Last Wednesday we were all lucky enough to take part in a workshop lead by the boudoir and pin-up photographer Claire Seville. The workshop started with a presentation from Claire showing us her portfolio and giving us a real feel for the type of work she regularly creates. After the short intro we all filed into our on site studio which had already been set up.
The set up for the day was very simple but effective - one red duvet and a few pillows to act as a bed and one studio light with a large beauty dish which was stood just at the side of the model pointing down on her. Claire then proceeded to show us how she works, giving us tips here and there on how to make the model feel comfortable and how to get the perfect shot. One trick I found interesting was that if your model/ client is a bit nervous her mouth can look quite tense in the photographs, so you should get her to make an ‘a’ sound which will make her mouth look more relaxed and natural.
After this it was our turn to try our hand at boudoir photography, something most of us has never tried before, so were understandably a little apprehensive. We took it in turns to take our shots, positioning our model in several different ways with Claire in the back offering assistance and answering our general questions. We each managed to get a good amount of time shooting the model and I think the majority of us came away with photographs we were happy with.
I was the last one to shoot and even after watching how the others worked I was still a little bit nervous. I don’t tend to shoot people in my day to day work as it’s a lot of hassle and models can be expensive to hire which is why I’m glad I can participate in workshops like this at college. I managed to take a few decent shots and also learn a lot about becoming a self employed photographer. Although pin-up and boudoir photography is not something I plan on going into, I think it’s important to explore different genres of photography especially while in education.
Above are a few of my final images from the day. To edit them I used the Floribella action ‘Natural Skin Smoother’, to give the models skin a more finished look. I also used the Floribella action ‘Musette’ to give the images a subtle ‘Instagram filter’ vibe to them. To finish I cropped the images and turned the contrast up very slightly.
Overall the workshop was well worthwhile taking part in and I’m looking forward to the next one.
Thanks for reading!
x
