Limited eqipment light setup & convincing one's girlfriend to pose

[Living Daylight]

I have three questions:

1. If I am able to convince my girlfriend/spouse (English needs a better word for that). To let me take a few sexy pictures of her I plan to do so in a room with orange walls, a bed that has a metal design headboard and a south facing window. I plan to do the shoot in the morning so that there will be some light coming in (diffused by a white curtain). I will also bounce my 430ex flash off either the ceiling or a white closet door.

Is that a good plan?

2. How can I convince her to do it? I have mentioned it a couple times, but never really asked her to do it directly. Any tips?

3. What sort of PP work should I do to make the shots look good? Nothing fancy, i just want to do some smoothing in either Gimp, Lightroom, or paint.net, whichever is best. I would appreciate any tips or links.

Also, I have never done this before, so any general tips would be great!

[Cosha]

:DSounds ok so far!

More importantly, is the Girlfriend side :D

This could go 2 ways - Good or bad)

The mere fact that you asked up, mean you kinda already know your girlfriend might not be up for this

Rather than just saying "can you get your kit off for some pictures love" just start off with some nice portrates in the hall way, in different rooms and she will get used to the idea

Then, after she is comfortablw with it, *suggest* so racer ones and see how you get on

if her body laguage says "no chance you dirty pervert" dont ask again for a while just dont hag her :D

if your shooting in a orange room - take some tests shots with out her first using i dunno a tead bear or something to make sure you get the WB right too

good luck my friend

[Living Daylight]

Good tips. I seriously doubt she will let me post anything exciting up here, as she is a junior high teacher. This will be fun.

[clicktor]

2. How can I convince her to do it?

http://www.brotherslounge.com/images7/wine%20bottles.jpg


No really, mine asks ME to take some of her after a few :)

[skygod44]

My advice is to be careful if your girlfriend's "self body image" is low. If that's off kilter, you won't get past the first hurdle.

My wife is tiny, Japanese and gorgeous - but being Japanese, and sadly believing all the crap she sees on TV about "beauty", she thinks her body sucks....so NO chances for any pictures I'd be proud of for the G&N section.

Might get there one day, but it takes time.....and the suggestion of plying her with alcohol can work, but if you also partake, beware of taking 300 shots, ALL out of focus!!!!
;)

Good luck!

[Cosha]

Good tips. I seriously doubt she will let me post anything exciting up here, as she is a junior high teacher. This will be fun.

I find this alot, i know where are a picture sharing comunity, but we all have to get out of the thought that - oh i wont be able to post pictures on POTN

This is fine 100%, this is your personal photo session, for both of you to try and enjoy!

dont worry about us lot, remember these pictures are for you to share with your partner

i been here same as you with my girlfriend, she does not want her nude pictures all over the web, i respect this and posting them on her was last on my mind!

we have had great fun doing our little photoshoots, she was like a stone to start with, but now we relax and take a few snaps here and there and she really enjoys it because its a shared thing - it brings us closer too and we have a good old chat that sometimes life gets in the way off!

dont worry about pictures, just let us all know how you get on - sometimes stories are more fun that pictures :D

[speedster00]

My advice, is to know what you want, so you can tell her what to do. The first couple of times my wife and I took pictures, we were lost for direction. I didnt really know how to tell her to pose which messed up the shoot.

Wine helps :) that 337 is a good choice.

First, I took some headshots and did some PP on them. When she saw how good they were, it wasnt hard to convince her for more daring shots. Also, buy her something to wear. Some new Lingerie . But not too revealing or she wont want to wear it for the camera. Get something like a bustier thats not see through, then when she feels good about the shoot, the poses, and the outcome, it wont be hard to get her more relaxed for more shoots.

[Living Daylight]

First, I took some headshots and did some PP on them. When she saw how good they were, it wasnt hard to convince her for more daring shots. Also, buy her something to wear. Some new Lingerie . But not too revealing or she wont want to wear it for the camera. Get something like a bustier thats not see through, then when she feels good about the shoot, the poses, and the outcome, it wont be hard to get her more relaxed for more shoots.

Is LR and paint.net adequate to do some nice PP? that is all I have at the moment. I could probably afford photoshop at my campus computer store with a student license if i really need it.

Where is a good place to get some PP tips? I wouldn't even know where to start.

[woodsters]

First of all, don't consider it a shoot. Consider it fun and make it fun. If it isn't, she won't want to do it or do it again. Like a couple others has said don't push her into anything she doesn't want to do. Show her the appreciation. Work on your skills. The better she looks, the more she won't mind doing it. Maybe she would be more comfortable with photos not showing her face/identity due to her job. The next thign you know it she may be willing to show a little more each time. But if I had to pick 2 suggestions, they would be: 1. Make it fun and 2. Don't be pushy about it...

[Cosha]

Ah good idea about the identity!

How about you get some nice body part pictures?!

Like start on her legs, or her bum (tell her she is beautiful all the time, always - Free tip :))

Dont worry too much about PP, if you get some good shots im sure a few members here would help out with some pp to get you started

Have fun

[xpond]

So far as post production is concerned I highly recommend Lightroom2. It's made for photographers and includes easy to use powerful tools that otherwise would be found in Adobe's more complicated and expensive version, Photoshop. It's fairly easy to learn and Scott Kelby's group ( http://www.kelbytraining.com/ ) offers some excellent on line training videos, especially the ones by Matt Koslowski.

[Living Daylight]

I have LR, I just need to learn how to use it more effectively. Thanks for the link.

[Cosha]

How did it go? Had time to try?

[Living Daylight]

Haven't really had a good opportunity, will probably have to wait till our son is a bit older. Whenever he goes down for a long nap it is usually too late for any good light or we have a bunch of things we have to do. She also keeps insisting that she wants to lose some more baby weight (which she is doing rapidly).

When we finally get to it I will post a few shots. Thanks for the interest.

[Cosha]

Grandparents is the key :D

Ok no problem, keep us in touch - was just wonder how you got on

[Brian500au]

it might be more interesting to know if she is in to this type of photography? Maybe it is just not her cup of tea? It might be yours - and it seems it is, but not all photogs use there gf/partners in their work. if you really want to practice this style of photog then maybe use MM or one of the other model forums to work with a model. I suppose it could depend on your real reasoning behind the photos. Just my 2c worth.

[Living Daylight]

it might be more interesting to know if she is in to this type of photography? Maybe it is just not her cup of tea? It might be yours - and it seems it is, but not all photogs use there gf/partners in their work. if you really want to practice this style of photog then maybe use MM or one of the other model forums to work with a model. I suppose it could depend on your real reasoning behind the photos. Just my 2c worth.

I think she will be good with it. She has no problem showing off and is far from modest, I think I just need to let her build her confidence back.

That said, is it cool for a total newbie like me to contact a model on MM? I would have thought that it would be for more experienced types with higher end equipment.