How To FEEL The Best For Your Boudoir Photoshoot.
A preparation guide for the best experience possible.
Your Boudoir session session is about you. You may do as much or as little prep as you would like. The only things that are required are to arrive with a photo ID, clean dry hair, and clean face (skin care is okay, just no makeup).
This guide is simply suggestions based on my experience
from input from previous clients.
In this guide -
Communication and session timeline
Ideas and tips to feel better before, during, and after your Boudoir experience.
If you would like to know where to shop or what to wear for your session -
Check out The Boudoir Styling guide
Communication & Session Timeline
- Before your session date -
Your experience begins with a quick phone chat to get to know each other, answer any questions you have, and go over the vision and details for your session.
Immediately after our chat, you’ll receive my full pricing
along with the studio address, preparation guide, and contract.
A questionnaire will be sent 1-2 weeks before your date to personalize your session.
An email with last minute details, address, and parking map is
sent the morning before your session date.
- On your date -
All sessions take place in my studio in Lynnwood,
beginning at 10am and finishing around 4pm.
Please arrive with clean dry hair and face, with photo ID.
Arrival, makeover, bubbly, hors devours, and outfit styling. - 2 hours
The shoot. - 90 minutes
Break time! Go get some lunch or go shopping at the mall. - 1 hour.
Reveal Session- see all your images and build your album with me! 30 min - 1 hour
Around 4 - 7 hours from start to finish for each session, with an hour lunch break.
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While Boudoir photos make an incredible gift, more often people are doing these sessions for themselves; seeking a change in how they feel about their bodies and sensuality.
Since this form of photography has transcended being just “pretty pictures for my partner”,
I find that the usual prep guide that tells you when to shave
and what lingerie to bring is falling woefully short of what is really needed.
I seek to remedy that here.
There are several options and examples in this guide, even just doing one or two of these things or setting an intention for your session
will work wonders in moving you toward your goals.
For Couples
All of these exercises are great to do with your partner
if you are doing a couples Boudoir session.
Find your why, write it down.
What is your goal for your Boudoir photoshoot? How do you want to feel after your session in your day to day life? What thoughts do you want to have next time you look in the mirror or get intimate with a lover? How can this session change the way you approach new challenges?
I invite you to answer these questions in your journal, on a sticky note, or in a notepad on your phone. It can be as simple as a few words, (confident, sexy, joyful!), or it can be paragraphs. There is no wrong way to do it, as long as you write it down.
Writing down your goals or desired outcomes brings them into the physical world, and brings you one step closer to feeling that way.
- Write down your goals or desired feelings for your session.
Example - I desire more confidence. -Or- I desire to celebrate my connection with my partner.
Bonus points if you write them in the present!
Example - I wake each day feeling confident in myself and my body.
- Take a moment to visualize what it’s like to live with your desired feelings right now.
2. Normalize your body.
- Affirmations - Think of three things you love about your body or about what your body does for you. (Ex. I love my hair, I love my smile, I love that my body allows me to dance and play with my cat!)
Neutral affirmations are great too. (Ex. I have a human body, my body allows me to enjoy my favorite things, my body is deserving of care.)
*Bonus points for putting your affirmations in a sticky note on your mirror, as a daily silent alarm on your phone, or saying them in the mirror!
- Clean up your media - Unfollow #bodygoals and fitness influencers on social media. Is that type of content really inspiring if it makes you feel bad about your body? Instead follow some people that you think are beautiful and inspirational that have a similar body type to yours.
@terihofford is a wonderful person to follow on Instagram for body nuetrality!
- Take some selfies! Cute selfies, sexy selfies, silly selfies, take them all! Just be sure you are getting your whole body in there and not just from the chest up. It doesn’t matter if you love each picture, just seeing your body in photos over an over will normalize it in your mind and help undo the unconscious conditioning from living in a capitalistic world.
If you are doing a couples session, it can make a fun date night to take pictures for each other!
- Check out this 20 minute podcast on how to love yourself in pictures.
3. Practice sensual movement, self touch, and breath.
Tracing your body with your hands, moving slowly and sensually, and breathing deep while you do it and can be very healing. It also photographs beautifully and can manifest more love and peace in your body. You can feel more comfortable doing this in your Boudoir session if you practice at home.
Honor and listen to your mind and body if any of this feels triggering or causes pain. Be gentle in your movements and give yourself a quiet safe space if this is out of your comfort zone.
None of this guide is a requirement, just optional exploration <3
You can practice self touch by -
- Applying body lotion after a shower or before bed, paying attention to the way your hands feel on your body and what kind of pressure feels good. Try alternating between watching your hands as they move on you, and taking deep breaths with a sigh on the exhale as you melt into your own touch.
- Giving yourself a scalp massage with light finger tips allowing your massage to wander to your neck, then gently along your face, across your lips, along your jaw, gently tracing your ears, neck and collar bone. Take deep breaths, melt and nuzzle your own touch as you move through your massage.
Doing either of these exercises with your partner before a couples session makes for a lovely date ☺️
You can practice sensual movement by -
- Put on a favorite song and move your hips, chest, or neck in circular, figure eight, or side to side motions. You can do this standing, kneeling, or laying down in a bridge pose. Any movement that feels good to you is sensual! Move your hands along your face, neck, thighs, belly, and chest slowly; like you are moving through honey. Take a full breath in and out as you move your hips, chest, or head in one circle or swaying motion, using the full breath to get from one side of the movement to the other. Pay attention to how this movement feels on your body.
You can practice relaxing breath by -
- This exercise can be done sitting, standing or laying down, and can be done in just a few minutes.
Start by just noticing how your breath is now, before changing anything. How does your breath feel? Is it coming through your nose or lips? Is it cold or warm as it enters and leaves your body? Notice any sound it makes. Feel the rise and fall of your chest and belly. How many seconds are you inhaling and exhaling?
Now, deepen your breath so you are taking big inhale into the belly and pelvis, and allowing your shoulders and body relax more and more with each exhale.
4. Find inspiration.
Creating a Mood Board is a great way to create visual inspiration and to organize your vision for your Boudoir shoot. A Mood Board is a collection of images that can include makeup, posing, outfit, attitude, color, and vibe inspiration.
Here is a link to example an Mood Board in Pinterest and below is a photo example from Canva, both are great free platforms for this.
You can save inspiration photos or screen shots from my website, Google, or use the Pinterest search engine. I recommend searching for inspiration photos with people that have similar bodies to yours. I often use words like plus sized, redhead, curvy, hooded eyes, ivory skin in my searches when I’m making a Mood Board for my sessions.
There is a place to link a Mood Board in your questionnaire sent a week or two before your session.
If creating a Mood Board makes you feel stressed, then just skip it. You are welcome to just show up to your session and we will make some magic.
5. Treat yourself!
Do the things that make you feel GOOD before your session. Pamper yourself the way you enjoy, rather than the way you think you “should”.
If it stresses you out to get a manicure or shave your legs the day before your session, then don’t do it! Take a nap and have a snack if that feels better to you.
Here are some examples and suggestions of ways to pamper yourself before your session.
Exfoliate your skin, lips, and face
Drink lots of water
Get plenty of sleep
Get a manicure
Get a pedicure
Clean any jewelry you’re bringing
Take a pole dance class
Stretch/Yoga
Get a facial
Apply lotion or body oil
*Things I don’t remove in Photoshop- body hair, spray tans, tanning streaks, white deodorant. I do my best to remove lines from tight clothing like socks, bras, panties, and leggings; though it rarely looks natural if there are too many.
Tan lines are beautiful and show you had fun in the sun, but cannot be removed.
5. Don’t Stress.
It’s entirely normal to arrive to the session feeling nervous, as we get warmed up and you begin seeing the magical photos we are creating - it will start feeling more comfortable and exciting.
Don't worry about the little things! I remove non-permanent blemishes, such as acne and bruises. In the classic style of Boudoir I lightly apply skin airbrushing. You will have the chance during your reveal and after your images are delivered to ask for further retouching if you desire.
We will laugh and breathe a TON, and please know that it is okay to cry at your session too. Or to feel ANY feelings. Boudoir is a radical form of selflove. Breakthroughs and Epiphones happen, and it may be an emotional moment, but that's the whole point right?
