Boudoir Photography How To

One of the things we like about pro photographer Lindsay Adler's tutorials is that she shows you how to combine the old with the new to create timeless looks. In the below video, Adler breaks down a burlesque-style photo shoot and explains how you can duplicate this unique look for everything from portraits to boudoir photos.

"In this Photo Deconstruction I'm going to take you behind the scenes of one of my Burlesque photo shoots and show you how I recreate the look of stage lighting in the studio," Adler says.

"I love shooting Burlesque, it's dramatic, incorporates beautiful lighting and oh my gersh, the outfits! My heart swoons. The concept of this image was as if the model was coming out from behind the curtains on stage greeting the audience and getting ready for a show."

Lighting

"Since I wanted to emulate the harsh lights of a stage, I opted for a bare bulb with 20 degree grid as the main light pointing to the model's face," Adler says. "The second light is exactly the same but behind the subject to help pop her out of the background as a rim light and provide a bit more theatricality.

"The next light acting as a fill was a large umbrella with diffusion. Last but not least, is a medium umbrella with diffusion and red gel off to the right used to emphasize the model more and just add a bit of color.

"I think the image as is would totally be usable without any processing but because the concept was meant to have a bit of a vintage feel to it, I did some extra post processing in Alien Skin Exposure to play with some film presets, and Voilà! I love making images like this because the whole team comes together and contributes to something truly fun and over the top."

Watch the video below and if you want to see another eye-catching boudoir look that Adler created, check out this tutorial where she takes you on a Marilyn Monroe-inspired boudoir shoot.