“10 Ways to Improve Your Boudoir Photography Now” by Edward Verosky

Copyright: Edward Verosky

I have just finished reading Ed Verosky’s e-book, in which Ed offers sound advice based on his experiences for pro and semi-pro photographers wishing to start in, or expand upon boudoir photography.

It’s not a huge book (44 pages, approximately 50% text) but it is well written and not at all tiresome to read. The advice offered and tips given are largely common sense and many could, I’m sure, be found on the Internet with some judicious Googling. Some of the tips may even seem a little obvious to some photographers, perhaps.

However, I have to say I really enjoyed reading this book and I feel Ed has done a solid job of taking all the things you would learn for yourself over a few sessions and distilling them into a nicely filtered cup of knowledge. It’s clear (from my personal experiences) that Ed has done this, learned the lessons and sorted the most important bits into an expanded checklist to save the rest of us some time.

What Is Boudoir?

“First, let’s define what boudoir photography is, for the purposes of this book.

Boudoir might easily be classified as a subset of glamour photography. Both genres generally feature a female subject with an emphasis on sensual, sexy, and flirtatious looks and poses.

But while glamour photos tend to feature women in sexy outfits, exaggerated poses, and slightly unrealistic situations, boudoir is more about lingerie, seduction, and relatively plausible scenarios.”

Ed keeps it all pretty simple and not at all patronizing. He assumes you already know how to use your gear – the book is really about the communication between you and your client.

“Good communication is probably the single most important factor when it comes to making your client happy with the entire photo shoot experience. It is the foundation for everything from building rapport, to sharing expectations and goals for the pictures, to keeping things fun and productive during the shoot.”

Copyright: Edward Verosky

The book is well illustrated with Ed’s photographs, including three pages of posing examples to be printed and shown to the client for ideas of what she might like or as inspiration during the shoot.

There is also a couple of sample checklists which, if you are like me and find starting these kinds of things difficult, will get you on the right road quickly. It’s usually a lot quicker to amend than creat from scratch.

Available from Ed’s website as a downloadable PDF, the cost is $9.95 (that’s USD – about £6.75 at time of writing). Is it worth the price? If you are semi-pro and have little or no experience of studio portraiture of any kind, then without a doubt. The time it could save you in terms of preparation also makes it a fair price; depending on your hourly rate, how many minutes do you need to save to cover seven quid (or ten bucks)?

Perhaps the most significant outcome of Ed’s book for me, is the side effect that I am now seriously thinking about advertising boudoir photography as a service.

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