Customer Reviews

Digital Boudoir Photography: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Fabulous Images of Any Woman

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have several books on glamour and erotic photography and I find this book by John Blair to be one of the most useful. The photos are mostly taken with equipment available to the average amateur, shot in locations available to most, and the models look like real women. As much as I enjoy "Garage Glamour" there isn't much garage to it -- without thousands of dollars in lighting and equipment and a fabulous and luxurious home to shoot in and Playmates to pose for you, you're just not going to get the kind of results R. Gomez does. On the other hand, following Blair's step by step approach, most people should expect similar results to his, particularly if they use bounce flash shot through a reflector dome such as Gary Fong's Lightsphere. In fact the flash technique alone is worth the price of the book. This is a book I turn to again and again.

I have no experience taking sensual pictures of women. Indeed, it was the lack of experience that led me to this book. And I come away from it with mixed feelings.

One of the most important sections of this book lays out the steps necessary to take what the author calls "boudoir" photographs, which he defines as "beautiful, sensual and sexy images of regular women". These steps include everything from selecting equipment, to posing, to retouching images. The longest section, called "lessons", then goes over certain subjects like posing, lighting and props with further details and plenty of photographs. There are some short sections such as advanced topics and resources that provide some checklists, but not much depth.

The book is full of ideas that I would never have thought up myself, like how to make a tube dress from 2/3 of a yard of stretch Lycra that will cling tightly to your model, or the advantages of purchasing an old-fashioned tub and putting it in the woods to use as a prop. Every one of the ideas is profusely illustrated.

And there's part of the rub. While some pictures offer an attractive woman in a sensual pose, just as many seem to show how to make the same attractive woman less attractive. Moreover, they often become quite repetitious. How many pictures of Tanya in a fireman's rescue suit do you need to make a point?

Now I have to display my prejudices. I feel that it's possible to make a boudoir photograph that's tasteful. Yet many of the author's pictures seemed tawdry to me. I often found the pictures of women who exposed less of their bodies more attractive than those who exposed more.

I also noticed that there was little discussion of the technical aspects of photography, other than the pros and cons of different focal length lenses. The digital aspects of the photography appeared to have been tacked on so that the book could say it was about digital photography but the tack-on will be of little use to serious digital photographers.

There is a portion of the book that purports to tell you how to see a woman, but other than to tell you that different women have attractive and unattractive body parts, there was little further discussion. I would have liked to learn, for example, how the author would photograph a woman whose thighs were too large to meet the current standards of female attractiveness.

I can't ignore the question of whether this book objectifies women, but suspect that if you pick up this book, you've gotten past that issue. I believe that there's nothing wrong with trying to capture the sensual elements of another human being, male or female, in a photograph. I also believe it has very little to do with capturing cleavage.

I have no doubt that I may use some of the many tips in this book. It's too bad the book couldn't have done a better job of telling us how to view subjects and capture more of what makes them attractive on film.

I've been photographing women for over two years now and have read a number of books on the subject. Many of them are very technical right down to the point of showing little diagrams showing exactly where to place the camera in relation to the flash and reflector stands. That's helpful in it's own way, but what if you don't have a sunsail or some other piece of equipment the photographer is using?

I feel this book is helpful because it offers guidelines towards taking the pictures a photographer has in his or her mind as opposed to how to recreate someone else's photos in some other book.

There are also tips in the book I would never have thought of, which just goes to show that it's never too late to learn something new.

Having retired from 25 plus years as a professional photographer I wanted to revert to being an advanced amateur. I have always enjoyed photography of women and had wanted for sometime to locate a book depicting boudoir photography with emphasis on lady next door type models. Most books I have seen on the subject use models who are either professional or could work as professionals. I don't have a desire to work with this type of model. This book has been a great place to start from.. The authors use of basic equipment is also to be commended. I am fortunate enough to have several strobe lights at my disposal however many would not.

The only disappointment is the fact that the author does not include photos of even more Rubenesque figured models and more mature (ok older) models. The photographs of the models he does use are very nicely done

Other than that small short coming I feel this book will be very useful to me in my new found hobby and was a good investment.
C.M. Cook CM Photographics

There is much to learn and like from this book. As a photographer moving from photographing inanimate objects to people, I very much appreciated the breadth of information in this book. The author illustrates and covers solutions to several of the problems I've experienced, and helpful tips that have shaved a lot of time off my learning curve.

The steps and lessons are abundantly illustrated, showing how small changes can vastly improve the images. Showing how `bad' photos are made hits the point home of "oh yeah, I've made that mistake." Of particular interest was the use of models of various body-types and how to approach the challenges each one presents.

I refer to this book often as a reference; this is not just a one-time read, but contains pointers and lessons that can be reviewed and executed often.

With fast-changing technology, I expect the digital equipment sections to become outdated quickly, but this is a rather small portion of the book, and was not a factor in my buying it.

The Good

The models look real. Some books in the same genre contain pictures where the models are so processed that makes it hard for me to believe anything in the photo (eg. did the pose hide the model's belly or did you photoshop it out when you gaussian blurred the skin to plastic). This book is believable.

Several sections (lighting, angles, posing, gravity) are very good. They show a not so good picture, and then show which technique or change can make it better and the results. I love these examples and will keep the book just for those.

The Bad

Doesn't follow his own lighting advice. Some of the photos look like a straight on popup flash shot and I have a hard time appreciating the point he's trying to make because the example looks so bad.

A lot of the lesson sections are just examples(eg. here's a handful of pictures of models wearing jeans), but little discussion about what makes the image good or bad. Unfortunately many of those examples just aren't very good so they aren't really helpful even as inspiration.

Summary

It almost feels like there were two authors because the contrast is so stark between the style of the good sections and the bad sections. There is certainly some good stuff there, but it really could have been much more had there been more technique and less bucket of examples.

There is nothing like being admired to make a woman feel great.
This book is down to earth and real, and very tastefully done. It includes women of all ages and shapes, and the one common denominator is that they all look good. I have been fortunate to have met them personally, as the author is my husband.

As I have watched John photograph over the years, I have seen how he works with women, and focuses on the beauty within, as well as without. He has a great way of seeing, relating to, and capturing fabulous moments of time and expression with each of his 'models'.

In this book he explains the 'how to's' of boudoir photography to the novice as well as the professional. He can show you how to work with a minimal amount of equipment and experience, and still end up with beautiful pictures.

If you and your partner have been interested in your own boudoir collection, or if you are interested in this field of photography as a professional, this is a great book for you to begin with. It is filled with hundreds of photographs of do's and don'ts, so that you can see and read the tips that work for the best results.

As a woman, I understand the fears that come of comparing myself to a cover model. By looking at this book, I can easily see how we are all fabulous, and this helps all women to relax and allow the digital camera to bring our own beauty for both, or all of us to see.
This is a great starter book for you!

I'm glad I found this book on a friend's bookshelf.
Do not expect to learn much about photography through this, or much about "creating fabulous images of any woman", either. Someone already said it before: it's really more of an idea book... but for those with little creativity or ability to self-analyze. I'm not a professional or even much of an amateur photographer and I personally found the images and incisiveness in this book to be on a very, very low level. It's really more like a kid's book (and that's just all kinds of wrong). Imagine how a kid's book would read on building a house and you get the idea.

Overall, the book reflects poorly on the publisher, though the same publisher's sports photography book is light-years beyond this one.

I am an advanced-amateur/semi-professional photographer that has done quite a bit of what would be called boudoir photography in my years of taking photos of women.

I like the book a lot, it is a great idea starter with the sections on locations and poses and costumes, but if you are a complete beginner, it is a little short on technical basics that a beginner would need. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone that wants to do boudoir photography, but I would suggest that beginners also get a book on digital photography basics as well.

I can't believe this book was ever published. I'm a professional photographer and was mortified for the "models" and the "photographer". The images have zero technical expertise. An on camera flash for portraiture? Really? The "good expressions" chapter was anything but good. Do not waste a penny on this book. Or if you do, use it as a reference of what NOT to do, ever.