Foundational Composition for Boudoir Self Portraits

Hello quarantine angels of pyjama-land! 

I was going to share a post about utilizing your phone for self-portraits, but I had a request for composition tips, and I feel like that foundational brick needs to be laid first. So here we are! 

(Don't fret, I will be making two posts this week if all goes according to plan. So your phone tips are coming soon!)

"What is composition?"

For the arts, whether visual or musical, composition refers to the arrangement of elements used. In photography, it means paying attention to what will be photographed, how it is placed in relationship to other objects in the image, and how well the subject matter is expressed. (Source) 

Composition, in essence, is how we arrange our frame in a way that attracts attention. In muggle-portrait photography, it's how we arrange our subjects against a back drop to minimize distractions and maximize the impression of the image. In boudoir, it is all those things, and it is also how we set our scene to evoke emotion, tell a story, and infuse our intention into the image. 

There are hundreds (tbh probably thousands) of basic photography composition tips out there in internet-land, so I'm not going to spend too long kicking this horse. However most of those tutorials are for muggle-specific photography. And we aren't muggles - we are magical naked creatures and need to photograph ourselves as much! I will go over some of the basics, and highlight some boudoir-specific tips and tricks based off those basics. 

Saddle up!

(I've had too much coffee today, I apologize for my ridiculous writing style today). 

***

COMPOSITION "RULE" #1:

The Rule of Thirds

"The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject." (Source) 

The Rule of Thirds is an age-old guideline for creating images in any visual arts field. In photography it's common to see novice shooters centre their subject in the dead middle of an image. While this technically does follow the Rule of Thirds, it can be quite lack-luster and kinda boring for the viewer. I'm going to show you some boudoir-specific RoT examples below that can show you how to use this rule while composing your selfies. 

Rule of Thirds and Eye Placement. // I chose this photo as the first example to show you how to position eyes when composing or cropping your image. Generally, you want them to be in the top third of the image, or on an intersection. For the rest of this image, you can see that the torso is centered in the middle, and the line of the legs and the bottom third of the image line up perfectly. 

You can see the corner of my eye intersects with the top guide line. My chest is centered as it is the main focus of the image (because yay boobs!)

Rule of Thirds and Full Body Images. // This is a beautiful client of mine, the only image in this post that isn't a selfie. I apparently rarely take full body selfies so I couldn't find one for this example. Alas! Here is an example of how to compose/crop a full body image. This image obviously is focused on showcasing her beautiful booty, so it is the centre of the image. She falls mostly entirely within the centre guide line, with equal ratio of her falling into the top and bottom portions. 

Playing with uncentered images // I chose this image as an example of how to play with uncentering your subject, and also composing a close-up detail shot. My chest falls into the middle left of the image, with the first line intersecting my nipple. The parts of me that are light are primarily in the first 33% of the image, while the shadowed parts of me are in the middle, and just the foreground occupies the last third of the image. 

Rule of thirds and butts // This image is another example of off-centering your images but aligning to the rule of thirds. I could have centered it precisely in the middle, which is what I do with the majority of the butt photos I take for clients, but I wanted to play with having greenery in the foreground - helping to paint my scene a little more intimately. It gives it a slightly more voyeur-istic feel to the image. 

Common Composition Mistake // When choosing your composition set up or how you are going to crop an image in your post-process, a thing to keep in mind are your appendages (ok, probably the weirdest sentence in this post). A super common cringe-worthy mistake I see in a lot of novice photography is people lopping off their fingers/hands/feet in a weird way. You usually want to crop legs half way along the shins, or above the knees. Arms and hands are unique, in boudoir they are usually placed somewhere on your body (because hello, touching yourself is NICE), but on the chance that they aren't - please do not crop off your dear fingers or hands! I'll go into this more in the posing post I will make in the future, but for now - just please keep fingers and hands inside the doors of the photo at all times. (or hide them between your legs, that's a fun posing trick too). 

Fuck the rules. // Rules are meant to be broken. Now that you know them, feel free to go around and fuck around with them! Play with unique crops, and unique ways of composing your image. The world is your oyster! 

***

COMPOSITION "RULE" #2:

Isolate your subject & eliminate distractions. 

This one is pretty simple and self explanatory, you can also use the above images to see how the subject has been isolated to stand out. When shooting, especially boudoir, you want your subject (aka YOU) to shine bright and brilliantly. Be aware of your surroundings, what is in your frame, what you have hanging on your walls, etc etc. Arrange it in a way that it can add to your image, or minimize the surroundings so that your subject stands out. 

***

COMPOSITION "RULE" #3:

Create a shallow depth of field.

Okay, this one is harder if you are primarily going to be using your phone as a camera. It can be achieved using the Portait setting on some phones, but it can come off looking a little cheesy if you aren't careful. Essentially, a shallow depth of field is a way of setting your aperture so that the subject is in focus, but the background is blurry. This further isolates your subject and makes them pop! There are also tons of references on this online already, and I'm going to point you to a great one from B&H Photography (also a great website for gear). Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDXLGOo-fyc

***

COMPOSITION "RULE" #4:

Shoot from different angles!

We went over this a little bit in the previous video, where I showed you how the subject remained in one place, but I moved around them shooting them from various angles. This is super important, and a great way to get a diverse range of images for your set. Playing with angles can also help highlight different parts of your body. If you shoot from a low angle, your legs will look suuuuper long, and it's a great way to highlight your booty. Shooting from a higher angle is more flattering for face shots/most body shots, as well as some chest detail images. 

***

COMPOSITION SUGGESTION #1

Look for leading lines, and triangles.

Hipsters love triangles, and photographers aren't any different. Triangles are BAE. And no, I don't mean it needs to be literal triangles.  But this shape can lend to very flattering composition of your body and over-all image, as well as flattering poses. 

Leading lines are harder to accomplish in self-portraiture, but if you are looking for an advanced challenge, I would recommend trying to use your wall, bed, couch, or a mirror as a way to play with leading lines to your subject. 

***

COMPOSITION SUGGESTION #2: F*CK IT.

Taking self-portraits is hard, harder than having someone else do it for you. You're not always going to be able to compose your image exactly as you want to, because you can't easily move the camera because it's stationary and you usually can't see what the f*ck you're doing. If you create a really amazing image, but maybe the composition is slightly off and you're not as centered as you want to be, or maybe there's more distractions in the image than you originally wanted. Fuck it. Art is imperfect - that is the beauty of it. Play with the rules, play without the rules. But at the end of the day, allow yourself to let go of perfection. Perfection is an illusion. 

My phone is still in this image, I am composed way too far left, and there is more distraction in the mirror than I wanted. But I'm upside down and trying to take a selfie - so fuck it! Still amazing and I still shared this on my instagam even though the composition makes me want to cringe. 

***

Thanks so much for tuning in, loves! Feel free to comment, message, or email me any questions you may have!

Lots of love,

Mxx