In the Bedroom (18+)

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

OK... I took in all your suggestions from my last posts and mixed it with all the stuff I've been reading, added the dash of what I have gathered in experience from the last few days of shooting with my new strobes and this is what I got.

I tried to incorporate more of the setting into this series. I think I may have shot with too slow a shutter though. I wanted to shoot wide open at f/2.8 and I struggled a bit to get sharp shots. Took several tries sometimes to get a sharp one. After I was done, my brain started working again and I realized it was prolly because I was shooting at 1/80 sec. I should increased the shutter a bit and bumped my ISO a little. BTW, I wanted to get more ambient light and that's why the slow shutter.

I really like how these turned out though but I will let you all be the critiques. Hopefully this is an improvement on the last ones I posted and not a step back.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

David_S85 · December 10, 2009

#'s 1 and 8 I think are winners, along with #7. I'm not as much warming up to those with her looking up or away from the camera.

D'Buggs · December 10, 2009

Dragging the shutter, you picked up more of the BG. In some of these it worked very well, not so good with others - Too much info can sometimes lead to confusing/distracting images.

Now go to the store and buy her a new outfit. Permit her to prepare ya a snack,,, and get back at it!

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

My two favorites in B&W

Nikolai · December 10, 2009

Alex,
I think you did pretty good!

BG is a bit more distracting to my taste: this would be great for the Linen n Things ad, otherwise I'd concentrate on the model more.
Keep an eye for the things growing from the subject's head: lamp in #2, bedpost in #5
Keep it up!

sweet caroline · December 10, 2009

Ready for the female opinion?

These are beautiful. The lighting is very nice. I'm getting sexy, not slutty. Tasteful. Just a beautiful, sexy woman relaxing in her bedroom. These are the kind of shots that would make a woman feel good and that she would even consider showing her sisters or girlfriends. I don't find the background too distracting, but I would consider cloning out the lamp in #2.

I love #8, and it is stunning in black and white.

Caroline

Derweissehai · December 10, 2009

Lighting is dead on and the tones are warm and good. This would make a perfect set of boudoir series. Good work Alex. Keep posting.

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

David_S85 wrote:

#'s 1 and 8 I think are winners, along with #7. I'm not as much warming up to those with her looking up or away from the camera.

Thanks. I really like #8. What is about the ones looking away? Is it just your preference that the subject look into the camera or did I fail to execute this "look" the right way?

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

D'Buggs wrote:

Dragging the shutter, you picked up more of the BG. In some of these it worked very well, not so good with others - Too much info can sometimes lead to confusing/distracting images.

Now go to the store and buy her a new outfit. Permit her to prepare ya a snack,,, and get back at it!

Yeah... I was purposely dragging the shutter but like I said, I think I could've made things easier on myself if I went with a slightly higher shutter speed and bumped the ISO a bit. At times it got really frustrating when trying to get a sharp shot.

And yes, she mentioned she wants to shop for some new "costumes" as she put it. And you make it sound like she's my Asian concubine. I don't even pretend to be the boss anymore... not after 18 years of marriage. If anything, I'm her Cuban Cabana Boy.

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

Nikolai wrote:

Alex,
I think you did pretty good!
BG is a bit more distracting to my taste: this would be great for the Linen n Things ad, otherwise I'd concentrate on the model more.
Keep an eye for the things growing from the subject's head: lamp in #2, bedpost in #5
Keep it up!

Thanks Nikolai. Linen n Things, huh.

Didn't they go out of business?

Yeah... #2 I can clone out the lamp or just use the other shots that are from a different angle. #5 I also too from a slightly different perspective and I think the post is not coming out of her on it but I'd have to check. I do have this perspective... Any better? Looks like it would be easier to clone out the post at least.

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

sweet caroline wrote:

Ready for the female opinion?

These are beautiful. The lighting is very nice. I'm getting sexy, not slutty. Tasteful. Just a beautiful, sexy woman relaxing in her bedroom. These are the kind of shots that would make a woman feel good and that she would even consider showing her sisters or girlfriends. I don't find the background too distracting, but I would consider cloning out the lamp in #2.

I love #8, and it is stunning in black and white.

Caroline

Thanks for chiming in. Your comments really mean a lot because I was trying to capture Sexy and not trashy. Sounds like you think I did just that. I do agree that the lamp has to go on #2. Missed that.

I have a few more from this series that I need to through so I will post my favorites of those.

codiac2600 · December 10, 2009

Refreshing work here in the go figure forum.

I love every last photo and I say that because she is your wife, she is beautiful, and you captured that beauty very well. I'd never worry about lamps or take too much on dragging or not dragging the shutter. Her eyes keep many a trained and all untrained eyes to the main subject, which is her.

My only piece of help that I can give is see if you can change her expression from image to image. She may be very beautiful, but in some images her calm look can make one believe she is bored or uninterested. Your part as the photographer is not just to connect with the photo but also to connect with the subject and you have a winning piece of the puzzle in that you know the subject very well and hopefully can incite some emotion from her.

In any boudoir session you should try to aim for three looks and go for three more.

Try to excite her, lets see a smile, a quizzical smile. One that leads the onlooker to ask why she is smiling so.

Try to bring out her true sultry side. Mouth slightly open and a glazed look at or away from you.

Try to seduce. Let her show that she is open to you as a stranger would never close her eyes while revealing herself, but always keep a watchful eye on her onlooker as she can't seem to truly trust them.

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

codiac2600 wrote:

Refreshing work here in the go figure forum.

I love every last photo and I say that because she is your wife, she is beautiful, and you captured that beauty very well. I'd never worry about lamps or take too much on dragging or not dragging the shutter. Her eyes keep many a trained and all untrained eyes to the main subject, which is her.

My only piece of help that I can give is see if you can change her expression from image to image. She may be very beautiful, but in some images her calm look can make one believe she is bored or uninterested. Your part as the photographer is not just to connect with the photo but also to connect with the subject and you have a winning piece of the puzzle in that you know the subject very well and hopefully can incite some emotion from her.

In any boudoir session you should try to aim for three looks and go for three more.

Try to excite her, lets see a smile, a quizzical smile. One that leads the onlooker to ask why she is smiling so.

Try to bring out her true sultry side. Mouth slightly open and a glazed look at or away from you.

Try to seduce. Let her show that she is open to you as a stranger would never close her eyes while revealing herself, but always keep a watchful eye on her onlooker as she can't seem to truly trust them.

Chris,

Thank you for your insightful comments. I totally get what your saying. I need to work with her a bit more, try to pull some different looks from her. She is a little shy when it comes to this type of thing but we can work on that together.

D'Buggs · December 10, 2009

anonymouscuban wrote:

....you make it sound like she's my Asian concubine........

Not my intentions. Sorry for that. - Just being "light-n-fluffy", so to say.

Not only do you have a willing and eager participant (like that isn't enough of an obstacle), you also have a model that doesn't mind her being put "out there" for public display. And all that, and she likes to cook too! Whereas the rest of us usually need to pay $$$ in order to jump on this learning curve you're on - Kudos' to the both of ya! A lot of us are benifiting from it.

Give her my best!

Really like that 1st B&W. Her eyes are simply, STUNNING!

CHEERS!

anonymouscuban · December 10, 2009

D'Buggs wrote:

Not my intentions. Sorry for that. - Just being "light-n-fluffy", so to say.

Not only do you have a willing and eager participant (like that isn't enough of an obstacle), you also have a model that doesn't mind her being put "out there" for public display. And all that, and she likes to cook too! Whereas the rest of us usually need to pay $$$ in order to jump on this learning curve you're on - Kudos' to the both of ya! A lot of us are benifiting from it.

Give her my best!

Really like that 1st B&W. Her eyes are simply, STUNNING!
CHEERS!

No worries brother. I hope you didn't get the impression that something you said was offensive. Not at all. I know you were joking as was I with the concubine comment. Actually, I tell her all the time that she's my little China Doll.

Yeah... I definitely am lucky to have her in so many ways I can't even count. She is an amazing woman and beautiful to boot. She knows how much I love photography and I know part of her willingness to be my model is to help me and encourage me to get better. Pretty cool indeed.

Gary752 · December 10, 2009

anonymouscuban wrote:

No worries brother. I hope you didn't get the impression that something you said was offensive. Not at all. I know you were joking as was I with the concubine comment. Actually, I tell her all the time that she's my little China Doll.

Yeah... I definitely am lucky to have her in so many ways I can't even count. She is an amazing woman and beautiful to boot. She knows how much I love photography and I know part of her willingness to be my model is to help me and encourage me to get better. Pretty cool indeed.

Alex, judging from #4, which I really like btw...Because you captured her eyes beautifully, that you have to talk nice about her.:D With that pose, with her right hand behind her head, makes her look muscular like she might work out quite a bit. Say something bad about her and you might get :beatwax , and no :food !!!

GaryB

anonymouscuban · December 15, 2009

BroPhoto wrote:

Alex, judging from #4, which I really like btw...Because you captured her eyes beautifully, that you have to talk nice about her.:D With that pose, with her right hand behind her head, makes her look muscular like she might work out quite a bit. Say something bad about her and you might get :beatwax , and no :food !!!

GaryB

Oh... she's definitely the boss.

Nikolai · December 15, 2009

anonymouscuban wrote:

Thanks Nikolai. Linen n Things, huh. Didn't they go out of business?

Yeah... #2 I can clone out the lamp or just use the other shots that are from a different angle. #5 I also too from a slightly different perspective and I think the post is not coming out of her on it but I'd have to check. I do have this perspective... Any better? Looks like it would be easier to clone out the post at least.

You mostly want to use the light to do the job for you. I know you don't have much ontrol over spill yet, so it was hard to avoid...

anonymouscuban · December 15, 2009

Agreed. I am looking forward to getting a couple softboxes for my lights next. Does size of the softbox have any limitation on the power lights you have? For example, if I wanted to get 2x4 softboxes, will they work OK with my AB400s?

BTW, I know I mentioned to you that my SB-600 speedlight would fire optically but I was wrong. However, I just ordered a hotshoe adapter that has an optical sensor on it so hopefully, that will allow me to fire it optically and give me a third light. Worst case I can attached the sync cord to the adapter since it also has a PC connector.

Nikolai · December 15, 2009

anonymouscuban wrote:

Agreed. I am looking forward to getting a couple softboxes for my lights next. Does size of the softbox have any limitation on the power lights you have? For example, if I wanted to get 2x4 softboxes, will they work OK with my AB400s?

BTW, I know I mentioned to you that my SB-600 speedlight would fire optically but I was wrong. However, I just ordered a hotshoe adapter that has an optical sensor on it so hopefully, that will allow me to fire it optically and give me a third light. Worst case I can attached the sync cord to the adapter since it also has a PC connector.

I'm not sure. 2x4 are great but I never used then on B400, on on B800.

Technically they should work, at least ot higher power levels.

Dono't forget the "crates" :-)

Hackbone · January 12, 2010

Love you post processing. How about a before and after.

zoomer · January 28, 2010

Pretty lady.
I like 1.
If the model were showing a little more comfort and personality it would really have made these much better....then little things like lighting, background distractions, composition don't jump out quite so much.

Very nice effort, she looks great, colors look very nice.

In the Bedroom (18+)

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