Create a Boudoir Photography Online Portfolio Website

Boudoir photography is still a fairly new photography niche, but it has seen a rise in popularity in more recent years. Usually, boudoir sessions are designed for people to showcase the beauty of their bodies through the art of the photograph. Whether you choose to specialize in boudoir photography or add it to your current services, it can become a lucrative and fulfilling business opportunity.

In some cases, boudoir subjects choose to wear lingerie or other revealing attire that best showcases their features and attributes. Some subjects opt to have boudoir photos taken for their significant other, while others simply do so to celebrate their natural beauty and practice self-love. In other cases, couples even take boudoir photos together to create lasting memories.

In this article, we’ll walk you through some tips on how to start a boudoir photography business. This includes pointers on how to address the unique obstacles that come with boudoir photography, and how you can create the ideal boudoir photography portfolio website using Format’s beautiful, easy-to-use templates.

Things To Consider When Starting a Boudoir Photography Business

When starting a boudoir photography business, one of your biggest goals will be to identify which style you want your work to cover. Popular types of boudoir include dramatic photography (low-key), luminous photography (high-key), vogue, vintage, maternity shoots, and nude shoots.

Understand the Intimate Nature of Boudoir Photography

Starting a career in boudoir is also more than being able to shoot subjects well. More than any other photography niche, boudoir photography requires an extra-comfortable relationship between both the client and the photographer. In boudoir, subjects are sharing an intimate side of themselves that requires a level of vulnerability — meaning they must be at ease in front of the camera.

Communicating with Your Clients

When kicking off your boudoir photography business, you’ll want to make sure you’re ready to really get to know your clients and address their goals before shooting.

To achieve this, be sure to communicate these ideas on your boudoir website and provide resources on how you plan to accommodate any necessary equipment for hair, makeup, wardrobe, background, and a private space. To make matters easier, you may want to make pre-shoot meetings a part of your services (whether it be in person or via Zoom or Skype).

Keeping The Images Private

Due to its often intimate nature, it isn’t uncommon for boudoir photo subjects to request that their photos be kept private or reserved for a limited set of eyes. Therefore, it’s important to remember that boudoir photography is a unique niche that may need to be marketed differently when compared to other types of photography. If you’re trying to build your portfolio and leverage your profile to gain more clients, this can make starting a boudoir photography business particularly challenging.

Having a Dedicated Session Space

If you’re just starting out in boudoir photography, chances are you won’t have a studio outright. However, if you don’t have a dedicated studio, this can raise concerns in boudoir photography. As you won’t be able to comfortably shoot most types of boudoir photos in public spots, you’ll ideally need a private place to ensure your subjects feel at ease.

To successfully kick-start your boudoir photography business, including a fee to cover a hotel room will solve this problem and also ensure that your overhead costs aren’t too high. One solution is to collect a retainer fee to cover any hotel costs in case your clients cancel. Other options can include shooting at a local studio or bed and breakfast during the week, as these often see more open availability during these times. You can also plan to shoot at the client’s home. Overall, your goal will be to determine which option works best for you, your budget, and your business objectives.

Addressing Concerns About Body Image

You may experience your subjects requesting that their session be put off due to them feeling uncomfortable with their body image. In these sorts of cases, clients might want to postpone their shoot until they reach a weight loss goal.

To combat this issue, consider helping your subjects pose in flattering ways and, better yet, sharing some techniques that will help them look their best in the current moment. You can always share these techniques on your portfolio to help your clients feel comfortable before their shoot.

How To Create a Boudoir Portfolio

When creating a boudoir portfolio, your first step should be to ensure you are featuring work that will speak for the type of shoots you specialize in. When marketing to boudoir clients, your portfolio should tell them about your particular style. If you specialize in shooting dark or moody images, then it’s important that you showcase your best set of images that will market this.

1. Identify Your Clientele

When building your portfolio, it’s also critical that you identify your ideal clientele. Maybe your goal is to specialize in maternity photoshoots, which means you’ll primarily be trying to work with women in their 20s and 30s. Or if your target clientele is established business women, you’ll want to market towards a slightly older audience.

2. Establish A Brand and Tone

Identifying your target viewership may influence the brand tone you use for your website. In most cases, you should avoid using industry jargon and instead use welcoming, encouraging language that promotes body positivity and self-confidence.

3. Use a Website Builder

Put your creative work on display with an online portfolio website. When you’re busy running your photography business, you don’t have time to code a website or create one completely from scratch. Instead, choose an online portfolio website builder that can help you showcase all your boudoir photography work in one place and manage your workflow. Website builders, like Format, provide the tools needed to help photographers succeed. In addition to the tools, website builders have hundreds of website templates to choose from, allowing you to find one that best fits your brand and personality.

4. Showcase Your Best Images

Remember, less is more. Keep only your best images on your site (no more than 30 will ideally make for the best viewing experience). This rule should also apply when selecting the best images — we suggest selecting pieces with simple, clear backgrounds, minimal props, and few distracting elements. As a boudoir photographer, your main objective is to keep the focus on the client and their physical features — and this is exactly what your visitors will want to see when visiting your page.

How To Choose the Right Template

When creating the ideal boudoir portfolio, you’ll want to build a website that allows your images to serve as a focal point and that will be easy for your clients to navigate. This means that the template you select will play a pivotal role in allowing your viewers to gain a good first impression of your skills and abilities.

For best results, we suggest choosing a template that will scale your best images to a large size and that will allow for a clean and intuitive viewing experience. This can include a pop-out gallery view, an image slideshow function, an easy-to-scroll interface, and accessible menu options.

Boudoir Photography Portfolio FAQs

Still have some questions? These answers to the three most frequently asked questions might be able to help:

The word boudoir is a French word used to describe a woman’s private dressing room, or an intimate space that she has all to herself. Boudoir photography isn’t just reserved for shooting women — but by the same token, it captures a subject through an intimate lens, with the goal of capturing them for their own personal objectives.

While the majority of boudoir photos feature women as subjects, boudoir shoots have steadily become more popular for men and even couples, too.

In all, boudoir photography should be seen as an intimate and empowering form of self-expression. Getting boudoir photos taken are a great way to reinforce confidence and self-love. They offer an excellent chance for subjects, regardless of their gender identity, to feel confident, sexy, and positive about their personal image.

Many subjects of boudoir photography have reported that after seeing images of themselves, they’ve been encouraged to feel more positive about their bodies and more comfortable in their own skin.

Traditionally, boudoir photographs have been popular with women who want to compile a set of images for their significant other. However, in recent years, boudoir photos have become more popular for male, trans, and non-binary subjects as well.

Boudoir photos should serve as a form of body liberation for people of all identities, allowing them to celebrate their image and feel empowered and comfortable. This means it can also be seen as a form of important storytelling, whereby photographs can capture a person at a particular time and place and then celebrate how far they’ve come in their lives.

Build a Boudoir Photography Portfolio With Format

Using Format’s website builder to create your boudoir photography portfolio will make it easier than ever for you to build the perfect website and engage your clients. Whether you’re starting a full-fledged boudoir photography business or looking to pursue boudoir shoots on the side, we’re ready to help you take your brand to greater heights.

Format’s custom templates will not only allow you to showcase your best boudoir shoots— they’ll also allow you to integrate other features into your profile with ease, such as a blog, online store, and much more.

To get started, start your 14-day free trial with Format today. No credit card required!

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