How to Prepare for a Boudoir Photoshoot

Booked your first boudoir session or looking into booking one? Here is a list of tips for how to prepare for your boudoir photoshoot with Beautiful You Studios!

Pamper Your Skin & Face!

• Hydrate! Make sure you are drinking lots of water before your shoot. Hydrated skin is glowing & beautiful skin.

• Wash your face and lotion up before you come to the studio. Your session comes with complimentary hair and makeup, so show up make-up free and let us take care of the rest (woohoo!).

• Make sure to trim and/or wax your brows. This should go without saying but we’ve been surprised before – if you’ve got close to a uni-brow, get your brows done before you arrive! There’s nothing more tacky than a close-up photo with overgrown brows & it’s just not something we can Photoshop.

Get Your Body Ready!

• Don’t be that girl who feels she has to starve herself to look good in her photos – embrace yourself as you are, curves & all. You will be with us for 4-5 hours & there won’t be time to take a break to eat snacks (plus, we don’t want you to mess up your lipstick by eating), so be sure to eat a healthy meal before you arrive to help keep your energy level up.

• Wear loose clothes to the studio to avoid having panties, bras, & socks leaving strange lines on your skin.

• Make sure you shave your legs, armpits, & intimate area the morning of your session. Or if you wax, make sure you schedule your appointment a few days before your shoot.

• Avoid artificial tanning as it will make your skin look too orange in the photos. Also, during the summer, try to avoid swimsuits that create lots of weird tan lines. While we can Photoshop them out in a worst case scenario, this will slow down how quickly we’re able to get your photos back to you.

• To get your body ready for all the weird & unusual ways it’s about to move, do some yoga stretches the week leading up to your session to lessen the amount of pain you will be in afterwards. Don’t worry though; an advantage of working with me is that I’ve been photographed by other boudoir photographers 10+ times. Many boudoir photographers have NOT done a boudoir shoot & let me tell you from first-hand experience; if your boudoir photographer hasn’t done a boudoir shoot, you’re gonna be experiencing a world of back pain for a week or more. Luckily, you don’t have to go through that with me because I know exactly which poses are painful & won’t put you in them for long. My clients rarely complain of experiencing any pain at all & if it do, they mention it only lasted 2-24 hours.

• If you want the ultimate pampering experience, schedule a massage for the day after your session to work out any sore muscles that were created during your session.

Show Your Hands & Feet Some Attention!

• Your hands and feet will be seen in most of the photos so you’ll want to have them looking as gorgeous as you are.

• Think about your polish shade and what you want to be in the photos. Whether you go with a color or a French mani, make sure you love the shade. We recommend colors like nude, pink, red, or maroon & avoiding bold colors like orange or blue. Colors like those ruin photos as they stand out too much & take away the attention from beautiful you. Pro tip: Use the same color on your hands & feet.

• Check the bottom of your feet – are they free of calluses? If not, invest in a pedicure because your feet will show in the photos.

Let’s Talk Hair…

• If you get your hair highlighted or dyed, make sure to book an appointment for a touch-up before your boudoir session as we can not Photoshop hair color.

• Make sure you love your hair color! If you’re thinking about changing your color, make sure you pick one that you’ll love to look back on.

• We allot 1.5 hours for hair & makeup to be completed. This means that our hair/makeup artist is only doing basic styles to touch up your pre-existing look to make it photoshoot-worthy. If your hair takes too long to complete, this will cut into your photo shoot time. Even if we can push your shoot time back, eventually the sun will run out & there is nothing we can do if the sun runs out. So, arrive with clean, dry hair generally styled in the way you’d like it to be in photos. For example, if you have naturally curly hair & want it straightened, you should arrive with it already straightened. Try to avoid applying a lot of product in your hair as it may look greasy in the photos. Leave the guesswork to the stylist who will know exactly how much to add to have your hair looking shiny but not greasy.

• Make sure you love your hairstyle. It doesn’t matter if your hair is down to your ankles or you are bald, it is all about confidence, girl! If you love your hair, then that will show in pictures, but if you don’t then that will also show. If you’re not in love with your current hair cut, get it fixed prior to your session; or, bring a wig. One of our clients is bringing several to hers to change up her look!

Prep Your Lingerie!

Okay so the key to a fun and sensual boudoir shoot is LINGERIE!

• After you book, we’ll email you our Lingerie Guide which includes advice on how to choose the best lingerie for your body type as well as info on where we recommend purchasing it from.

• Bring at least 3 outfits even if you plan to borrow items from our studio closet, just incase what we have doesn’t fit or interest you. If you have more, even better – I can help you narrow it down once you arrive.

• Don’t forget to remove the tags from your personal lingerie (not ours, because we need to know what size everything is!) as we don’t want the tags to show up in the photos; we have scissors in the studio if you forget.

Get Ready to Have Fun!

• This is going to be fun! Don’t worry, you don’t need to know how to model. I will pose you down to your fingertips and give you feedback the whole way including showing the photos I’ve taken of you throughout the whole shoot so you’ll know just how beautiful you’re looking.

• If however, you’re the kinda gal that likes “homework,” one way to get super ready for your shoot is to do what I used to do when I was preparing for shoots as a model back in the day: 1) Check out our Pinterest board & study the faces of the models in those shoots, 2) Find a couple photos that really speak to you, 3) Practice the expressions in these photos in your bathroom mirror. Remember that modeling is something that takes practice just like anything else & that models have YEARS of practice. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t look like a model. The goal is to have FUN while doing this exercise. There’s really nothing to worry about though because I have a background in modeling & will coach you on exactly how to pose. I’m also currently in a 12-week course JUST to learn how to show inexperienced ladies how to get different facial expressions in their photos!! 🙂

• Clients with zero experience end up getting hundreds of photos that they love with me & their problem becomes narrowing down – who doesn’t like that to be their problem?!

So don’t stress! Now that you know how to prepare for your boudoir shoot you can relax and get ready to have an amazing experience. Contact us if you haven’t already booked an appointment. We will see you soon!