January 8, 2024 • 33 mins
Boudoir photography using Fujifilm cameras and lenses with Los Angeles photographer Michael Spatola. In this video, we discuss boudoir photography, what makes a photo sexy, confidence, posting, lighting, gear, clients, and emotional moments of the genre. All photographs and BHS videos courtesy of Michael Spatola and copyrighted by Lifestyle Boudoir.
** MICHAEL'S PORTFOLIO AND INFO **
Website: https://www.lifestyleboudoir.com/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LifestyleBou...
Instagram: / lifestyle_boudoir
If you found this video helpful, please reach out and let Michael know! He's on IG, YouTube, etc. He gave considerable time and effort to share his knowledge with all of us in this video. 👍
Done. Over Perfect Podcast: https://doneoverperfect.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome topal2tech and the Done
Over Perfect podcast.
I have a very special guest,Michael Spatola, who is
currently a Boudoirphotographer in the
Los Angeles area.
Michael, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks so much, Chris.
It's been a long time and I'vebeen looking forward to this.
Michael, I personally hired toshoot my own wedding, so we're
(00:23):
going on 24, 25 years ago.
I don't know if Icried at your wedding or not,
I can't remember, but, um.
Look at that photo he took.
It was shot all on film.
I don't think you wereable to hit playback right
when you shot.
And, you know, check the shot.
You see that?
Absolutely incredible.
And you know what?
We had a fireblazed through where I live.
(00:45):
If the police come knocking onyour door and they go,
excuse me, you have 15minutes to leave.
There's a fire comingdown your street.
I am the oneguy that can tell you.
Those photo albums were one ofthe first things I grabbed next
to the family dog and,you know, a couple of others.
But I'm saying that's howimportant it is to me.
What exactly gotyou into Boudoir photography?
Like most photographers earlyin their career, they shoot
(01:09):
everything actor headshots,model portfolios,
family portraits,babies, children.
I had always done Boudoir aspart of my offerings.
This is one thing that whenit's done well, cannot be
replicated by theclient themselves, right?
They really need someonewho is skilled at lighting,
skilled at posing, skilled atputting them at ease in front
(01:31):
of the camera.
And that's huge.
They're in their underwear infront of a strange man.
Yes, I have afemale assistant, but they're
in their underwear.
We're taking photos.
And if I don't have the abilityto keep it super lighthearted,
keep it relaxed and chill,and for them to have fun,
the photos are notgoing to be as good.
Some people don't evenunderstand what Boudoir
(01:53):
photography really is.
What is it?
Yeah, okay, so Boudoirphotography is not me taking
pictures of scantily clad women,even though I am.
That's not the mainthrust of it.
The main thrust of Boudoirphotography is for women to
look at themselves, and maybefor the first time in
their life, see themselvesas beautiful, confident,
strong, powerful, and yes,even sexual beings.
(02:16):
None of the people who pay mefor my work are models.
They're normal, everyday womenthat may even think that
they're doing it fortheir significant other.
But the bottom line is they'redoing it for themselves,
whether they realize it or not.
I don't care what their spousethinks at the photos.
I don't care what theirsignificant other thinks
of the photos.
What I care about is that womanlooks at those photos and sees
(02:39):
themselves through my eyes andsees themselves like they may
have neverseen themselves before.
To get that ego boost, to makethem feel like, hey, I'm on
cloud nine, I can conquerthe world now.
I think of Boudoir as an art.
I create images that Ifeel are timeless.
There's a timelessquality to them.
I try not tofollow the fads right?
(03:00):
And create images that theycould hang on the wall.
And 20 years from now,they'll still look at it as art.
The session itself is aboutthree hours long.
They come in, I havea makeup artist who's also
my female assistant.
That's very importantto the process who
makes them beautiful.
First thing we do is go throughthe lingerie together.
Usually they'll send mepictures of what they're going
(03:21):
to wear ahead of time,but sometimes they bring a few
extra outfits and it's nice tosee them in person, too.
I give them to mymakeup artist, and then I start
putting together my plan ofaction while they're
getting made up.
And my plan of actionis which outfit of my
photographing first, second,third, fourth.
Obviously, we usually start offwith the most innocent,
sweet stuff first to ease theminto the process and then
(03:42):
usually end up withthe craziest stuff.
Sometimes you might have, say,a client and they're a little,
they're just not opening up.
And how do youget them to open up?
And I think a lot of Boudoirphotographers who were up and
coming would like to know youranswer to that one.
Okay.
I got a good answerfor that one.
So they've gotten their makeupdone by this point.
And they're they feel likethey're looking beautiful,
(04:03):
but they've never worn lingeriein front of a
strange man before.
Right.
Maybe they have, I don't know.
Lights and thewhole thing, you know.
Right.
Um, and that's something we'llget into in a little bit too,
is the lighting, I think isvery important to get them to
relax in front of the camera.
First of all, we're playingmusic that they love.
You know, I send them aquestionnaire and one of the
questions is, what kind ofmusic do you like?
(04:24):
Because I want tohave it playing for you
when you're here.
Them being in the rightheadspace is a little different
from me getting them intothe right headspace.
We put on the baggyman's white shirt.
There's a suggestion thatthey're naked underneath,
but you don't see anything.
So we'll start off withsomething innocent like that,
um, with verysoft window lighting.
Okay, so there's no pop,pop pop of flashes.
(04:47):
Yeah.
Um, and then Idemonstrate the poses.
Now, you want to break the ice?
Watch this fat old dudedo the poses.
Right?
Yes.
If I can do it,they can do it ten times.
All right.
It's a great tip, man.
Um, that's it'slike you gotta learn the poses.
Don't expect to be able todirect them into the pose if
(05:08):
you haven't tried it yourself.
And that helps really getthem into the.
I can do this, too.
Sure.
And I don't like to show them alot of pictures on the back of
the camera, but usually thefirst setup after I know I have
a good one, I'll go look andthey'll they'll see it and go,
oh, hey, I look good.
Yeah.
(05:29):
You know, and that that's it.
From that point on we're fine.
And I've seen extremely shywomen like, who come in like
I'm really shy.
I don't know ifI can even do this.
And they become, like,sexual monsters by the end
of the shoot.
Yeah.
It's like they're like dressingand undressing in front of me.
I'm like, you know, youcan use the restroom to change.
(05:50):
Um, it's it's amazing how it'slike a switch gets flipped and
they become so much morecomfortable in their own skin.
I mean, it's only a threehour deal, but you can see a
different person leave than theone who arrive.
I don't have anyfake looking sets.
Everything looks like it's thereal thing because it is
the real thing.
(06:10):
I get asked, can the husbandcome to the photo session?
Yeah, and I have mixedfeelings about that.
Generally I say no and I don'tsay it no like that.
I don't say no.
You can't bring them.
I'd say, you know what?
I would so much rather youbring a best friend than a
boyfriend or husband,because that best friend is not
judgmental of your body.
(06:32):
They are someone who's there tobe your cheerleader, to be your
support department, to belike, yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go.
You look amazing, right?
Um, some sessions wherehusbands come along and they
critique the woman, or theywant to direct the shoot,
and obviously they're notlooking through my lens.
They're looking over myshoulder or from the side.
(06:53):
They don't see what I'm seeing.
And if they want to direct,buy your own camera and
shoot at home.
You're not going toget anything good.
But, you know.
Right.
Um, usually it turns out great.
Usually they're there just tobe supportive, but I've seen it
the other way, too, where theywere controlling, you know,
macho dudes that.
Why don't you shoot her thisway or, you know, hey, babe,
(07:16):
uh, just open your knees alittle bit more and say, oh,
God, no, please.
Even if I do any nude at all,it's always implied nude or
very artistic nude, where yousee nothing but the
impression is there.
How much does confidence andbringing out that confidence
play and connect withthe idea of sexy?
(07:38):
What is sexy, right?
And honestly, what is sexy?
It's different to everybody.
But I'll tell you, one of thethings that's sexy to me is
suggesting it ratherthan showing it.
You don't need tosee somebody naked.
Spread eagle that that's notsexy to me.
What's sexy to me is like,what's just beyond that
right there, wearing an outfit.
(07:58):
What are we suggesting here?
Rather than whatare we showing ?
Usually within a week ofthe session, I have them come
back in and we doa full presentation.
So they come in,I make popcorn, we sit them
down at the coffee table,and the photos are presented on
my big screen TV.
So they're seeing them,you know.
(08:19):
Wow.
Huge, right?
That must evoke a reaction.
Oh yes.
The first thing they seeis a slideshow set to music.
It's made on Animoto.
Um, and the the song that I'vechosen for the photos is,
you know, something that's veryuplifting and very
go girl power.
Um, you know, and, uh,but not too much.
(08:44):
So it's just it's a beautifulsong and it makes them feel
beautiful whilethey're watching it.
And those photos are ones thatI've sort of decided
are my favorites.
So they're not seeing all thephotos in the slideshow.
They're just seeing maybe 40 or50 photos set to the music,
and some of them are alreadyturned to black and white,
(09:04):
the ones that I think should bein black and white or turned
black and white.
So they're seeing it.
Other than the retouching,how I would present it.
All right.
And that's the firstthing they see.
And my reaction is this.
I watch them.
I don't need to see the photos.
I've already seen the photos.
I'm watching them right?
(09:25):
And what I see is thebest part of the shoot for me.
When they see themselvesthrough my eyes and seeing
themselves as that beautifulfor the first time
in their life.
And wow,that's my gratification.
That's my emotional, you know,that it's an ego boost for me,
(09:45):
of course, but it's also that'show I get my gratification from
the session is notjust financially, but also
seeing the expression on theirface when they're looking at
the photos for the first time.
You know, sometimes you have topick their jaw off the ground
and sometimes it's it's justlike you see them well up,
(10:07):
you know, their eyes well up.
Um, it's suchan emotional, powerful thing.
Um, and then after they seethe slideshow, then we go
through all the photos and, um,you know, one at a time.
Is this eye better?
Is this eye better?
You know, that kind of thing?
If their husband's there,how's the reaction of the
husband?
Or significant other you know?
(10:29):
Right.
It's not for them.
It's for thewoman I photographed.
But what I do see quite oftenis the husband sitting there.
He may he may gushor he may be dead silent.
But what I see is the handeases over to his wife's hand
and grabs it.
(10:50):
And you see it squeeze the handand they're like, you can tell
they're loving the photos, um,because they're seeing them
through my eyes as well.
When you see their expressionand they're seeing these photos
for the first time.
Mhm.
Does that come into playwhere that, that, that's part
of what they're realizing thatthey are confident?
Yes.
It's huge.
(11:10):
I mean not only do I send outthat questionnaire that has
things like that on it,like what are you looking to
get out of this session?
All of my questions are sort ofessay questions that forces
them to open up to me a little.
And, uh, one of them is, um,guys, get your pens out and
write this down.
Um.
Take notes on this podcast!The photo session is over.
(11:32):
You're opening your finishedalbum and seeing it for
the first time.
What do you see?
And the answer, overwhelmingly,is someone who's confident and
comfortable in their own skin.
Ha ha.
Okay, it's what they want.
They want to beconfident and strong.
There's no cutoff agefor your type of shooting.
(11:53):
My typical client is notin their 20s.
My typical client is like35 to 55.
That's my typical client.
It could be that they thinkthey're doing it for
their spouse, or theycould do it to to
celebrate their divorce.
I'm coming back intomy own again.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Um, maybe more of themthan I have doing it for
their spouse.
(12:14):
Um, you know.
Oh, man.
Uh, part of it is eitherthey're feel like they're
coming back into their own.
They're becoming the personthat they used to be
before their marriage.
Or maybe it is to want tobecome someone else because
they were so smotheredin maybe a bad relationship
or something.
I don't want to transform them.
I just want them to feel likeit was always there, and it
(12:36):
just needed a little coaxingto come out.
As far as age cutoff, I cantell you my oldest was around
70 years old.
Yeah.
Um, and man, did sherock that shoot.
Really?
She, uh, younger girls havenothing on her.
What's been one of your morememorable client experiences?
(12:57):
That you kindof stopped and went?
Uh, yeah.
I'm not going to forget thisclient for a while.
Well, I had some insane ones,but I don't want to go there.
Um, but, uh, I had one where Ihad minimal contact with
the client beforehand.
Just a coupleof email exchanges.
I send them all the informationthey need beforehand.
I have a whole lingerie guide.
(13:17):
Pick the right lingerie foryour body type and where to get
lingerie if you don't have any.
So I give themall this information.
Well, the girl shows upat my studio with nothing
like no outfits.
Uh, I mean, even whatshe was wearing under her
clothes was nothing.
I mean, she had nothingwith her, and I was like,
(13:38):
you didn't bring anythingbecause she goes, no, I think I
just want to.
I want to do this nude.
And I was like, okay, okay,obviously I want to accommodate
my client, but Ialso want to create art.
Not like here am lookat me naked.
Yeah.
Um, so I did body scapes, so Ilit it to look like sand dunes
(13:58):
and mountains andstuff like that.
Posed in such a way that whenyou look at it, you have to
actually look at it like doubletake and go, oh my God, that's,
that's a female form.
That's not a landscape.
Um, and then I hadsome a couple of yards of
sheer fabric, and we didsomewhere that was just
draped artistically, you know,I wasn't prepared
(14:18):
for this shoot.
I thought shewas bringing lingerie.
Out of that challenge came somereally beautiful images that
she was thrilled with.
So challenge accepted, right?
Yeah.
Well, does that happen a lotwhere they they want to get
completely nude?
Um, well, part of thatquestionnaire that I send out
beforehand asks, what level areyou comfortable with?
Do you want tojust do lingerie ?
(14:40):
Do you want to do implied nude?
Do you want to dosome topless, maybe just sort
of covering up ordo you want nudity?
Sometimes they'llcheck off that.
They want nudity.
Does it always happen?
No.
It's because it's something Iwon't push during a shoot.
There might be some where I go.
Hey, remember you said youmight want to do some naked?
This is a goodsetup to do it in.
(15:00):
Are you stillcomfortable doing that?
Yeah.
And leave it at that.
You are a manafter my heart with Fujifilm.
Yes, a little bit.
Yes.
Tell us about your gear.
Both with regard tocameras and lighting.
Uh, cameras, I have X-T5,X-T4, X-T3, X100v, and XPro1.
Okay.
(15:21):
Um, my XPro1.
Sadly, the shutter froze and Ineed to get it repaired, but I
love that camera.
That was myfirst mirrorless camera.
What I shoot most withright now, even though I have
the X-T5, I'm still shootingmore with the X-T4, which might
surprise some people.
Why is that?
My clients are mainly gettingan album that's like 10 by 10
or 8 by 8.
(15:42):
I don't need a 40 megapixelfile for an eight by ten.
I did this with the X-T3 when Iwent to the uh, from the X-T3
to the X-T4.
I still shot with the X-T3forever because I just eased
into the X-T4.
It was a little different.
The setup was just a littlebit different, you know,
from camera to camera.
Some things changed.
Now it's no more flipup screen, it's a flip out
(16:04):
screen and blah, blah,all that stuff.
And I bought the X-T5 and I'mstill I'm shooting a little bit
with the X-T5, but I'm easinginto it so that X-T5 is going
to last me for years becauseI'm not using it so much yet.
I still have my S5 Prosomewhere that was on the Nikon
body with Nikon lenses, but itwas the Fuji sensor.
(16:25):
Yeah, right.
Um, I still havethat somewhere, but it's
a paperweight now.
In fact, I still have my KodakDCS 460, which was the first 6
megapixel digital SLR, um,built on the icon body and
it was huge.
And it was $27,000.
Paperweight.
(16:45):
When you're shooting withthose cameras, what would be
your settings thatyou're doing ?
AF-C are you?
Autofocus isthe main automation.
Everything else is manual.
Obviously aperture onthe aperture ring.
And I have shutter speed on thefront dial and ISO on
the back dial.
And literally I pretty muchleave the 16 to 55 at 2.8,
(17:07):
like almost 100% of the time.
That's a great lens.
And the autofocus is good on it.
Um, sharp as can be, and itgives me every focal length
that I need for Boudoir,so that almost never comes
off my camera.
And then the only thing I playwith is honestly my ISO.
So I pretty much have itset because, you know, 640 is
(17:28):
you get the doctor 400, right?
Yeah.
So I leave it at640 most of the time.
Then I can change the shutterspeed if I need to.
But the way the light comesinto my place, I'm doing pretty
much at least a thirdof my shoot with window light.
Even though I have a ton ofFuji lenses, I still love
the 35 f/1.4.
Beautiful Lens.
Um, and I, you know, I have thekit lens, which is still
(17:51):
an amazing lens.
I keep telling people that itshouldn't even be called
the kit lens.
It's a great lens.
Should not be called a kit lens.
18 to 55.
I have the 56 f/1.2.
Okay, you know, I have I have abunch of lenses, but the 16 to
55 is perfect for what I do.
Perfect.
And where does itstay most of the time?
Around the35 millimeter equivalent.
(18:13):
Okay, because I'm shooting alot of full and
half length photos.
Um, for Boudoir, they want tosee the whole outfit.
They want to see downto the high heels, you know?
Right.
Um, so I'm not shooting itzoomed in all the way unless I
want to get a faceshot or, like, a detail shot.
Maybe they're touching theirpearls or something like that.
Now, I have awhole host of these little
(18:34):
manual focus lenses.
You know, I got the Mitakon.
This is the 1.4TTArtisan's manual focus.
I have the theMitkaon 35 f/0.95.
That's a great lens.
I love that lens.
I have the TTArtisan's 50 f/1.4.
Or is it f/1.2?
f/1.2.
The f/1.2.
(18:54):
Another fun portrait lens.
But those lenses I use for me,I'm a content creator too,
right?
I have to putstuff on Instagram.
A lot of my clients don't wanttheir photos on Instagram.
They're for themselves.
They're for their spouses.
Right?
I use those lenses forme for fun and obviously
their manual focus.
So it makes me slow down alittle bit and be more
(19:17):
deliberate with my shots.
Yeah.
Um, they are not sharp like the16 to 55 is sharp.
Now that, um, 0.95, are youactually shooting manual with a
model in 0.95 aperture?
I have usually I'll stop itdown one stop or so, just to
make sure that focus isn'tso razor thin.
(19:38):
Yeah.
I mean, you'retalking about one eyelash would
be in focus, and the one nextto it would be out of focus.
Yeah.
I'll bring it.
I'll usually bring it down tolike 1.4 or something just to
give me a little,a little wiggle room.
Now, I already mentionedlighting wise, I do a lot of
window light that is sonon-threatening to the client.
No pop, no flash.
Of course, a cloudy day.
(19:59):
I need to augment ita little bit.
Yeah, or or boost the ISO a lot.
And that as far as lights gonow I have a half a dozen
strobe heads, but I rarelyuse them anymore.
Really?
Um, I hardly ever have asoftbox on my lights,
by the way, I do use a V flatfor bouncing the window light
or a handheld reflector,but it's usually the V flat.
(20:19):
I use the Godox LS500 light sticks with the barn
doors on them.
Those replaced pretty much myWestcott ice lights because
they no longer make them,which is the a sad day in my
life you love when they stopped.
Nice lights, I remember.
I love ice lights.
Um, I have two of them and Ihave replacement batteries,
but eventually they're goingto go away.
(20:41):
Uh, Godox has come upwith an alternative.
They're not quite as soft,but I'm doing a lot of black
and white that I wantto look crisp.
And so I don't need a softboxor a really soft light.
And if I need to soften it,I can throw a black pro mist
on my lens.
Yeah.
And soften it orsoften it later in Photoshop.
What do you recommend as aBlack Pro Mist filter for the
(21:03):
16 to 55?
So I'm using the thequarter strength okay.
And um, it's a it'sa Tiffin black pro quarter.
Trust me,there's a group of people
watching this podcast right nowthat are taking down notes.
Seriously.
I also have one, alittle one that goes
on my X100v.
It just makes it more filmic.
(21:24):
You know, it makes it.
Yeah.
You know, as someone who wasbrought up on film, I like my
photos to look like they'reshot on film.
My other light that I use itevery shoot, it's an LED.
It's a SL 200.
Three Godox LED.
It's a big honkin light and onthe front of it is
the Godox projector.
You know what I'm talking about?
(21:45):
Yes.
It's like the, you know,the optical snoot that you put
the little gobo in, right?
Right.
Um, so I havethe Venetian blinds.
I have this other window one,the dappled light one, and I
use it at every shoot.
It's amazing.
So I can get the dappled lightor I can get a
different window effect.
And, you know, if I hadto do this all over again,
(22:05):
there would have been such asmall investment compared to
what I've invested over theyears and equipment, because of
the lights that I'm using andthe camera and lens that
I'm using, hence the $99 lens.
Yeah, let's you know what?
Let's take a lookat those $99 lens photos.
We're going to jump into those.
And then I want tomove into that was the X100v.
What was the one?
Yeah yeah.
(22:26):
Well we'll check those out.
So we're looking atthis right here.
You're telling me that this wastaken with that lens that that
you the 23 f/1.4, manual focus.
The lighting on thatis two of those, uh,
Godox light sticks.
And the light in the backgroundis just the light that's
on the nightstand.
Now we're Brighter daylight.
That's window light color.
(22:46):
I mean, this is the folder withthe 23 millimeter lens.
So everything in hereis manual focus.
Wow.
Um, and pretty much wide open.
I love this onewith the lighting.
Yeah.
Window light is gorgeous.
You just need to know how toposition the person to get the
effect you want.
That's short lighting, right?
That's short loop,narrow light, whatever you want
to call it.
It's short lighting on her face.
(23:07):
So it's lighting the maskof the face.
And the shadow side is closestto the camera, so it's
short lighting, but with windowlight and a V flat is filling
in the back.
These are thefake Venetian blinds.
This is the Godox LED with theGodox projector, with the
Venetian blinds gobo in it.
Because you'remanually focusing, are you
using focus peaking is that youhave is it's rather dark.
(23:30):
I mean that would be a hardthing to be nailing I think.
Yeah, it's on focus peaking red.
Hi.
You suggested that I believe inone of your old videos and I
just went I just went with it.
I was like, okay, I trust Chris.
I'm going to do that.
Yeah.
For this one, I had the lightstick in tungsten because the
lights on the makeupmirror are tungsten.
Okay.
(23:50):
So if I did want it in color,the color would be balanced.
A lot of people don't realizethat the color of the light
affects the makeupthat they're wearing, too.
One of the things these days Isee a lot of is red gel from
one side, blue gel fromthe other, and then the makeup
gets all washed out, because ifthey're wearing red lipstick
and the red light hits it,they're wearing no lipstick.
You know, that goes back to myfilm career when I was
(24:10):
a makeup artist.
In the film industry, you gotto know lighting, too.
So let's jump from that lens tophotos exclusively shot with
the x100v, one ofthe hottest cameras in the
world right now.
The X100v I got it beforeit was, you know, when it first
came out,before everyone wanted it.
Oh, there's a beautiful camera.
(24:31):
Look at that.
It's so beautiful.
I got the little thumb grip onit and I got the, the front
hand grip on it because it ishard to hold on to for any
length of time withoutthose for portraits.
I'll put on that that black promist in front of it.
Okay.
Um, and it gives mea much more filmic look.
It's the same 26 megapixelsensor as the other
(24:51):
Fuji cameras, and the lens isjust as sharp, if not sharper,
than the the separate 23 f/2that you can buy.
What's wrong with this picture?
Nothing.
Nothing, right.
The only thing I would sayis a lot of people want the
redundancy of an extracard slot, which this
only has one.
Um, generally I don't shoot itfor client shoots, but I
(25:13):
still love it.
I shoot it for fun.
We're at the metro station.
She's adventurous,which is great.
Um, the back of those pantiesis literally a thong.
And the L.A. Metro.
In the metro?
Yeah, that's the NorthHollywood metro station.
Yeah.
Wow.
I mean, you really play arounda lot with, um,
(25:33):
existing window light.
The women who come to me arenot used to being in front of
the camera window.
Light is not intimidating.
Part of the light comingthrough the Venetian lines,
going right across her forehead.
And it kind of travels down.
And then on her leg,it's going back up.
When you're actuallyshooting this, are you saying
(25:53):
to yourself, I want to linethis up, or is that the last
thing on your mind?
And you're justthe light's falling where
the light's falling.
You know, when I'm takingmore time, I will
look at everything.
But the main thing for meis to have the eyes lit.
So at least one slit of lightneeds to be going across her
eyes so I can see the sparkle.
(26:14):
Now, after I have that,then I'll play with the pose a
little bit more tomake sure it's really
accentuating the body.
Are you in Capture Oneor are you in Lightroom?
How are you on the Capture One?
Okay, and in Capture One, I tryto make the color look as
perfect as possible, but thenwhen I'm playing with it
in Photoshop, I've created acouple of actions that give it
(26:34):
a more film.
Like, you know, like the Portra400 or Portra 800.
That has that little bitof a green cast to it.
It justhas this just timeless look
to it, and especially withblack and white too.
Oh, I can imagine.
And but I'm looking at in thebackground the way you've got
I mean, her shadow intersectingthe shadow of
(26:54):
the Venetian blinds.
I mean, you could talk aboutthis photo all day.
This is one ofmy favorites of yours, Michael.
This shot would be not the verystarting out outfits, but as
you're progressing throughthe shoot, you suggest that.
And here it is.
That one is also window light.
If it's not hittingthem directly,
it's still soft light.
If it's hitting them directly,then what I'll usually do is a
(27:16):
large pop open diffuser andjust put it in front of
the window, effectively makingit a giant soft box.
That's the projector with oneof the window goes in it.
My projector unit was new, so Iwanted to play with it often,
you know?
Now it has its place andI will still use it in
nearly every session.
This was a special thing.
This is like I'm trying tofigure out how it works
(27:38):
in my space.
The ones that I'm about to lookat are shot on an X-T4 with the
16 to 55.
It may vary a little bit,but that's my main setup.
It's a different subject.
It's a different feeling.
She's got underwear on,but it's Calvin Klein,
you know, pretty much basicthat somebody would wear
under their clothes.
Not sexy lingerie.
Um, and the sexiness comes fromher confidence, the look
(27:58):
into the camera.
How are yougetting these skin tones?
Is it a complicated process yougo through to get these skin
tones?
It's not.
It's so each place that I shootwill have its own sort of
white balance, if you will.
I mean, I shoot it on standardand then I'll do the little
trick where you push down onthe D-Pad and lock the auto
white balance on it.
(28:19):
That's my white balancefor that scene.
So window light will have itlocked on the window, like I'm
using one of those pop opengray cards and it gets
it close enough.
I mean, is it perfect?
No, they get stainedor whatever, but it gets it
close enough that inCapture One, I can adjust one
photo and that copy that to allthe ones from that setup.
And it's a minute.
(28:40):
It doesn't take long.
Brighter obviously.
And again those skin tones andthat I can see now I'm starting
to see your style more and more.
You've got thatwindow light again.
Now I'm shooting with, you know,all tungsten balance.
I may have not correctedit in camera perfectly with the
gray card, because I reallywanted a warm feeling to this.
That's a Westcott ice lightwith the barn doors on it.
(29:01):
Got it.
And it's just one.
You know, you've got aprofessional photographer when
you can get a photolike this lit with one light.
Something that you'll notice ina lot of my photos is they're
not looking at the camera.
The whole thing with Boudoir isthere should be some
mystery to it.
It isn't.
Look at the camera and smile.
(29:21):
You know, if they're looking atthe camera, they're looking at
the camera with intention,with a little twinkle or a
little sneakiness in their eyes.
So even the ones where they areengaging the camera, you want
that mystery?
Okay, this is my friend Erika.
She's an actress, model mom.
She works hard on her beauty,and it shows in her photos.
And that's one light stick.
(29:41):
That's one Godox light fixture.
It is.
I see it.
And nothing else.
My preference is to shoot withas few lights as possible.
Yes, sometimes I'll put a filllight in, but generally it's
one main light and I would say10% of the time I'll put a fill
light in if that.
For anybody who wants to trysomething like that, it isn't.
(30:02):
Just do it quicklyand get out of there.
It's explore every possibleangle with that one light.
What are some ofthe other challenges that you,
you're either facing now or yousee happening in the future
with this style of photography?
So many people getting intoit now, they join a Facebook
group and there's amillion of them for
(30:23):
Boudoir photographers.
Literally the next time you seea photo they post, it's a copy
of what someone elsehad showed them.
It's great to be inspired byother people's work.
It's not great to copythem outright, right?
And I try really hardto make my stuff not look
like anyone else's.
I feel that from you,I get that.
(30:44):
Do you wantto copy it exactly, or do you
want to replicate that feelingfor someone else?
If there were a piece of advicethat I could give to
specifically male Boudoirphotographers is if you're
getting into it, to meet girlsand see them in
their underwear, you're in thewrong business, because that's
not what this is about.
You got to be in it for theright reasons, and the right
(31:06):
reason is to makethem feel amazing about
themselves.
Period.
I just have somuch respect for this space.
I knew nothing about it.
Before talking to you,you basically have a job that
your goal is to make peoplefeel good about themselves.
I don't always agree with whatmy clients choose from there.
(31:27):
You know, when they're choosingtheir photos, they may choose
one that I thinkis like, oh, really?
You want that one?
But if it makes them feel great?
Sold! Expression sells.
Photographs doesn't haveanything to do with
the lighting, the posing.
If they look at their face andthey see an expression in
Boudoir that exudes confidenceand strength and
(31:50):
beauty and sexiness.
You've won.
It doesn't matter if thelighting is good or
the posing is.
Yes.
Do good lighting.
Do good posing.
Take great photos, but to beable to relate to them on the
level that makes them feel goodabout doing the shoot while
they're doing the shoot.
You are going toget photos that they
(32:11):
will absolutely purchase.
I am going to leave links toMichael's website,
Michael's YouTube channel,and Instagram at the bottom
of this video.
In the description.
I cannot recommendMichael enough, particularly if
you are in the Los Angeles area.
Give this photographer a call.
I've hired him, okay?
(32:32):
And I still have his photos tothis day, so I will
vouch for him.
So Michael, thank you so muchfor your your time today.
This was an absolutepleasure, Chris.
It was great catchingup with you.
This was so muchfun talking about this stuff.
We'll talk again soon.
Thank you so much.
Bye bye.
Hi everyone and welcome topal2tech and the Done
Over Perfect podcast.
I have a very special guest,Michael Spatola, who is
currently a Boudoirphotographer in the
Los Angeles area.
Michael, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks so much, Chris.
It's been a long time and I'vebeen looking forward to this.
Michael, I personally hired toshoot my own wedding, so we're
(00:23):
going on 24, 25 years ago.
I don't know if Icried at your wedding or not,
I can't remember, but, um.
Look at that photo he took.
It was shot all on film.
I don't think you wereable to hit playback right
when you shot.
And, you know, check the shot.
You see that?
Absolutely incredible.
And you know what?
We had a fireblazed through where I live.
(00:45):
If the police come knocking onyour door and they go,
excuse me, you have 15minutes to leave.
There's a fire comingdown your street.
I am the oneguy that can tell you.
Those photo albums were one ofthe first things I grabbed next
to the family dog and,you know, a couple of others.
But I'm saying that's howimportant it is to me.
What exactly gotyou into Boudoir photography?
Like most photographers earlyin their career, they shoot
(01:09):
everything actor headshots,model portfolios,
family portraits,babies, children.
I had always done Boudoir aspart of my offerings.
This is one thing that whenit's done well, cannot be
replicated by theclient themselves, right?
They really need someonewho is skilled at lighting,
skilled at posing, skilled atputting them at ease in front
(01:31):
of the camera.
And that's huge.
They're in their underwear infront of a strange man.
Yes, I have afemale assistant, but they're
in their underwear.
We're taking photos.
And if I don't have the abilityto keep it super lighthearted,
keep it relaxed and chill,and for them to have fun,
the photos are notgoing to be as good.
Some people don't evenunderstand what Boudoir
(01:53):
photography really is.
What is it?
Yeah, okay, so Boudoirphotography is not me taking
pictures of scantily clad women,even though I am.
That's not the mainthrust of it.
The main thrust of Boudoirphotography is for women to
look at themselves, and maybefor the first time in
their life, see themselvesas beautiful, confident,
strong, powerful, and yes,even sexual beings.
(02:16):
None of the people who pay mefor my work are models.
They're normal, everyday womenthat may even think that
they're doing it fortheir significant other.
But the bottom line is they'redoing it for themselves,
whether they realize it or not.
I don't care what their spousethinks at the photos.
I don't care what theirsignificant other thinks
of the photos.
What I care about is that womanlooks at those photos and sees
(02:39):
themselves through my eyes andsees themselves like they may
have neverseen themselves before.
To get that ego boost, to makethem feel like, hey, I'm on
cloud nine, I can conquerthe world now.
I think of Boudoir as an art.
I create images that Ifeel are timeless.
There's a timelessquality to them.
I try not tofollow the fads right?
(03:00):
And create images that theycould hang on the wall.
And 20 years from now,they'll still look at it as art.
The session itself is aboutthree hours long.
They come in, I havea makeup artist who's also
my female assistant.
That's very importantto the process who
makes them beautiful.
First thing we do is go throughthe lingerie together.
Usually they'll send mepictures of what they're going
(03:21):
to wear ahead of time,but sometimes they bring a few
extra outfits and it's nice tosee them in person, too.
I give them to mymakeup artist, and then I start
putting together my plan ofaction while they're
getting made up.
And my plan of actionis which outfit of my
photographing first, second,third, fourth.
Obviously, we usually start offwith the most innocent,
sweet stuff first to ease theminto the process and then
(03:42):
usually end up withthe craziest stuff.
Sometimes you might have, say,a client and they're a little,
they're just not opening up.
And how do youget them to open up?
And I think a lot of Boudoirphotographers who were up and
coming would like to know youranswer to that one.
Okay.
I got a good answerfor that one.
So they've gotten their makeupdone by this point.
And they're they feel likethey're looking beautiful,
(04:03):
but they've never worn lingeriein front of a
strange man before.
Right.
Maybe they have, I don't know.
Lights and thewhole thing, you know.
Right.
Um, and that's something we'llget into in a little bit too,
is the lighting, I think isvery important to get them to
relax in front of the camera.
First of all, we're playingmusic that they love.
You know, I send them aquestionnaire and one of the
questions is, what kind ofmusic do you like?
(04:24):
Because I want tohave it playing for you
when you're here.
Them being in the rightheadspace is a little different
from me getting them intothe right headspace.
We put on the baggyman's white shirt.
There's a suggestion thatthey're naked underneath,
but you don't see anything.
So we'll start off withsomething innocent like that,
um, with verysoft window lighting.
Okay, so there's no pop,pop pop of flashes.
(04:47):
Yeah.
Um, and then Idemonstrate the poses.
Now, you want to break the ice?
Watch this fat old dudedo the poses.
Right?
Yes.
If I can do it,they can do it ten times.
All right.
It's a great tip, man.
Um, that's it'slike you gotta learn the poses.
Don't expect to be able todirect them into the pose if
(05:08):
you haven't tried it yourself.
And that helps really getthem into the.
I can do this, too.
Sure.
And I don't like to show them alot of pictures on the back of
the camera, but usually thefirst setup after I know I have
a good one, I'll go look andthey'll they'll see it and go,
oh, hey, I look good.
Yeah.
(05:29):
You know, and that that's it.
From that point on we're fine.
And I've seen extremely shywomen like, who come in like
I'm really shy.
I don't know ifI can even do this.
And they become, like,sexual monsters by the end
of the shoot.
Yeah.
It's like they're like dressingand undressing in front of me.
I'm like, you know, youcan use the restroom to change.
(05:50):
Um, it's it's amazing how it'slike a switch gets flipped and
they become so much morecomfortable in their own skin.
I mean, it's only a threehour deal, but you can see a
different person leave than theone who arrive.
I don't have anyfake looking sets.
Everything looks like it's thereal thing because it is
the real thing.
(06:10):
I get asked, can the husbandcome to the photo session?
Yeah, and I have mixedfeelings about that.
Generally I say no and I don'tsay it no like that.
I don't say no.
You can't bring them.
I'd say, you know what?
I would so much rather youbring a best friend than a
boyfriend or husband,because that best friend is not
judgmental of your body.
(06:32):
They are someone who's there tobe your cheerleader, to be your
support department, to belike, yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go.
You look amazing, right?
Um, some sessions wherehusbands come along and they
critique the woman, or theywant to direct the shoot,
and obviously they're notlooking through my lens.
They're looking over myshoulder or from the side.
(06:53):
They don't see what I'm seeing.
And if they want to direct,buy your own camera and
shoot at home.
You're not going toget anything good.
But, you know.
Right.
Um, usually it turns out great.
Usually they're there just tobe supportive, but I've seen it
the other way, too, where theywere controlling, you know,
macho dudes that.
Why don't you shoot her thisway or, you know, hey, babe,
(07:16):
uh, just open your knees alittle bit more and say, oh,
God, no, please.
Even if I do any nude at all,it's always implied nude or
very artistic nude, where yousee nothing but the
impression is there.
How much does confidence andbringing out that confidence
play and connect withthe idea of sexy?
(07:38):
What is sexy, right?
And honestly, what is sexy?
It's different to everybody.
But I'll tell you, one of thethings that's sexy to me is
suggesting it ratherthan showing it.
You don't need tosee somebody naked.
Spread eagle that that's notsexy to me.
What's sexy to me is like,what's just beyond that
right there, wearing an outfit.
(07:58):
What are we suggesting here?
Rather than whatare we showing ?
Usually within a week ofthe session, I have them come
back in and we doa full presentation.
So they come in,I make popcorn, we sit them
down at the coffee table,and the photos are presented on
my big screen TV.
So they're seeing them,you know.
(08:19):
Wow.
Huge, right?
That must evoke a reaction.
Oh yes.
The first thing they seeis a slideshow set to music.
It's made on Animoto.
Um, and the the song that I'vechosen for the photos is,
you know, something that's veryuplifting and very
go girl power.
Um, you know, and, uh,but not too much.
(08:44):
So it's just it's a beautifulsong and it makes them feel
beautiful whilethey're watching it.
And those photos are ones thatI've sort of decided
are my favorites.
So they're not seeing all thephotos in the slideshow.
They're just seeing maybe 40 or50 photos set to the music,
and some of them are alreadyturned to black and white,
(09:04):
the ones that I think should bein black and white or turned
black and white.
So they're seeing it.
Other than the retouching,how I would present it.
All right.
And that's the firstthing they see.
And my reaction is this.
I watch them.
I don't need to see the photos.
I've already seen the photos.
I'm watching them right?
(09:25):
And what I see is thebest part of the shoot for me.
When they see themselvesthrough my eyes and seeing
themselves as that beautifulfor the first time
in their life.
And wow,that's my gratification.
That's my emotional, you know,that it's an ego boost for me,
(09:45):
of course, but it's also that'show I get my gratification from
the session is notjust financially, but also
seeing the expression on theirface when they're looking at
the photos for the first time.
You know, sometimes you have topick their jaw off the ground
and sometimes it's it's justlike you see them well up,
(10:07):
you know, their eyes well up.
Um, it's suchan emotional, powerful thing.
Um, and then after they seethe slideshow, then we go
through all the photos and, um,you know, one at a time.
Is this eye better?
Is this eye better?
You know, that kind of thing?
If their husband's there,how's the reaction of the
husband?
Or significant other you know?
(10:29):
Right.
It's not for them.
It's for thewoman I photographed.
But what I do see quite oftenis the husband sitting there.
He may he may gushor he may be dead silent.
But what I see is the handeases over to his wife's hand
and grabs it.
(10:50):
And you see it squeeze the handand they're like, you can tell
they're loving the photos, um,because they're seeing them
through my eyes as well.
When you see their expressionand they're seeing these photos
for the first time.
Mhm.
Does that come into playwhere that, that, that's part
of what they're realizing thatthey are confident?
Yes.
It's huge.
(11:10):
I mean not only do I send outthat questionnaire that has
things like that on it,like what are you looking to
get out of this session?
All of my questions are sort ofessay questions that forces
them to open up to me a little.
And, uh, one of them is, um,guys, get your pens out and
write this down.
Um.
Take notes on this podcast!The photo session is over.
(11:32):
You're opening your finishedalbum and seeing it for
the first time.
What do you see?
And the answer, overwhelmingly,is someone who's confident and
comfortable in their own skin.
Ha ha.
Okay, it's what they want.
They want to beconfident and strong.
There's no cutoff agefor your type of shooting.
(11:53):
My typical client is notin their 20s.
My typical client is like35 to 55.
That's my typical client.
It could be that they thinkthey're doing it for
their spouse, or theycould do it to to
celebrate their divorce.
I'm coming back intomy own again.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Um, maybe more of themthan I have doing it for
their spouse.
(12:14):
Um, you know.
Oh, man.
Uh, part of it is eitherthey're feel like they're
coming back into their own.
They're becoming the personthat they used to be
before their marriage.
Or maybe it is to want tobecome someone else because
they were so smotheredin maybe a bad relationship
or something.
I don't want to transform them.
I just want them to feel likeit was always there, and it
(12:36):
just needed a little coaxingto come out.
As far as age cutoff, I cantell you my oldest was around
70 years old.
Yeah.
Um, and man, did sherock that shoot.
Really?
She, uh, younger girls havenothing on her.
What's been one of your morememorable client experiences?
(12:57):
That you kindof stopped and went?
Uh, yeah.
I'm not going to forget thisclient for a while.
Well, I had some insane ones,but I don't want to go there.
Um, but, uh, I had one where Ihad minimal contact with
the client beforehand.
Just a coupleof email exchanges.
I send them all the informationthey need beforehand.
I have a whole lingerie guide.
(13:17):
Pick the right lingerie foryour body type and where to get
lingerie if you don't have any.
So I give themall this information.
Well, the girl shows upat my studio with nothing
like no outfits.
Uh, I mean, even whatshe was wearing under her
clothes was nothing.
I mean, she had nothingwith her, and I was like,
(13:38):
you didn't bring anythingbecause she goes, no, I think I
just want to.
I want to do this nude.
And I was like, okay, okay,obviously I want to accommodate
my client, but Ialso want to create art.
Not like here am lookat me naked.
Yeah.
Um, so I did body scapes, so Ilit it to look like sand dunes
(13:58):
and mountains andstuff like that.
Posed in such a way that whenyou look at it, you have to
actually look at it like doubletake and go, oh my God, that's,
that's a female form.
That's not a landscape.
Um, and then I hadsome a couple of yards of
sheer fabric, and we didsomewhere that was just
draped artistically, you know,I wasn't prepared
(14:18):
for this shoot.
I thought shewas bringing lingerie.
Out of that challenge came somereally beautiful images that
she was thrilled with.
So challenge accepted, right?
Yeah.
Well, does that happen a lotwhere they they want to get
completely nude?
Um, well, part of thatquestionnaire that I send out
beforehand asks, what level areyou comfortable with?
Do you want tojust do lingerie ?
(14:40):
Do you want to do implied nude?
Do you want to dosome topless, maybe just sort
of covering up ordo you want nudity?
Sometimes they'llcheck off that.
They want nudity.
Does it always happen?
No.
It's because it's something Iwon't push during a shoot.
There might be some where I go.
Hey, remember you said youmight want to do some naked?
This is a goodsetup to do it in.
(15:00):
Are you stillcomfortable doing that?
Yeah.
And leave it at that.
You are a manafter my heart with Fujifilm.
Yes, a little bit.
Yes.
Tell us about your gear.
Both with regard tocameras and lighting.
Uh, cameras, I have X-T5,X-T4, X-T3, X100v, and XPro1.
Okay.
(15:21):
Um, my XPro1.
Sadly, the shutter froze and Ineed to get it repaired, but I
love that camera.
That was myfirst mirrorless camera.
What I shoot most withright now, even though I have
the X-T5, I'm still shootingmore with the X-T4, which might
surprise some people.
Why is that?
My clients are mainly gettingan album that's like 10 by 10
or 8 by 8.
(15:42):
I don't need a 40 megapixelfile for an eight by ten.
I did this with the X-T3 when Iwent to the uh, from the X-T3
to the X-T4.
I still shot with the X-T3forever because I just eased
into the X-T4.
It was a little different.
The setup was just a littlebit different, you know,
from camera to camera.
Some things changed.
Now it's no more flipup screen, it's a flip out
(16:04):
screen and blah, blah,all that stuff.
And I bought the X-T5 and I'mstill I'm shooting a little bit
with the X-T5, but I'm easinginto it so that X-T5 is going
to last me for years becauseI'm not using it so much yet.
I still have my S5 Prosomewhere that was on the Nikon
body with Nikon lenses, but itwas the Fuji sensor.
(16:25):
Yeah, right.
Um, I still havethat somewhere, but it's
a paperweight now.
In fact, I still have my KodakDCS 460, which was the first 6
megapixel digital SLR, um,built on the icon body and
it was huge.
And it was $27,000.
Paperweight.
(16:45):
When you're shooting withthose cameras, what would be
your settings thatyou're doing ?
AF-C are you?
Autofocus isthe main automation.
Everything else is manual.
Obviously aperture onthe aperture ring.
And I have shutter speed on thefront dial and ISO on
the back dial.
And literally I pretty muchleave the 16 to 55 at 2.8,
(17:07):
like almost 100% of the time.
That's a great lens.
And the autofocus is good on it.
Um, sharp as can be, and itgives me every focal length
that I need for Boudoir,so that almost never comes
off my camera.
And then the only thing I playwith is honestly my ISO.
So I pretty much have itset because, you know, 640 is
(17:28):
you get the doctor 400, right?
Yeah.
So I leave it at640 most of the time.
Then I can change the shutterspeed if I need to.
But the way the light comesinto my place, I'm doing pretty
much at least a thirdof my shoot with window light.
Even though I have a ton ofFuji lenses, I still love
the 35 f/1.4.
Beautiful Lens.
Um, and I, you know, I have thekit lens, which is still
(17:51):
an amazing lens.
I keep telling people that itshouldn't even be called
the kit lens.
It's a great lens.
Should not be called a kit lens.
18 to 55.
I have the 56 f/1.2.
Okay, you know, I have I have abunch of lenses, but the 16 to
55 is perfect for what I do.
Perfect.
And where does itstay most of the time?
Around the35 millimeter equivalent.
(18:13):
Okay, because I'm shooting alot of full and
half length photos.
Um, for Boudoir, they want tosee the whole outfit.
They want to see downto the high heels, you know?
Right.
Um, so I'm not shooting itzoomed in all the way unless I
want to get a faceshot or, like, a detail shot.
Maybe they're touching theirpearls or something like that.
Now, I have awhole host of these little
(18:34):
manual focus lenses.
You know, I got the Mitakon.
This is the 1.4TTArtisan's manual focus.
I have the theMitkaon 35 f/0.95.
That's a great lens.
I love that lens.
I have the TTArtisan's 50 f/1.4.
Or is it f/1.2?
f/1.2.
The f/1.2.
(18:54):
Another fun portrait lens.
But those lenses I use for me,I'm a content creator too,
right?
I have to putstuff on Instagram.
A lot of my clients don't wanttheir photos on Instagram.
They're for themselves.
They're for their spouses.
Right?
I use those lenses forme for fun and obviously
their manual focus.
So it makes me slow down alittle bit and be more
(19:17):
deliberate with my shots.
Yeah.
Um, they are not sharp like the16 to 55 is sharp.
Now that, um, 0.95, are youactually shooting manual with a
model in 0.95 aperture?
I have usually I'll stop itdown one stop or so, just to
make sure that focus isn'tso razor thin.
(19:38):
Yeah.
I mean, you'retalking about one eyelash would
be in focus, and the one nextto it would be out of focus.
Yeah.
I'll bring it.
I'll usually bring it down tolike 1.4 or something just to
give me a little,a little wiggle room.
Now, I already mentionedlighting wise, I do a lot of
window light that is sonon-threatening to the client.
No pop, no flash.
Of course, a cloudy day.
(19:59):
I need to augment ita little bit.
Yeah, or or boost the ISO a lot.
And that as far as lights gonow I have a half a dozen
strobe heads, but I rarelyuse them anymore.
Really?
Um, I hardly ever have asoftbox on my lights,
by the way, I do use a V flatfor bouncing the window light
or a handheld reflector,but it's usually the V flat.
(20:19):
I use the Godox LS500 light sticks with the barn
doors on them.
Those replaced pretty much myWestcott ice lights because
they no longer make them,which is the a sad day in my
life you love when they stopped.
Nice lights, I remember.
I love ice lights.
Um, I have two of them and Ihave replacement batteries,
but eventually they're goingto go away.
(20:41):
Uh, Godox has come upwith an alternative.
They're not quite as soft,but I'm doing a lot of black
and white that I wantto look crisp.
And so I don't need a softboxor a really soft light.
And if I need to soften it,I can throw a black pro mist
on my lens.
Yeah.
And soften it orsoften it later in Photoshop.
What do you recommend as aBlack Pro Mist filter for the
(21:03):
16 to 55?
So I'm using the thequarter strength okay.
And um, it's a it'sa Tiffin black pro quarter.
Trust me,there's a group of people
watching this podcast right nowthat are taking down notes.
Seriously.
I also have one, alittle one that goes
on my X100v.
It just makes it more filmic.
(21:24):
You know, it makes it.
Yeah.
You know, as someone who wasbrought up on film, I like my
photos to look like they'reshot on film.
My other light that I use itevery shoot, it's an LED.
It's a SL 200.
Three Godox LED.
It's a big honkin light and onthe front of it is
the Godox projector.
You know what I'm talking about?
(21:45):
Yes.
It's like the, you know,the optical snoot that you put
the little gobo in, right?
Right.
Um, so I havethe Venetian blinds.
I have this other window one,the dappled light one, and I
use it at every shoot.
It's amazing.
So I can get the dappled lightor I can get a
different window effect.
And, you know, if I hadto do this all over again,
(22:05):
there would have been such asmall investment compared to
what I've invested over theyears and equipment, because of
the lights that I'm using andthe camera and lens that
I'm using, hence the $99 lens.
Yeah, let's you know what?
Let's take a lookat those $99 lens photos.
We're going to jump into those.
And then I want tomove into that was the X100v.
What was the one?
Yeah yeah.
(22:26):
Well we'll check those out.
So we're looking atthis right here.
You're telling me that this wastaken with that lens that that
you the 23 f/1.4, manual focus.
The lighting on thatis two of those, uh,
Godox light sticks.
And the light in the backgroundis just the light that's
on the nightstand.
Now we're Brighter daylight.
That's window light color.
(22:46):
I mean, this is the folder withthe 23 millimeter lens.
So everything in hereis manual focus.
Wow.
Um, and pretty much wide open.
I love this onewith the lighting.
Yeah.
Window light is gorgeous.
You just need to know how toposition the person to get the
effect you want.
That's short lighting, right?
That's short loop,narrow light, whatever you want
to call it.
It's short lighting on her face.
(23:07):
So it's lighting the maskof the face.
And the shadow side is closestto the camera, so it's
short lighting, but with windowlight and a V flat is filling
in the back.
These are thefake Venetian blinds.
This is the Godox LED with theGodox projector, with the
Venetian blinds gobo in it.
Because you'remanually focusing, are you
using focus peaking is that youhave is it's rather dark.
(23:30):
I mean that would be a hardthing to be nailing I think.
Yeah, it's on focus peaking red.
Hi.
You suggested that I believe inone of your old videos and I
just went I just went with it.
I was like, okay, I trust Chris.
I'm going to do that.
Yeah.
For this one, I had the lightstick in tungsten because the
lights on the makeupmirror are tungsten.
Okay.
(23:50):
So if I did want it in color,the color would be balanced.
A lot of people don't realizethat the color of the light
affects the makeupthat they're wearing, too.
One of the things these days Isee a lot of is red gel from
one side, blue gel fromthe other, and then the makeup
gets all washed out, because ifthey're wearing red lipstick
and the red light hits it,they're wearing no lipstick.
You know, that goes back to myfilm career when I was
(24:10):
a makeup artist.
In the film industry, you gotto know lighting, too.
So let's jump from that lens tophotos exclusively shot with
the x100v, one ofthe hottest cameras in the
world right now.
The X100v I got it beforeit was, you know, when it first
came out,before everyone wanted it.
Oh, there's a beautiful camera.
(24:31):
Look at that.
It's so beautiful.
I got the little thumb grip onit and I got the, the front
hand grip on it because it ishard to hold on to for any
length of time withoutthose for portraits.
I'll put on that that black promist in front of it.
Okay.
Um, and it gives mea much more filmic look.
It's the same 26 megapixelsensor as the other
(24:51):
Fuji cameras, and the lens isjust as sharp, if not sharper,
than the the separate 23 f/2that you can buy.
What's wrong with this picture?
Nothing.
Nothing, right.
The only thing I would sayis a lot of people want the
redundancy of an extracard slot, which this
only has one.
Um, generally I don't shoot itfor client shoots, but I
(25:13):
still love it.
I shoot it for fun.
We're at the metro station.
She's adventurous,which is great.
Um, the back of those pantiesis literally a thong.
And the L.A. Metro.
In the metro?
Yeah, that's the NorthHollywood metro station.
Yeah.
Wow.
I mean, you really play arounda lot with, um,
(25:33):
existing window light.
The women who come to me arenot used to being in front of
the camera window.
Light is not intimidating.
Part of the light comingthrough the Venetian lines,
going right across her forehead.
And it kind of travels down.
And then on her leg,it's going back up.
When you're actuallyshooting this, are you saying
(25:53):
to yourself, I want to linethis up, or is that the last
thing on your mind?
And you're justthe light's falling where
the light's falling.
You know, when I'm takingmore time, I will
look at everything.
But the main thing for meis to have the eyes lit.
So at least one slit of lightneeds to be going across her
eyes so I can see the sparkle.
(26:14):
Now, after I have that,then I'll play with the pose a
little bit more tomake sure it's really
accentuating the body.
Are you in Capture Oneor are you in Lightroom?
How are you on the Capture One?
Okay, and in Capture One, I tryto make the color look as
perfect as possible, but thenwhen I'm playing with it
in Photoshop, I've created acouple of actions that give it
(26:34):
a more film.
Like, you know, like the Portra400 or Portra 800.
That has that little bitof a green cast to it.
It justhas this just timeless look
to it, and especially withblack and white too.
Oh, I can imagine.
And but I'm looking at in thebackground the way you've got
I mean, her shadow intersectingthe shadow of
(26:54):
the Venetian blinds.
I mean, you could talk aboutthis photo all day.
This is one ofmy favorites of yours, Michael.
This shot would be not the verystarting out outfits, but as
you're progressing throughthe shoot, you suggest that.
And here it is.
That one is also window light.
If it's not hittingthem directly,
it's still soft light.
If it's hitting them directly,then what I'll usually do is a
(27:16):
large pop open diffuser andjust put it in front of
the window, effectively makingit a giant soft box.
That's the projector with oneof the window goes in it.
My projector unit was new, so Iwanted to play with it often,
you know?
Now it has its place andI will still use it in
nearly every session.
This was a special thing.
This is like I'm trying tofigure out how it works
(27:38):
in my space.
The ones that I'm about to lookat are shot on an X-T4 with the
16 to 55.
It may vary a little bit,but that's my main setup.
It's a different subject.
It's a different feeling.
She's got underwear on,but it's Calvin Klein,
you know, pretty much basicthat somebody would wear
under their clothes.
Not sexy lingerie.
Um, and the sexiness comes fromher confidence, the look
(27:58):
into the camera.
How are yougetting these skin tones?
Is it a complicated process yougo through to get these skin
tones?
It's not.
It's so each place that I shootwill have its own sort of
white balance, if you will.
I mean, I shoot it on standardand then I'll do the little
trick where you push down onthe D-Pad and lock the auto
white balance on it.
(28:19):
That's my white balancefor that scene.
So window light will have itlocked on the window, like I'm
using one of those pop opengray cards and it gets
it close enough.
I mean, is it perfect?
No, they get stainedor whatever, but it gets it
close enough that inCapture One, I can adjust one
photo and that copy that to allthe ones from that setup.
And it's a minute.
(28:40):
It doesn't take long.
Brighter obviously.
And again those skin tones andthat I can see now I'm starting
to see your style more and more.
You've got thatwindow light again.
Now I'm shooting with, you know,all tungsten balance.
I may have not correctedit in camera perfectly with the
gray card, because I reallywanted a warm feeling to this.
That's a Westcott ice lightwith the barn doors on it.
(29:01):
Got it.
And it's just one.
You know, you've got aprofessional photographer when
you can get a photolike this lit with one light.
Something that you'll notice ina lot of my photos is they're
not looking at the camera.
The whole thing with Boudoir isthere should be some
mystery to it.
It isn't.
Look at the camera and smile.
(29:21):
You know, if they're looking atthe camera, they're looking at
the camera with intention,with a little twinkle or a
little sneakiness in their eyes.
So even the ones where they areengaging the camera, you want
that mystery?
Okay, this is my friend Erika.
She's an actress, model mom.
She works hard on her beauty,and it shows in her photos.
And that's one light stick.
(29:41):
That's one Godox light fixture.
It is.
I see it.
And nothing else.
My preference is to shoot withas few lights as possible.
Yes, sometimes I'll put a filllight in, but generally it's
one main light and I would say10% of the time I'll put a fill
light in if that.
For anybody who wants to trysomething like that, it isn't.
(30:02):
Just do it quicklyand get out of there.
It's explore every possibleangle with that one light.
What are some ofthe other challenges that you,
you're either facing now or yousee happening in the future
with this style of photography?
So many people getting intoit now, they join a Facebook
group and there's amillion of them for
(30:23):
Boudoir photographers.
Literally the next time you seea photo they post, it's a copy
of what someone elsehad showed them.
It's great to be inspired byother people's work.
It's not great to copythem outright, right?
And I try really hardto make my stuff not look
like anyone else's.
I feel that from you,I get that.
(30:44):
Do you wantto copy it exactly, or do you
want to replicate that feelingfor someone else?
If there were a piece of advicethat I could give to
specifically male Boudoirphotographers is if you're
getting into it, to meet girlsand see them in
their underwear, you're in thewrong business, because that's
not what this is about.
You got to be in it for theright reasons, and the right
(31:06):
reason is to makethem feel amazing about
themselves.
Period.
I just have somuch respect for this space.
I knew nothing about it.
Before talking to you,you basically have a job that
your goal is to make peoplefeel good about themselves.
I don't always agree with whatmy clients choose from there.
(31:27):
You know, when they're choosingtheir photos, they may choose
one that I thinkis like, oh, really?
You want that one?
But if it makes them feel great?
Sold! Expression sells.
Photographs doesn't haveanything to do with
the lighting, the posing.
If they look at their face andthey see an expression in
Boudoir that exudes confidenceand strength and
(31:50):
beauty and sexiness.
You've won.
It doesn't matter if thelighting is good or
the posing is.
Yes.
Do good lighting.
Do good posing.
Take great photos, but to beable to relate to them on the
level that makes them feel goodabout doing the shoot while
they're doing the shoot.
You are going toget photos that they
(32:11):
will absolutely purchase.
I am going to leave links toMichael's website,
Michael's YouTube channel,and Instagram at the bottom
of this video.
In the description.
I cannot recommendMichael enough, particularly if
you are in the Los Angeles area.
Give this photographer a call.
I've hired him, okay?
(32:32):
And I still have his photos tothis day, so I will
vouch for him.
So Michael, thank you so muchfor your your time today.
This was an absolutepleasure, Chris.
It was great catchingup with you.
This was so muchfun talking about this stuff.
We'll talk again soon.
Thank you so much.
Bye bye.
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