Boudoir Photo Session

[Kota]

I'm wanting to do a Bouboir Marathon for one day only but I honestly haven't done it before. Our idea is to rent a hotel suite, advertise it and give the clients a disc with the images fully retouched all within an hour in a half per client. I'm not charging a lot to do it only $250 with $50 down. I am going to have my creative artist there and a guy at the door as well as a in the room. Has anyone done this before? If so, do you have some advice you can give me to make sure I am safe and everything goes smoothly? Have I thought everything through enough to pull this off?

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by Kota

I'm wanting to do a Boudoir Marathon for one day only but I honestly haven't done it before.......... Have I thought everything through enough to pull this off?

Probably not. But then I haven't seen any examples of your Boudoir photography. Are you furnishing the outfits? What about lighting? How will you market this? The worst that could happen would be to book a room and then nobody shows up. Oh wait, I can think of a couple of scenarios worse than that.

[HotHolly]

i would say the biggest thing with boudoir is your reputation. make sure they know how the shoot will go down, and always have your assistant present.

make sure you have shot this kinda thing before and have examples to show them on your site or somewhere. different photogs shoot boudoir very differently. the general consensus over here is that they are afraid it will look like cheap porn.

[Kota]

That's the thing though, I haven't shot boudoir at all. I usually focus on portraits and families, kids and stuff like that. I've always wanted to do it so I thought this would be a good start. I probably won't put it on my website at all. Unless I set up a separate site all together just cause I wouldn't want any other business to be effected but in the times that we are in now I need to do something fast. I'm more worried about making sure me and my crew will be safe and I really want to make sure I do right for the client. I've been looking at others photographers galleries just to get an idea of how to go about posing the girls and making sure they look sexy but not tacky. I'm really wanting to make sure I'm not doing anything illegal. You know what I mean?

[CaptainTom]

I'd be very certain that the hotel will allow you to do this sort of enterprise.

They can be very touchy about what goes on in their suites, etc.

Sure, you are renting the room, but it's still their room and also their reputation.

[HotHolly]

i just launched a boudoir line. to do right by paying clients, i think you need to practice 1st. you could hire some models and do a dry run before you do paid shoots. some people have a lot of trouble with it and its an entirely different genre that what you have been shooting.

as for are hotel sessions legal, yes. some hotels have rules about stuff, but I doubt anyone would notice. many boudoir photogs offer sessions that way due to lack of studio or poshness or privacy.

[CaptainTom]

I was thinking about THIS THREAD.

[Kota]

Holly, you've shot boudoir, right? How did you get started? I've practiced on some friends of mine and they turned out good but no paid clients yet. Like you said it's all about reputation and I planned on being upfront with the clients and letting them know I'm new to this type of photography. I don't want them to think I've been doing it for years you know.

[HotHolly]

I think that would be the whole appearances thing. Women coming in with hookerish make up every couple of hours looks suspicious.

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

I think that would be the whole appearances thing. Women coming in with hookerish make up every couple of hours looks suspicious.

Of course, it does depend on the class of hotel you are using

Some hotels that charge by the hour won't blink an eye at girls coming and going. In fact, you might end up with a really fantastic reputation.....

[HotHolly]

My boudoir line was launched a couple of months ago. My sessions are already sold out and they arent cheap. Sell to the demographic you want to be selling to. If you have shot some friends, and have their consent, I would use their images in ad pieces to promote this line. You are correct that it needs its own website. Babies and boudoir dont mix.

If you want to get the 1st few paying clients, you can offer promos on the packages you plan on offering once the business is established.

I did launch my boudoir line by paying models, MUA, and stylists to be the girls in my ad pieces. Most of my clients dont want to have their images made public on the website or in print ads.

Anyway, maybe that helps a little. You start it the same way you would any other line. Learn how to do it well, incorporate policies and pricing structure, announce the new line, market it, and start accepting new clients.

[jeffro20]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

i just launched a boudoir line. to do right by paying clients, i think you need to practice 1st. you could hire some models and do a dry run before you do paid shoots. some people have a lot of trouble with it and its an entirely different genre that what you have been shooting.

as for are hotel sessions legal, yes. some hotels have rules about stuff, but I doubt anyone would notice. many boudoir photogs offer sessions that way due to lack of studio or poshness or privacy.

poshness......wonderful choice of a word.

[Kota]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

I was thinking about THIS THREAD.

That was actually the hotel I was planning on going too..... Crap. I don't have that kind of money to do something like that.

[jeffro20]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

I was thinking about THIS THREAD.

That was quite interesting...thanks.

[RKEnnis]

Originally Posted by Kota

give the clients a disc with the images fully retouched all within an hour in a half per client.

I don't have any experience with boudoir shots. But I've used Photoshop a fair bit and done some portrait retouching. I don't think I do a proper boudoir retouch of even a few images in an hour and a half.