A complete guide of my go-to poses, tips, and prompts for natural movement during boudoir sessions. This guide includes almost 90 pages of my posing thought process, tips, photo examples, image breakdowns where I tell you exactly how I got the shot, video clips from an actual session and a cheat sheet to screenshot and quickly reference during your boudoir shoots!
Going into a boudoir session can be scary. In most cases, your client is going to come into it very nervous and it is up to YOU to make her feel comfortable. This can feel like a ton of pressure on you as the photographer. What if I told you there was a new way to approach every single session you do so that you never have moments where you can’t think of which pose comes next, your putting your clients into poses that make her feel sexy and empowered, and you’re delivering final images that have your clients giving your name out to every one of their friends and telling them “you HAVE to book a boudoir shoot with my photographer!”
I created the posing guide with both seasoned boudoir photographers and those who have never done boudoir in mind. This is not just a list of all of the poses I use during sessions (although, it does include them all!), it’s a breakdown of my whole session process and the reason I no longer get nervous before shoots or worry that my client is feeling great about her boudoir experience. Confident photographers make comfortable clients and together, they make gorgeous freaking photos.
This is not a shot list of poses to recreate. This is a guide for directing your clients into natural movement while keeping a structure to your sessions that is just going to get better with each shoot you do!
Take the guesswork out of posing and go into each boudoir session with confidence and a plan. I’ll tell you about how I completely changed the way I do boudoir by putting every single pose into 7 easy to remember categories, each with tons of variations.
Confidently direct your clients during their sessions and give them a boudoir experience they will rave about. Use prompts for natural movement and subtle changes in angles to deliver images that have captured her at her very best. Get more of those moments where you show your client the back of your camera during a shoot and she says, “OMG, that’s me??”
Stronger poses = better images = bigger sales
Enough said. We all want this.
I am a wedding photographer turned boudoir, brand, and portrait photographer in the Seattle area. I shot my first boudoir session in 2014 and quickly fell in love with giving women an empowering experience and the chance to see themselves in a way that they may not get to nearly enough! In 2018 I created my boudoir brand, Flame by Sam, which grew my passion for boudoir and helped me really focus on my style and heart behind what I do.
Now, my goal is to empower and help equip other photographers, especially ones wanting to make their own transition from wedding photography to the boudoir niche or wanting to offer boudoir as an add-on for their brides.
I’m giving you every single one of my tried and true boudoir poses along with descriptions, examples, breakdowns, videos, and all the tips you need to bring out your client’s natural movement and make some amazing images.
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© 2022 Samantha McFarlen