Everything You Really Want to Know

About a Boudoir Shoot

Will I know how to pose? What if I hate photographs of myself? Do I have to get naked? What happens if I want to? What exactly is the difference between boudoir, nude and erotic photography? Can couples do this together? Can I have a maternity shoot that feels sensual rather than looking like every other maternity photograph on the internet? And perhaps most importantly, who gets to see the photographs afterwards?

Will I know how to pose? What if I hate photographs of myself? Do I have to get naked? What happens if I want to? What exactly is the difference between boudoir, nude and erotic photography? Can couples do this together? Can I have a maternity shoot that feels sensual rather than looking like every other maternity photograph on the internet? And perhaps most importantly, who gets to see the photographs afterwards?

All perfectly sensible questions. None of them require an embarrassed cough beforehand.

I have photographed women and couples with very different bodies, personalities, reasons for being here and ideas about what they wanted to create. Some arrive excited. Some arrive nervous. Quite a few manage both simultaneously, which is an impressive piece of emotional multitasking.

What they usually discover is that a boudoir shoot is far less about being photogenic, knowing how to pose or possessing some mysterious reserve of confidence than they imagined.

My job is to take care of the photography. Your job is simply to arrive as yourself.

So this isn’t a collection of three sentence answers designed to satisfy a search engine. These are proper answers to the questions surrounding boudoir, sensual portraiture, couples photography, maternity, fine art nude and erotic photography. The practical questions, the personal ones and the occasional question people type into Google at midnight and then hastily delete from their search history.

Some answers are straightforward. Others deserve a little more thought.

And if there’s something you’ve wondered about that isn’t here, you are almost certainly not the only one.

You would be in remarkably good company. A considerable number of the women I photograph begin our first conversation by telling me precisely that.

I probably brush this off more casually than I should, because I know what usually happens next. Within the first ten or fifteen minutes the nerves begin to disappear. Then, once we have settled into the shoot, I show them a photograph on the back of the camera and very often get the same slightly suspicious response: “Is that me?”

Yes. It is. I haven’t secretly replaced you with somebody else while you weren’t looking.

The difference is that I’m photographing you deliberately. I’m controlling the light, choosing the angles, directing you and making small adjustments as we go. You don’t need to know how to pose because that’s my job. You just need to listen to me, occasionally tolerate instructions that may sound rather odd, and trust that there is a reason for them.

So if you hate photographs of yourself, that may actually be one of the reasons you’re here. You already know what an unfortunate phone camera, bad lighting and the wrong angle can do. Let’s find out what happens when all three are no longer in charge.

I’m reasonably confident I can do better than your selfie camera.

Unless you’re a photographer, of course. Then we have an entirely different problem.

You’re not a professional model. And if you are, you probably aren’t reading this particular question.

There are thousands of posing videos on Instagram, and you are welcome to disappear down that rabbit hole if you wish. By the time you emerge you may have memorised seventeen ways to position your hips, developed a complicated relationship with your shoulders and forgotten entirely how you normally stand.

So please don’t practise.

You don’t need to arrive knowing how to pose because I will direct you throughout the shoot. Sometimes I’ll give you a position to start with and make small adjustments from there. Other times I’ll simply watch the way you naturally move. Quite often, somewhere in the middle of that movement, I’ll see something and say, “Stop. Stay exactly there.”

Then I’ll refine it. A slight change of angle, a shift in posture, where you’re looking, perhaps the smallest adjustment that turns something good into something rather lovely.

That is what I mean by micro posing. I’m not trying to force you through a catalogue of predetermined poses. I’m looking at you, the light, your body and what is happening in front of my camera, then directing accordingly.

So there is nothing to learn beforehand and nothing to practise in the mirror.

You bring yourself. I’ll take care of the posing.

The majority of people I photograph are doing this for the first time, so if your heart is already doing something slightly more energetic than usual just thinking about it, you are in very good company.

And yes, it does matter. Not because you need experience, but because this is new to you.

You may have questions you’re not quite sure how to ask. You might want a straightforward boudoir shoot, or you may be thinking about something more intimate and wondering how on earth you begin that conversation without feeling embarrassed. You may not even know exactly what you want yet.

Take a breath.

Have a proper look through my galleries. You’ll quickly discover that I’m comfortable photographing everything from elegant boudoir through to fine art nude and more intimate, erotic work. There isn’t an awkward little line you need to tiptoe towards or a secret vocabulary you’re expected to know. Tell me what you’re thinking, even if you’re not entirely sure how to say it.

My interest is remarkably simple. I want to create gorgeous photographs of you, whatever style of shoot we decide is right for you.

There is a phrase you’ll see repeated throughout my website: don’t stress, I’ll guide you every step of the way. It isn’t there because somebody once told me it sounded reassuring. It’s there because that is genuinely how I work.

You don’t need to know how any of this works before you arrive.

That’s rather the point of coming to someone who does.

Damn right you are.

Taking most, or possibly all, of your clothes off in front of someone you have only recently met isn’t particularly normal behaviour for most people. I would be more surprised if you arrived without at least a few butterflies.

Most of my clients tell me they’re nervous, so we begin slowly. There is no rush, and I’ll be very aware of how you’re feeling. Usually something changes within the first few minutes, particularly once I’ve shown you a couple of photographs on the back of the camera and you realise that this might actually be rather good fun.

If you’ve chosen to include fine art nudes or nude bodyscapes, I do something that surprises people. I often photograph those first.

I’ve heard photographers say nudity should be left until the end of a shoot. My experience has taught me the opposite. If you’ve chosen to include nudity, I often prefer to photograph it earlier. Firstly, there are no lingerie straps or clothing marks on your skin. More importantly, I don’t want you spending the first half of your shoot quietly thinking, at some point I’m going to have to take everything off.

So we remove the elephant from the room. Along with, admittedly, quite a lot of the wardrobe.

With a bodyscape or two, you don’t even have to worry about what your expression is doing while you settle in. And when I’ve asked clients afterwards, they’ve told me that starting this way actually made them feel less nervous, not more.

I’ve even had clients become so comfortable that the gown is subsequently forgotten altogether and they wander around my studio naked as though this was obviously what they had planned all along.

So yes, being nervous is completely normal.

Wait for what? Most people I know who enjoy food, myself very much included, have been saying some version of “I just need to lose a little weight first” for years. For many of us, “first” has a remarkable ability to keep moving further into the future.

But let’s get to the real question. Do you need to lose weight before having a boudoir photoshoot? No. If you’re training for a bodybuilding competition, working towards a particular athletic goal or simply want to change your body for yourself, I completely understand wanting to wait until you reach that point. But for most of us mere mortals, there will probably always be something we would like to change.

Our obsession with very slim bodies is hardly some eternal rule of beauty either. Look at the women painted by Rubens or Renoir. Artists have celebrated softness, shape and curves for centuries. Rubens did it so enthusiastically that we eventually gave the English language the word Rubenesque. Photography is rather good at curves too.

The way I use light, shadow, posing and perspective isn’t about pretending your body is something it isn’t. It’s about photographing the body you have beautifully. Curves can look spectacular in photographs, and waiting until you have reached some theoretically perfect weight may simply mean putting off something you would thoroughly enjoy now.

You can, of course, lose weight first if that is genuinely what you want to do. Your body, your decision. I just wouldn’t postpone being photographed indefinitely while waiting for some future version of yourself to give the present one permission.

I could quite easily disappear into a lengthy diatribe here about bodies, beauty standards and why human beings are so extraordinarily good at finding fault with themselves, but that is probably a discussion for another platform.

You don’t have to change your body before I photograph it.

Nobody I have ever photographed has arrived with a perfect body. Then again, perfect is such a wonderfully subjective word that I’m not entirely sure what one would look like.

We tend to examine our own bodies with a level of forensic enthusiasm normally reserved for crime scenes. The scar you always notice. The stretch marks. Your stomach, arms, thighs or whatever particular bit has somehow found itself promoted to the top of your personal complaints department.

Tell me about it.

Not because we’re going to have a psychology lesson about learning to love every square centimetre of yourself, but because if I know what you’re self conscious about, I can photograph you accordingly. Lighting, posing, perspective, shadow and drapery can completely change how much attention a particular area receives. Sometimes what we don’t show is every bit as important as what we do.

Then there is retouching. Scars and stretch marks can be softened or removed if that is what you want. Temporary blemishes are straightforward, and if you wake up on the morning of your shoot to discover a pimple apparently attempting to recreate Mount Vesuvius on your chin, don’t panic. That definitely doesn’t need to become part of your permanent photographic record.

I’ve even had clients ask me to remove particular tattoos. These are your photographs, so we can discuss how much or how little retouching you want rather than simply assuming that everything you regard as an imperfection should disappear.

There is an important distinction between retouching you and redesigning you. My preference is that you still look like yourself. I want to create a beautiful photograph with lighting, posing and perspective first, then use Photoshop where it genuinely improves the finished image, rather than constructing an entirely different person afterwards.

We all have things about our bodies we would probably change if presented with a sufficiently accommodating magic wand. Fortunately, you don’t need to resolve your entire relationship with your body before having photographs taken.

Tell me what bothers you. Then let me worry about how I photograph it.

The first part of this answer may sound slightly strange. If possible, arrive wearing loose fitting clothing, without underwear or socks underneath. I’ve had clients arrive in a robe and slippers, which may not be the most glamorous entrance to a boudoir studio, but it makes perfect sense. Tight clothing, bras, socks and underwear can leave marks on your skin, and avoiding them gives us a clean canvas from the beginning.

For the more conventional advice about what to bring, have a look through my Experience section where I cover plenty of ideas. My general rule, though, is to bring more rather than less. We can go through everything together and decide what will photograph well and what suits the kind of images you want to create.

If your budget allows, beautiful, well made lace lingerie can be worth investing in and can photograph exceptionally well. If spending the price of a small household appliance on a French bra isn’t particularly appealing, there are plenty of inexpensive options online. SHEIN, for example, can give you several completely different looks for what you might spend on one luxury lingerie set. You certainly don’t need to arrive carrying the annual output of a Parisian lingerie house.

Colour is very personal. I particularly like reds and burgundy because they can look rich and seductive in photographs, but black and white are classics for good reason. Emerald green has looked spectacular on several of my clients, and ultimately a colour you love and feel good wearing will usually be a better choice than something somebody on the internet has declared to be correct.

You also don’t need to buy anything new. Bring pieces you already own and love. An oversized shirt, knitwear, a bodysuit, jewellery or something belonging to your partner can sometimes give us more interesting photographs than an elaborate lingerie set. And sometimes very little clothing produces the strongest photographs of all. A simple white sheet can look every bit as beautiful as lace and suspenders when it is photographed properly.

If you’re planning to include nude photographs, I suppose the packing list becomes considerably shorter. Even then, there are things we can use to change the look. Body lotion applied at the studio can give the skin a beautiful sheen under carefully controlled lighting, for example.

The important thing is not to arrive with what you think a boudoir photographer expects you to wear. Tell me what you want the photographs to feel like, bring plenty of possibilities, and we’ll work out the wardrobe from there.

Absolutely not.

When I started my journey into boudoir photography, only a relatively small percentage of my clients wanted to include nude or implied nude photographs. Interestingly, over the years that has almost completely reversed. Today, the majority choose to include nude or implied nude photographs in their shoot.

But that is their choice. It doesn’t have to be yours.

One of the things I want you to understand before you walk into my studio is that you decide the boundaries. You decide what you wear, what you take off and how far you want the photographs to go. That might mean beautiful lingerie, an oversized shirt, implied nudity where very little is actually revealed, fine art nudes, or something more intimate. There isn’t a point in the shoot where nudity suddenly becomes compulsory because you’ve booked a boudoir photographer.

You can also change your mind. You might arrive absolutely certain that nude photographs aren’t for you and then, once you’re comfortable, decide you’d like to try one. Equally, you might have planned to include nudity and decide on the day that you don’t want to. Either decision is perfectly fine.

The important distinction is that I can guide you creatively, suggest what I think will photograph beautifully and show you possibilities you may not have considered, but I don’t need to persuade you past a boundary you’ve set. A photograph is considerably more successful when the person in it actually wanted to create it.

That is one of the advantages of working with Boudoir Fusion Photography. There isn’t a predetermined formula for how much or how little you should wear. We decide what we’re creating together, but the boundaries are always yours.

And sometimes the most sensual photograph from an entire shoot reveals almost nothing at all.

I mention somewhere else on this website why I called the business Boudoir Fusion Photography. Consider finding it an Easter egg. If you find it and subsequently book a photoshoot, tell me where it is and I’ll give you an extra edited photograph on me.

Part of the reason for the name is that the boundaries between boudoir, nude and erotic photography are nowhere near as tidy as the labels suggest. Photographers can become wonderfully pedantic about definitions. Most people who contact me simply know the sort of photographs they would like to create.

So, in the simplest terms, this is how I think about them:

Boudoir is sensual. Nude is unclothed. Erotic is sexual.

There can be considerable overlap between all three. A nude photograph can be completely non erotic, while an erotic photograph may contain no nudity whatsoever. A boudoir photoshoot might begin in lingerie and wander quite happily into nude or erotic photography along the way.

I am certainly not going to stop halfway through a shoot and announce that we have crossed an important photographic border.

What matters is that I understand what you want to create, what you are comfortable with and how far you would like to take it.

If you are interested in the distinctions, I have written a fuller explanation of how I define boudoir, implied nude, nude, artistic nude and erotic photography.

As far as you like, as long as it doesn’t put me in jail or hospital.

Erotic means very different things to different people, which is rather the point. For one person it might be an outfit, a fantasy or something mildly provocative. For somebody else it might involve a particular kink or something considerably more explicit. I’m not particularly interested in deciding what should be erotic for you.

Come to me with the idea. You don’t need to dress it up in polite language or spend twenty minutes trying to find a less embarrassing way of asking the question. Tell me what you would like to create and we can have a grown up conversation about how we photograph it.

Even if the concept involves sex or something quite explicit, my approach to the photography doesn’t suddenly change. I’m still thinking about lighting, composition, expression, shape, atmosphere and the story within the photograph. Explicit doesn’t have to mean crude. Given the choice, I will always try to make the finished photographs beautifully crafted and artistic.

There are, obviously, some boundaries. If your idea involves something I cannot or will not photograph, I’ll simply tell you. No raised eyebrow. No dramatic intake of breath. We find out what works and take it from there.

So tell me the idea first. We can worry about what to call it afterwards.

Yes. Absolutely.

I will only publish photographs from your shoot if you have given me permission to do so. As part of the pre shoot questionnaire I send you, there is a model release giving you the option to allow me to use your photographs. If you leave that release unsigned, your photographs remain private. I will not use them on my website, social media or for promotional purposes.

It really is that simple.

You may, of course, change your mind later. I have had clients who initially wanted everything kept completely private and then, after seeing their finished photographs, decided they were rather too good not to share. If that happens, send me written permission, usually via WhatsApp, and we can agree exactly which photographs I may use.

If they are going onto social media, you also decide whether you want to be tagged or remain anonymous. Some clients are perfectly happy to be tagged. Others would rather their mother, employer and next door neighbour didn’t suddenly discover quite how adventurous their Tuesday afternoon had been. Both are perfectly reasonable.

There is an important principle behind all of this. You booked me to create photographs for you. Paying for a photoshoot does not automatically give me permission to show those photographs to everybody else. They are intimate photographs and I treat them accordingly.

Your privacy isn’t something you need to negotiate with me, and you certainly don’t need to wonder whether saying no to a model release is going to offend me. It won’t.

Unless you give me permission to share them, what happens in the studio stays in the studio.

I officially allow 14 to 21 working days for your finished photographs. That gives me enough time to edit everything properly and also allows for the occasional unforeseen snag that life has an irritating habit of introducing at precisely the wrong moment.

In reality, particularly during my quieter periods, you will often receive your photographs within a few days of your photoshoot. I know how excited clients are to see the finished images, and I don’t particularly enjoy making you wait either. I will always do everything I reasonably can to get them back to you as soon as possible without compromising the quality of the editing.

In fact, where time allows, I will often try to get one or two finished photographs to you on the same day as your shoot. Consider them a little preview of what is coming while I disappear into Photoshop and get to work on the rest.

If you have left things rather late and suddenly realised that the birthday, anniversary or wedding for which these photographs are intended has not had the courtesy to move itself further down the calendar, don’t panic. I offer a premium rush editing service where circumstances allow, which can move your photographs to the front of the editing queue.

If you know you have a particular deadline, tell me when you book. The earlier I know about it, the easier it is for me to plan around it.

So while I ask you to allow 14 to 21 working days, my intention is always much simpler: get your photographs beautifully finished and back to you as quickly as I can.

Nope. Many of my clients simply tell me they are doing it for themselves, and I think that is as good a reason as any.

Of course, boudoir photographs can make a rather extraordinary gift. I have photographed clients celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, milestone ages, fitness achievements, weight loss and all sorts of moments in their lives that they wanted to remember. And if your partner is one of those infuriating people who seems to have everything already, photographs of you are something they are unlikely to have ordered for themselves.

They can also make a wonderful wedding gift for the groom, which reminds me of one particular client.

This was before social media had made the covert movement of photographs quite so complicated. My client wanted to surprise her groom on their wedding day, so we planned the operation with the sort of attention to detail normally associated with a minor bank robbery.

We created a beautiful coffee table book of photographs from her shoot, including images of her wearing the lingerie she would be wearing beneath her wedding dress. The Maid of Honour was recruited into the conspiracy and given one important assignment: deliver the book to the groom while he was getting ready.

The wedding photographer had been briefed too. His job was to photograph the groom as he opened the book and capture his reaction as he realised exactly what he was looking at.

I have always wondered what went through his mind when she eventually walked down the aisle towards him. He had just been looking at photographs of the lingerie that he now knew was underneath that wedding dress. Maintaining the solemn dignity appropriate to the occasion may have required slightly more concentration than usual.

There was, however, one final and rather important instruction for the Maid of Honour: get the book back. You have created a private wedding present for the groom, not unexpected entertainment for the best man and the rest of the wedding party.

Another client came to me because her husband travelled regularly. Rather than creating a single gift, she had enough photographs taken to send him a different morning and evening photograph while he was away. I rather liked that idea. The photoshoot became a gift that kept arriving.

But gifts, weddings and milestones are simply reasons you can have a photoshoot. They are certainly not reasons you need one.

You don’t need a birthday. You don’t need an anniversary. You don’t need to have lost weight, reached a particular age or achieved some great milestone. And you certainly don’t need a partner waiting at the other end of it.

Sometimes “I’m doing this for myself” is the entire reason.

And perhaps that is the best gift of all.

Choosing a boudoir photographer is a little different from choosing someone to photograph your office Christmas party. You may be standing in front of this person wearing very little, or possibly nothing at all, so being able to take a good photograph is only part of the job.

Start with the photographer’s portfolio. Do you actually like their style? Look through enough of their work to see whether the quality is consistent rather than being persuaded by three spectacular photographs on a homepage. If you are considering nude or erotic photography, look specifically for examples of that work. Not every boudoir photographer offers nude or erotic photography, and there is nothing wrong with that, but if it is something you would like to explore, you need to know that the photographer is both comfortable and experienced with it.

I would also look for originality. Does the photographer have a recognisable style of their own, or does the portfolio look suspiciously like a collection of photographs you have seen elsewhere?

I have a slightly unusual perspective on this because several of my photographs have turned up on other photographers’ websites and social media, both locally and internationally. Google once alerted me to a photographer claiming that I was using their photograph. A model release and the original EXIF data brought that particular conversation to a fairly rapid conclusion.

More recently, I found one of my photographs on Instagram accompanied by another photographer’s explanation of how they had created it. This was particularly impressive because the model had worked predominantly with me and the dress in the photograph had actually been made for my studio. Apparently photographic technique has now advanced to the point where you can create an image without being anywhere near the camera.

Then look at experience, particularly if you are considering nude or erotic photography. There needs to be an enormous amount of trust between you and the person behind the camera. You should feel that they know what they are doing, understand boundaries and can make you feel comfortable in what is, for most people, a very unfamiliar situation.

Find out where the photoshoot takes place and who will be there. Is it a legitimate studio or location? Who else has access to the space during your session? Can you bring your partner or a friend if that makes you feel more comfortable? My studio is listed on Google Maps and, unless the shoot is intended as a surprise, I actually encourage clients to bring their partner if having them there will make the experience easier. If a photographer tells you categorically that nobody may accompany you, I would at least ask why.

Privacy should be a major consideration. Ask who will have access to your photographs, where the files are stored and whether any of them can be published without your permission. Is there a proper model release? Particularly with intimate photographs, you should understand exactly what you are agreeing to before the camera comes out of the bag.

The same applies to retouching. Is it done by the photographer or sent to somebody else? If it is outsourced, that means another person may have access to your images, which you are entitled to know. Are the beautifully polished photographs in the portfolio genuinely representative of what you will receive, or are you paying extra afterwards to get that level of finish?

Then, inevitably, there is price. I completely understand why people compare prices, but make sure you are comparing the same thing. How long is the shoot? How many sets can you use? Is hair and makeup included? How many finished photographs do you receive? What level of retouching is included? Are there additional charges that only appear once you have already had the photoshoot?

One photographer offering twenty edited photographs is not necessarily giving you better value than another offering ten. Twenty badly photographed or badly edited images are still twenty badly photographed or badly edited images. Quantity is a rather poor substitute for quality.

Finally, and I think this is particularly important, talk to the photographer before you book. Ask questions. Tell them what you are thinking about doing, particularly if you are considering something more intimate. See how they respond. You don’t have to become lifelong friends, but you should feel comfortable talking to them.

A magnificent portfolio is important, but if something about the conversation makes you uncomfortable, pressured or simply gives you that little voice in the back of your head saying I’m not sure about this, listen to it.

After all, you aren’t just choosing the photographs. You are choosing the person who will be standing behind the camera while those photographs are being created.

Choose someone whose work you love, whose experience you trust and, perhaps most importantly, someone you are comfortable enough with to forget about the camera for a while.

Booking your photoshoot is really easy. You can call or WhatsApp me on 082 570 5763, email me at info@bfophoto.co.za, send me a message through Instagram, or simply complete one of the enquiry forms on this website.

And if you are still not entirely sure which package you want, what sort of photographs you would like to create, or whether boudoir photography is even for you, talk to me first. You don’t need to have all the answers before you make contact. That is partly what the conversation is for.

Once we have agreed on a date, a non refundable booking fee is required to secure it. This is not an additional charge and is deducted from the price of your chosen package. If your package includes professional hair and makeup, this also allows me to secure the hair and makeup artist for your session.

We can pencil a date into the diary while we are discussing your shoot, but please remember that the date is not secured until the booking fee has been paid. Until then, it remains available to another client.

Most clients will have chosen their package by this stage because I need to allocate the appropriate amount of studio time. You are not necessarily locked into that decision forever, though. If you decide before your shoot that you would like to upgrade your package, talk to me and, where time allows, we can make the necessary arrangements.

I generally like to start my photoshoots at around 10am. There is some method behind this. It gets you through the worst of the Johannesburg morning traffic without arriving at my studio having spent an hour discussing the shortcomings of other motorists with your steering wheel. It also gives me time that morning to prepare the studio specifically for your shoot. If you need a different starting time, just let me know and we can discuss it.

The balance of your package is due the evening before or the morning of your photoshoot.

Once your booking is confirmed, I will send you a pre shoot questionnaire. This gives me more information about you, what you would like from the session, your ideas, preferences and anything you think I should know before you arrive.

The questionnaire also includes a model release, but completing that part is entirely your choice. If you give me permission, selected photographs may be used on the Boudoir Fusion Photography website, and photographs suitable for social media may be used on my social media channels. If you don’t complete the model release, your photographs remain completely private. Booking a photoshoot does not automatically give me permission to publish your images.

Then all that remains is to prepare for the day, pack your bag and arrive at the studio. By that point I will already know quite a bit about what you want to achieve, and we can go through the final details together before we start.

There is one thing I would like you to remember after reading all 26 of these questions:

If you are unsure about anything, please ask me.

There really isn’t a silly question, and if it matters enough for you to be wondering about it, it matters enough for us to talk about it. You don’t need to know how to pose, you don’t need to have the perfect body, you don’t need to know exactly what you want to wear, and you certainly don’t need to arrive pretending you aren’t nervous.

That’s my job. Yours is simply to make the first call.

The cost of a boudoir photoshoot in Johannesburg can vary considerably depending on the photographer, the length of the session, whether professional hair and makeup is included, and how many professionally edited photographs you receive.

At Boudoir Fusion Photography, boudoir experiences currently start from R2,950. I offer different options depending on how much time you would like in the studio, the number of outfits and sets you would like to explore, whether you would like professional hair and makeup, and the number of finished photographs you would like to receive.

When comparing prices, I would look beyond the headline figure. Ask what is actually included. How long is the shoot? Is professional hair and makeup included? How many finished photographs will you receive? Are those photographs professionally retouched? Are there additional charges afterwards?

You can see my current packages and exactly what each includes on the Boudoir Photography Prices page. If you are unsure which option would suit you, talk to me first. You don’t need to choose a package before asking questions.

Only if you normally would. There is absolutely no requirement to shave or wax before a boudoir photoshoot.

If you prefer to remove body hair, I would suggest doing whatever is already part of your normal routine rather than trying something completely new just before your shoot. Waxing, shaving or using a new product can sometimes leave the skin irritated or red, which is probably not the look you had planned for your photographs.

If you are going to wax, give your skin enough time to settle before the photoshoot. If you shave, doing it the evening before rather than immediately before the session can also help reduce visible irritation.

And if you don’t normally remove body hair, you don’t need to start for a boudoir shoot. Come as you are comfortable. There isn’t a particular way your body is supposed to look before you walk into my studio.

If there is something I haven’t answered here, or something you would simply rather discuss privately, get in touch. You don’t need to know exactly what you want before we talk.