setting modes, so this is quite acceptable and the best for controlling the exact light required.

Between a Yongnuo YN-E3-RT and a Paul C. Buff Cyber Sync Receiver and the cables, you can invest about $200 to the the job done.

That is until Canon makes their 600EX-RT’s functionality capable of this function, or allows their ST-E3-RT Controller the capability.

Bonus – Use this system on Sony bodies to fire and control Canon Flashes !!

Now I can control Canon 600EX-RT flash units using my Sony A7ii camera  body.

This can work two ways.

• The YN-E3-RT can be mounted directly on the Sony A7ii body and used to manually control the power output of the  600EX-RT Speedlites
• The YN-E3-RT can be mounted off the A7ii and triggered by the Buff Transceiver / Receiver modules as above, with or without studio flash also

The ability to use Canon Strobes on Sony bodies is a huge advantage to boosting the capability of the Sony system, with only a modest investment in additional lighting accouterments for those with a large stash of Canon gear who are also shooting Sony mirrorless camera bodies.

While I haven’t tested this specifically, am interested to know by comments any tests confirming this mode works with other makes of DSLR.  For example, the YN-E3-RT aught to  work with the 600EX-RT Canon Flashes on most any DSLR camera bodies, like Fuji, Nikon, Panasonic, Pentax, etc.

Caveats

We are talking about controlling remotely the power output and flash triggering of both studio strobes and/or speedlites, simultaneously or separately.

This can only be done in manual power settings.

Most professional photographers usually shoot in Manual mode, both for exposure, and for flash settings, in order to insure full creative control.  So, this is a small bit to give up in many professional scenarios.

This setup will not work for ETTL modes, where the speedlites work smartly with the camera to control exposure.  No big deal for me, as I wasn’t interested in that in any case.

The YN600EX-RT speedlites do not seem to be able to be similarly controlled… Only the Canon Flashes work, not the Yongnua’s… go figure..

Also, I had tried using a PC Sync Cord attached to a Promaster Standard Hot Shoe with a PC Sync Adapter port before switching to the Pocketwizard HSFM3.

The Promaster Hot Shoe worked a few times before it literally broke in gentle use… and I mean for less than 10 use occasions over a little more than a week or two of easy in studio use.  Use the Pocketwizard, it’s well worth the reduction in embarrassment with clients, and of course, always have backup plans.

Biggest Caveat

While the YN-E3-RT Transmitter will control the 600EX-RT’s… in order to adjust the power setting, one must first press and trigger the flash units via the transmitter’s flash test button, that is the button with the lightning bolt next to it.  Otherwise, the power does not adjust.

The post The technology of boudoir lighting for location settings appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

Right out of the gate, some of us have clear general preferences either for Black and White or for Color photographs.

While many of us have these preferences, many factors go into these preferences, for example age.  Those who are older among us have grown up in a world of black and white television sets and predominantly black and white photographs, with the occasional color TV or splash of color in some high end glossy publications or images from our youth.

Others of us who are younger have seen black and white only rarely, having been born into a world of large flat screen color televisions, color monitors and even color screens on our phones.

Photography is an art form which continues to evolve.

First let us have some background on what is a black and white or color photo and how they are created.

Do cameras shoot in black and white or in color?

Almost every digital camera today takes images in color layers.  That is, every photo taken digitally, is a color photo of a sort.  The black and white photographs we see today are rendered by processing the color information and converting it into black and white, after the image is taken in color first.

Any color photo can in fact be converted into black and white, after the fact.

In days of old, there were color films and black and white films.  The black and white film to convert to color required a painting process, and people have indeed painted color onto black and white… In the late 70’s and early 80’s I too played with painting onto black and white prints…It as kind of fun and had a distinct feel.  Turner Classic Movies converted many black and white movies to color, by painting, either by hand or software onto black and white images patches of color.  This was done to expand the audience for the movies for audiences used to seeing movies in color.

Now practically all digital cameras shoot color images, usually in three primary color layers, and use software filters to convert the images into black and white.

What is black and white photography?

This art boudoir black and white was created using several black and white filter layers to enhance textures and form.  It is well balanced compositionally has a pleasing mirroring of sensuous curving forms of both woman and snake, shows clear separation of contrasting textures of snake skin and smooth lady flesh.  Clearly an improvement over the starting point color image below.

Black and white photography takes the usually 3 color layers in an image and converts each color layer into grey shades.

Many people feel there is only one black and white rendering for an image… this is inherently a false conception.

There are in fact infinite ways to render a black and white image from a color image.

This is because each color layer can be given different weight in the final black and white rendering.

For example, the red can be filtered out, or filtered in, or converted with partial weighting.   This can be done for the other two color layers as well.  The combination on blending these three layers together can create an infinite variety of black and white looks from one image.

There are further enhancements that can be applied to one area of the photo or many areas, or the whole of the image.

What are some black and white photo enhancements that apply to boudoir photography?

• Give different weights to each color layer
• Only apply an effect to part of the image
• Apply more or less contrast/softness
• Apply an overall whitening or blackening
• Apply a tint, like sepia, duo tone etc

What is a duo tone?

Black and white photography uses two basic tones, black and white.

Sepia uses sepia and white.

Black and white photographs are actually duo tones using only black and white tones to portray an image.

Any two tones can be used, for example, black and yellow.  Green and white.  Green and yellow…where the green is the dark part and yellow is the light part.

The combinations become endless.

Let us focus on duo tones with either white or black as one of the primary tones for the rest of this discussion.

So, what is better about black and white or color for boudoir photography?

The original color boudoir image before processing, kind of lacks any real punch, yet provides a strong starting point for our black and white conversion process

Largely, this is a matter of taste.

However, there are some definite differences between the feel of black and white and color that are key to which works better for boudoir photography specifically.

Black and white is about textures and forms.  Removing the color information from an image allows the eye to focus on contrasts, forms textures and composition without getting distracted by color.

Black and white, also is a classic.

These factors make black and white boudoir photography more suited generally to a classier feel and for fine art boudoir photography.

Color boudoir portraits can be fine art.  Though it often takes a much more complex set and wardrobe selection to pull this off.  For example, skin tones in red desert rocks can be a fine blend.  Color is how we see the world.  Color is great for boudoir portraits with a more realistic feel.  In a color portrait, you can see the red hair is red, as opposed to it being some shade of grey.

Color boudoir is great to show a bit more of what the subject actually looks like and can be fine art boudoir with the right styling, model and setting.

Black and white boudoir is more versatile and more readily has that art feel.  Because of the myriad ways black and white is created, it is much more possible for a fine artist to create a fine art boudoir piece using black and white photography.

On the other hand, because black and white eliminates color information, composition is much more key in black and white.  Any compositional weakness will undermine a black and white portrait, boudoir or otherwise.

Color images can be easier to compose as the colors can be used to balance the composition… another discussion, as composition is worthy of a book or several books of discussion.

Suffice it to say, some images look better in black and white, some in color.

Black and white has a generally classier feel and is well suited to fine art boudoir.

Color has a more natural feel, or can grab attention by virtue of strong colors, like red hair.

Each photographic image unique and can with the aid of a photographic artist, perhaps seem best as color or black and white.

The more important question is, do you desire a pretty boudoir picture of yourself, or do you wish to create art?

Then, let your artist portray you in your best light, be it black and white or color.

If you’ve an interest in further details on the creation on the black and white boudoir portrait example here, like the conversion processes used on the color image to make the black and white final image, the types of filters used, lighting diagrams and exposure settings, see also pages 122 and 123 of ‘Alternative Nudes, Creative Lighting and Posing for Photographers’.

The post Black and White or Color Boudoir Photography, what’s the difference appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

Monkeys do evolve, and so must professional photographers.

The niche at the high end of professional photography has been getting harder and harder to reach, in many ways…

Certainly there are many who call our Phoenix Boudoir Photography Studios and inquire strictly on price.

While the strictly price driven shopper has never been our photographic bread and butter, due to the influx of part timers and iPhone and Android photographers, there have been fewer and fewer jobs out there for the true dedicated professionals.

It’s become harder just to gain the experience to arrive as a professional.

It’s been getting harder to approach clients who value photography.

With the evolution of technology, in terms of gear, software, printers, and deluge of images both ho hum and OMG good, it is harder to impossible to achieve that level at which one may rest on ones laurels.

And yet, there is always room at the top.

Some people at the top still value professional photography.

This said, the middle and bottom are and have been gutted.

An influx of people, many of them very talented amateur photographers, many with limited business experience, many faced by a pool full of big, small and very hungry fish, are giving away the farm.

With no farm, the crop of customers has been dying out…

Ever try joining those spam sites for people who desire family photos for $100?

Some are so spammy, once you join and they have your email, try opting out… Good luck.

Why get a wedding for $5,000 when you can get one for $500 from cousin Bob?

Why pay $2,000 for a boudoir shoot, when Aunt Jen will shoot it for $300?

Why pay anything at all, when you can take the shots with your iPhone or with the camera you bought on Amazon for $800?

Because my fellows and fellas, people have done this.  They have used cousin Bob and Aunt Jen and have even bought the camera themselves…

At first, it was cute.

And, it saved a shit ton of money… YAY!!!

Then what?

The fails started coming in…

The fails are coming in…

And people started talking about the fails…

Remember the pet rock?

It’s fine if you do, it’s fine if you don’t.  The pet rock was like a $5.00 rock pet, in a world where $5.00 would feed a family of four the meal packages at McDonalds…

And, it was just a small rock… Everyone had to have one, and buy several for their friends…

Remember the Amway multilevel pitch that you and all your friends were going to retire with?

There are still folks who sell Amway and make money at it… Though most of us are over the pitch.

The days of pro/amateur photography is facing a similar transformation.

People have tried to become photographers.  And found it’s hard work.  Most fail.

Many have failed.

Most charged too little to break into the club in any sustainable way.

Once they started undercutting, they couldn’t find the way to raise pricing to a living wage.

So, they can’t put in the years of time necessary to fully develop as capable professional photographers.  They can’t find customers who will pay enough to cover the required gear and expendable purchases, let alone leave $ for Happy Meals…

On the client side, many many folks have tried hiring the relative, the neighbor, the family friend… And have lost friends and money both…

Well executed fine art boudoir photography requires commissioning of a fully resourced professional fine art boudoir photography studio

Worst, they have lost the memories of events they were trying to capture on the cheap.

You can’t reshoot a wedding.  You either have it or you don’t.

You can’t redo the maternity shots… You have them, or you don’t.

You never get the opportunity to retake that fine art boudoir portrait of yourself when you were 10 years younger.

You can’t recapture the lost sales do to poorly executed executive portraits… They are gone.

People have lost memories.

They have lost time.

Those who’ve tried a do it yourself approach to photography have even lost money, in terms of cameras sitting on shelves unused and/or business opportunity costs.  That is, the $1,200 in scrap camera gear could have paid for a nice professional portrait photo sitting … and time lost buying and trying to learn to use soon to be technically obsolete gear could have been better re-tasked on more fruitful pursuits.

Clearly, many many people have now experienced cheap photography.

There has always been cheap photography.  Remember the Kodak Instamatic?

Or Polaroid film?

There will always be a place for self taken snap shots.

What the market is starting to learn is, just because you have the latest “cheap gear” doesn’t mean you can take the photo you must have, when the photo you must have is of a certain quality, or of an event which only happens once.

People will always take and cherish their candid alone anywhere shots.

The market for the professional is starting to reemerge.

It is being redefined, and revalued.

And, amateurs are beginning to respect that the craft cannot be entered profitably with a small camera purchase and doing the cousin’s wedding for $200.

Many would be’s have entered and gone.

Many more are still entering the field… Thought the tide has turned.

Whether a photographer or a potential photography client, how are you positioned to take advantage?

The post What’s to become of professional photography artists in the digital photography age ?? appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

Outdoor fine art boudoir photography is just a camera click amoung Arizona’s many natural settings

Angel’s Rock is a fine art boudoir photographic print which depicts a female body builder in top form.  Smooth skin and powerful body in prime condition are arrayed to complement the natural forms of a Phoenix area desert rock outcropping on which our heroine here is perched and posed.

Being an athlete, this was a relatively easy pose to hold for this very fit and beautiful woman to hold while perched somewhat precariously up the rock’s face.  While it was’t that far down to the ground, the rocks are quite hard and the site was unimproved.

A very popular piece, this photograph was taken within easy driving distance of the Phoenix Metroplex.

Arizona affords many fairly private natural settings for boudoir and fine art nude photography such as this.

Those with the physiques to pull of such a stunning shot are well served to join into the collaborative process of turning their finely honed bodies into frameable and permanent art forms by commissioning a fine art boudoir photographer.

If you’ve an interest in further technical details on the creation of Angel’s Rock, like lighting and exposure settings, see also pages 10 and 11 of ‘Alternative Nudes, Creative Lighting and Posing for Photographers’.

When shooting the nude, particularly as an art form, contrasts are as important as harmonies.

The pose here was set to mirror the forms of the rock outcropping.  The hard grainy textures of the rocks contrast with the smooth powerful curves of the young lady’s ebony skin and musculature.

When out and about, I’m always on the look out for locations suitable for taking the right nude.

When you are out and about, you might keep your eye out.

When scouting possible locations, keep in mind, it should be private, safe and have forms or textures which either complement or contrast with the curves and smooth skin of nude bodies.

Depending where the location is, one may need permits or may just need to have the right spotters and crew to keep the shoot safe and sane.

If you’ve worked hard to create a fit body, immortalize your accomplishment.  Turn yourself into art.  Maybe with a fine art nude shot on location in our great beautiful state of Arizona.

You’ll be glad you did.

The post Arizona affords fine art nudes and boudoir photography the benefit of incorporating contrasting textures with outdoor natural settings appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

Whether in our Phoenix boudoir studios, on set, or on a remote location, safety and privacy can of course be of major concern.

This fine art boudoir print includes a model, who while nude, appears fully covered due to artistic considerations & strategic choice in camera angle

In the fine art boudoir print, Escher Cat, it may well seem that no nudity at all was called for…

There are many technical details which went into in creation of this print.   Further technical details for those interested in such are available on pages 8 and 9 of ‘Alternative Nudes, Creative Lighting and Posing for Photographers’, the two key point here is, the lovely zebra stripe print body suit the subject is wearing is see through, and crotch less…

So our lovely ballet dancer here was literally quite naked here in this seemingly thoroughly dressed fine art portrait.

Sometimes, we find the perfect prop, or perfect piece of lingerie as here with this striking body suit.

If the lady here had worn undergarments, it would have ruined the beautiful lines we needed to pull off the art piece look we were going after.

She also had to hold her pose precisely to avoid having the panty cut out show in the final image, as this would have declassed this rather posh and poised looking composition.

While as an artist I can appreciate nudity fully.  It just would have detracted from this particular pose, with this particular body suit, with this particular model.

And yet, to pull off the shot, she did in fact have to be nude, and everyone on the set kind of would be able to see what there might be to see.

The thing is, in some cases, there is no nudity, and yet the shot looks nude in the end.  This is sometimes referred to as an implied nude.

That is, this can also go the other way round.

How?  Well, when one wears an off the shoulder strapless dress and a shot is taken of the shoulders and head, it can give the effect of total nudity for a woman who is totally dressed.

Here in this case, we had a model fairly fully nude, yet looking totally dressed.

It just worked and is a very popular and well accepted fine art piece, of a clothed looking and yet pretty well nude subject.

One can also be totally covered and look covered, for example by the right lingerie or with draping.  Often a shy or reserved model, or one for artistic sake, will come from the dressing room fully draped in clothing or material.  Only that which is needed to be uncovered for the shot may be.  So, for those of more modest disposition, with suitable wardrope and propping, can be totally assured of a fully covered fine are boudoir photography experience.

It’s all good with art.

For more on who may see you during your fine art boudoir photo sitting see also Who will be on the set of my boudoir photography shoot and see my boudoir photos?

The post How nude will I be in my fine art boudoir photography sitting? appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

2016 ‘Alwun House’ Exotic Art Show – Viewers Choice Award Winner, 30×45 Giclee on Canvas

‘Sitting the Mood’ is an award winning iconic fine art boudoir giclee print of a beautiful woman in her forties.

Ballet dance trained and with fit body, she finally decided it was time to sit and be photographed for her boudoir portrait.

There are many women who would make excellent fine art boudoir photography subjects and have yet to partake.  In fact, the Phoenix Area and Scottsdale, Arizona in particular are full of beautiful women living healthy active lifestyles.

What holds these beautiful women back from commission iconic boudoir art prints for themselves while time and age march inexorably forward?

Certainly, many of these ladies were more fit 10, 20 or even 30 years ago, yeah?

So… What does go into making a piece of photographic art for such talented and well formed subjects?

First of all, age need not be a factor.  Clearly our forties are an age of maturing for us, and our 40’s are often starting points, where many women today start having the courage, and or resources, to properly afford crafting fine art portraits and boudoir photos of themselves and for themselves.

We aren’t getting any younger.  Somewhere around 40 or 50, this sinks in in with an astounding clarity.  We start to just do the things we’ve put off and put off, while we are vital and can appreciate and enjoy what we can of our lives, our bodies and the world at large.  What ever ‘it’ is, 40 is a magic age where we decide to just do ‘it’ while we can.

Commissioning iconic lasting imagery of ourselves, for those of who have invested so much of our lives, time and energies into crafting and honing finely our tuned beautiful bodies, is on the list of these things we’ve long put off.  This long and no longer is our new attitude.

While there are many technical details in the creation of a striking image like ‘Sitting the Mood,’  further details are available on pages 6 and 7 of ‘Alternative Nudes, Creative Lighting and Posing for Photographers’, the two key ingredients are a the coming together of a qualified, talented fine art boudoir photographer and a committed subject, ready and willing for the task.

Once you’ve decided, your next and most important decision in the outcome for your boudoir sitting will be your choice of who will be the photographer or artist for your boudoir sitting.

The photographer or artist with whom you will be sitting, will use their skills, art and vision to turn your life’s accomplishment with your physical body into a photograph or a permanent work of art.

Many of us make a critical detour at this point at this vital point in the selection process…  for a bit on what to look for, and not look for, when deciding on your fine art boudoir photographer see Should my friend, who has a great new digital camera take my boudoir photos?.

Remember, your most critical choice for your boudoir portrait is going to be your selection of the photographer or artist for whom you will be sitting.

It is the photographer’s eye, skill and art which transforms your ephemeral worldly visage into timeless otherworldly art.

The main differences here, and they are both significant, is between photographers who are skilled, and unskilled, and between photographers who are technicians and those who are artists.

IS YOUR BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPHER WELL SKILLED?

The point about skill level is obvious.

Select a photographer who is obviously well skilled in the craft of boudoir photography.  See a variety of their work.  Look at it with critical eye and you can tell if they are skilled.

Your photographer may or many not be skilled in boudoir photography for a variety of reasons.

Boudoir Skill Checklist

• Not enough time in the photography craft
• Not enough experience in the genre
• Just not a capable person
• Wrong temperament
• Insufficient resources

A run down of these skill sets will help you determine if the photographer you are considering is up to the task technically.  Some are new.  Some just don’t devote enough time to the craft.  Some just don’t have it in them regardless of effort.

Find a boudoir photographer who has all this going on and you are part of the way there.

Qualified boudoir photography technicians and craft people can crank out reliable boudoir portrait work

IS YOUR BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPHER A TECHNICIAN OR AN ARTIST?

While a boudoir technician or boudoir photographer can craft reliable boudoir portraits, artists create unique images and well, they make art.

What is the difference?

Defining art is beyond the scope of this article.  However, we tend to know art when we see it.

Art tells a story.  Art is moving.  There is furniture which is functional and well crafted and comfy.  Then, there is that chaise lounge with all the angles and colors… The piece is a centerpiece.  It is iconic, unique in a way.  Eye catching.  And, unique, it warrants a further look… There is nothing else quite or exactly like it.

Look at the artists work.  You may not like every piece of art this artist creates, and yet it is art.  Some of the images of this artist speak to you.  Draw you in.  Keep you looking back.

That is what you are looking for.  A photographic artist.  Not just pretty pictures of pretty women.  Beautiful images, artfully done.  Unique.

It’s hard to describe, though you’ll know art when you see it.  If it doesn’t look like art to you, then it may not be the artist for you.

You’ll know it when you see it.

When you do, buy it.  Commission that artist.

Then you’ll become art.  The thing about art is, you are creating something new and exciting and hasn’t been seen before.

Likely, you won’t know exactly what it will be till after it’s complete.  It’s like Christmas.

What you bring is your body, energy, time, and resources.

Leave the rest to your boudoir artist.

They will have stylists, grips and will do much of your boudoir session’s heavy lifting.

It is a fun time.

A fine art boudoir photographer can make any woman look great.  We all have great, beautiful features.  Boudoir photographers, who are artists, can find the beauty in anyone.

Though when the subjects arrive with dance training, or young, with smooth skin, or flexible like a yogi, or with a fit body, then the possibilities become endless.

Boudoir is about skin and bits of skin.

See how ‘Sitting the Mood’ is about mood?

The angles and lines are very engaging.

The props here, of the antique love-seat and the studio light are the only objects clearly visible other than the dancer.

While the dancer mirrors the forms of the chair, through her excellent muscle control, the lights are positioned to draw the eye along delicious diagonals and feminine curves all round.

The important thing is not to wait.

We are all getting older.

This woman could have done this pose 20 years earlier.

It took the maturity of a 40 something to do it now.

Wait and time marches on.

You have that great body, make it into lasting art.

Find your boudoir artist today.

The post What goes into creation of iconic fine art boudoir portraits? appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

Well, I was looking in the on line dictionary the other day and found this definition and synonyms for ‘appreciation’ and liked it so much I Facebooked it.

APPRECIATION:  Noun

1. the recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something, as in valuing, respect, esteem & high opinion
2. a full understanding of a situation. as in recognition, realization, knowledge, awareness, consciousness, understanding & comprehension

A boudoir photographer certainly must have appreciation.  At least the great boudoir photographers must.

Why?

Boudoir photography, at it’s best, is about creating fine art photographs of fragile women creatures, and in the case of dudeoir, naked egos (we won’t call the boys fragile, in case it hurts our fragile (naked) egos).

Boudoir Photographers must have appreciation in all these ways.

Let us look at the synonyms one by one.  You decide if you feel you as a boudoir photographer or if a client, wish your boudoir photographer to have these qualities of appreciation.

Valuing

Your boudoir photographer must value clients’ as the persons they are, with fragile hopes, who will be exposing themselves to the photographer’s camera, and crew (to see who may be on your set see also Who will be on the set of my boudoir photography shoot and see my boudoir photos?).  This is a sacred trust and must be valued.

Boudoir photography is about shades and blending shades beautifully as in this black & white boudoir portrait of a raven haired beauty

Respect

Likewise, your boudoir photographer must be respectful.  Towards subjects and crew.  And, must have respect for the process.  Those who give respect, often receive respect.  Could you respect your photographer if they were not respectful?

Esteem & High Opinion

Esteem and high opinion both are very similar, so we treat them together here.  If your boudoir photographer does not hold you and his work in esteem and have a high opinion of both you and of the work and fine art which follows, why get naked for this gal or guy with camera?  Again, this is like respect.  It goes both ways.

The qualities of definition one are about holding the process, people and art in high regard.  Definition two is about knowing the craft.

Recognition & Realization

Your boudoir photographer must have the ability to quickly and efficiently recognize your strengths and your challenging body issues and have the realization on how to both make you feel at ease and to have you looking your strongest, most sensually awesome best.

Knowledge, Awareness

In order to have you looking your awesome best in your fine art boudoir portraits, your photographer must have knowledge based on experience and practice.  Further, this knowledge, without an awareness would make recognition and realization much more difficult.

Consciousness & Understanding

These are shades of meaning.  However, boudoir photographers must deal in shades.  Black and white photography for example, which many of the finest art boudoir portraits are black and white, is all about shades of grey.  Your photographer must be conscious of what is going on.  They must be conscious of what is going on with you, the set, the crew, the lighting, the camera, the props, the makeup… the list goes on and on.  However, having consciousness alone is insufficient without understanding.  Without understanding of all the information and events going on during, and before and after, a boudoir photo shoot of which your photographer is conscious, the information becomes useless.  Your boudoir photographer must have understanding.

Comprehension

I like that comprehension flowed to the final bullet.

Comprehension could have been first.

Without comprehension, there is no traction when the rubber of understanding hits the real world of your boudoir photo set.  With comprehension, your photographer will know how to art the look, the pose, and the shot of you to make you look your dazzlingly sexy best.

The single most important decision you make with your boudoir photography sitting is your choice of boudoir artist. ( For more on this see also: Should my friend, who has a great new digital camera take my boudoir photos?  )

When you are looking for your boudoir photography artist, do let your senses loose to determine, will this photographer have the appreciation it takes to have you looking best in some of the only nude and semi nude photos of you taken, perhaps recently, or perhaps ever?

The post Does your boudoir photographer have appreciation? appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

Do you currently have that smoking hot body you’ve always wished for yourself?

Or are you just on the verge of getting to just that place with your body where you are looking your best in years?

We are Phoenix’s premier boudoir and dudeoir fine art photography studio.  Isn’t it time to think about recording your achievements?

Have the perfect body now? Time doesn’t wait, neither should you, call a fine art boudoir photographer today.

If you currently have that hard body going on, chances are you’ve worked hard and paid quite a bit of positive attention to yourself with real investments of time, effort, energy and money for cosmetics, workouts, personal trainers, gymnasiums, shopping for the perfect fitting cute outfits, eating right, perhaps even a touch or more of surgery, and your list probably goes on.

Whether it’s been fun or not, it’s a really really lot of hard work for most of us to look our very best, right?

Now that you’ve achieved or are close to achieving your fitness and self image goals, it’s time to treat yourself with some fun that will lastingly enshrine your gorgeously styled self by becoming the piece of art you’ve worked so hard to sculpt.

How?

Well, this is boudoir photography blog, and fine art boudoir or dudeior photography is an excellent way to capture in lasting permanent iconic imagery perfect portrayals of your beautiful hard body.  Being somewhat partial, we feel it is the best and most long lasting way as well.  While none of us are getting younger, few of us took the opportunity when young to get those great boudoir or body scape portraits of ourselves done when young.

Most of us, when we are young and have the hard bodies come to us so much more easily, do not have the time, financial where-with-all, inclination or forethought to invest in boudoir photography and to thus create lasting time capsule images of how truly gorgeous nude or semi nude bodies can be portrayed by professional fine art boudoir photography.

Or maybe we were too shy. Or maybe we hadn’t yet matured or seasoned enough to grow into our own style and have the confident assurance in our visual desirability.

In fact, many boudoir photography clients are in their 40’s and 50’s.

While youth is often wasted on the young, fortunately with time, many of us will mature.

Often after a divorce, or after having restyled our hair or makeup, after having retooled the wardrobe, after long work outs, after long life changing diets, and … maybe on passing by a mirror and seeing the newly waxed eyebrows, we may have noticed, “Wow, I don’t look half bad!”  Or, “Wow, I look the best I’ve looked in 5 years!”

Boudoir photography by a fine art boudoir photographer can be a way to capture your current great look forever.

The same holds true for men as for women.

Once we have the body, and that takes work and usually money people, and we know when we have the look, it’s time to portray ourselves as the art sculpture pieces we have worked so hard to create.

Call a fine are boudoir photographer today, you’ll be glad you did immediately and for years to come.

The post Finally have that hard body, now what? Create a piece of fine art boudoir or dudeoir photography and immortalize your accomplishment appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.

When boudoir photography is done poorly, images which show your exposed body in an unflattering light can damage self esteem, sometimes seemingly irreparably so.

Ever hear, “I hate how I look in pictures,” perhaps come out of your mouth?  In our Phoenix photography studios, I hear it all the time from my clients.  And, they always walk away pleased with our results.  Though it takes a bit of time, high degree of professionalism and ultimately performance on our part to build that confidence and trust.

Boudoir photography done right is a very possessive ego affirmative and uplifting process. Done a bit off, it can be an huge emotionally exhausting ego hit when seeing yourself pictorially exposed and looking ‘off’

If you are someone who hates how you look in your portraits, you may be a poor candidate for photography by friends or amateurs.

Why?  Because I and professional photographic artists like me are at points in our careers photographically where we can bring out the best in people in their portraits.

When they see themselves looking great in our photographic creations, people just plain feel great about themselves.

It just is a huge ego boost to look good in a picture for most people.

I know I love when I look great in a photo.

Don’t you love it as well?  That is, when you actually like how you look in a portrait of you?

It can be fun helping a newly minted photographer friend out, who is trying to develop their skills with their new camera, or who is so taken by your beauty they just wish to be able to photograph you and so you may wish to consider going for it and allow them to do your boudoir photo shoot.

Consider only saying yes if you’ve already a strong self image or have already had some great portraits taken of you.

That is, so your skin is thick enough not to be effected by your friend’s failures as a professional photographic artist, which clearly they are not yet.

If your skin isn’t so thick, and it isn’t so thick for many or most, then consider only having the best of the professionals photograph you.

Even a professional photographer can be a technician and not an artist.  It takes an artist to make you look great in your boudoir portraits.

That is, almost any professional photographer is glad for the chance to take your boudoir portraits for you.  Even many professional boudoir studios are the McDonald’s of boudoir, cranking out a one size fits all product, that isn’t bad on the budget menu, still they aren’t high art.

To look your best in boudoir portraits, you need a boudoir photographer who treats you with the uniqueness required to craft your likeness into a beautifully uplifting work of art.

Once you’ve gotten your own ego nicely lifted, through what ever your method, to a level where poor results will not curtail your self image, then you may consider sitting for a friend.

If they get a great shot, great.  If they don’t it was fun with a friend learning to take pictures.

Any failure in boudoir photography is twofold

• Wrong photographer
• You picked the wrong photographer

That is, the photographer is always responsible for the photographic outcomes.

Great photographic artists produce great outcomes, pretty much every time.

Great photographic artists make you look your best and provide the most consistently superior images and outcomes, regardless of the infinite variety of clients, body sizes, skin, eye and hair colors and the various ages of women who walk through their studio doors for boudoir sittings.

Ultimately, picking the right boudoir photographer is entirely your responsibility.

This is important, so let me repeat, the most important decision you make for your boudoir photography outcome is who your photographic artist will be.

When is it better to have a friend or amateur take your boudoir portraits?

For you, this is best done when you already have high enough self esteem, in how you look naked, enough so that you will not get put off or have self image damage by potentially poor boudoir photography results or outcomes.

Chances are, your friend will not have you looking your best in your boudoir portraits.

They may get lucky and get a great shot in or two.

In the majority of cases, there is a great deal that goes into creating a great boudoir portrait.

When a boudoir portrait is great, it is amazing.

Then again, there are so many ho hum shots out there.  Shots that make your blank look big and your blank-itty blank look just plain off.

These ho hum or just bad shots can be huge ego hits.

In fact, they can be so discouraging that you forever swear off having boudoir portraits taken of you, ever ever again… and with real tears even.

If you cannot take the ego hit, have a professional artist at the top of their game do your boudoir portraits, regardless of cost, you are worth it.  It is uplifting.

If you have the self confidence, and wish to help a friend out, then you may be an ideal candidate… Do be very sure however.  If you haven’t seen yourself looking great photographically, you may be discouraged by poor results, too discourage to ever try doing it right another time.

This is a great deal to give up, again because looking great in your art boudoir portraits is very empowering and worthwhile.

Ask any woman with great boudoir portraits, how did it impact their self esteem?  How did it effect their life?  How did it feel?

The other consideration is privacy of your boudoir portraits

There are also privacy concerns to consider.

The more shy you are, the more this is of potential concern.

Professional boudoir photographers are well versed and experienced with privacy considerations.  It’s just part of the job.

Whether by a friend, amateur photographer or loved one, with changing emotions and lack of experienced professionalism there can be unintended consequences with amateurs not fully appraised of privacy considerations, potentially including mishap years into the future with your boudoir portraits.

For more on who may see your boudoir portraits, see also Who will see my professional boudoir photos?

The post Should my friend, who has a great new digital camera take my boudoir photos? appeared first on Fine Art Boudoir by Yucel.