Why is Boudoir（闺房） Photography expensive?

Rolando Gomez, Photographer, Author, Writer, Assignments in 45 Countries

Your question is ambiguous（含糊的） in that I don’t know what you consider expensive, what your market area is, and what specific（明确的） photographer or photographers you are talking about; so I’m going to answer your question as though you’re asking me why my photography is expensive?

The short answer is simple in that you’re not paying for how long it took me to print your photographs, not even how long it took me to create the images. You’re paying for my 40-plus years of experience and knowledge in photography—plus for my genuine（真正的） love and passion（激情） I pour into every photograph I create. You are paying for Rolando Gomez, not economics.

The old adage（格言） “You get what you pay for” applies here as it does to many professions, though prices alone don’t determine the quality of the results you’re after, so do your research and ensure whatever photographer you are hiring is worth their pricing.

In summary（总结）, before you ask why anything is so expensive, find out what it takes to produce whatever you are questioning about in price. Were their years of education, training and experience involved（包含）? What are the costs of the materials（材料）, labor（劳动）, tools, etc., used to create the products you are after for the given price?

There are many factors that determine price of any product, especially one produced by one specific person, you have to determine if you want to settle for that one person’s ability in producing that product, or because of economics, settle for（满足于） someone less talented, experienced, educated and reliable. Either way, you will pay for what you get.

Sometimes as humans we sacrifice（牺牲） quality over price only to find out we’re not as happy as we’d thought we’d be, so we wind out paying twice for what we originally wanted. Do your research and make that educated and informed decision on why you’re willing to pay so much for something you want. I hope that answers your question, and best of luck in your photo session（开会）.

Steve Durbin, photographer since age 7, professional since 2010.

I do quite a bit of boudoir photography. The cost is high for a number of reasons - I've detailed a few below.

However, when you say "expensive" I would ask "compared（对比） to what?" A boudoir shoot, on an hourly rate, is commonly cheaper than other professional services such as a lawyer, and have you ever heard the phrase（短语） "you get what you pay for"? You can get cheap boudoir photography - how much you would like the output（作品） is the problem.

Some reasons for the cost - there are more, and every shoot is different:

Generally, if the person (not always a woman!) wants me to supply makeup artist (MUA) that adds to the cost greatly, as good MUAs are not cheap.

I may need an assistant, and I will certainly need to warm the studio well above where I normally have it for the customer's comfort - that's probably a northern problem however!

I need to keep a set and props（道具） ready in my studio, which costs space and materials. Most people want to supply their own clothes but I add things they would't normally buy to add to atmosphere - varying (depending on shoot) from furs（毛）, materials and flowers to more exotic items depending on customer request. Some customers have very definite（明确的） ideas about what they want, others want me to tell them what would be good.

Just running a studio and having the kit costs - and boudoir isn't a fast turnover（营业额） business where you can recover costs in volume.

A good boudoir shoot is rarely quick because, aside（在一旁） from time to do makeup, you have to establish rapport（融洽） and trust - easy with someone I've worked with before but difficult if we've only met briefly. Commonly the first 30-60 minutes of shooting are all about getting relaxed and becoming comfortable with skin.

Postprocessing boudoir can be longer than other kinds of shoot, depending again on customer wishes. More skin for one thing!

Oleg Sergeykin, photographer

The important reason is that you'll probably want to take significant（重要的） time to edit and retouch（修饰） boudoir photos. Any digital photograph requires some minor adjustments（调整）, but in the case of portrait or glamour（魅力） photography, the editing process is a lot more complex - Photoshop Retouching for Portrait, Glamour and Boudoir Photography

Professional boudoir photography leaves no room for flaws（瑕疵） and mistakes, so attention to detail is very important. The retouching process starts with one of the most difficult parts: skin cleaning. There is no such thing as a perfect natural skin, so you're always going to have to take care of it.

Color toning is also important in retouching boudoir photos, and there are multiple（复杂的） ways of doing it.

Michael Lipphardt, Engineer at Quality Electrodynamics (2015-present)

Because it takes a LOT of skill and talent to do properly（恰当的）. Lighting is as natural as possible, although it can be 100% artificial. That lovely morning or sunset backlight is hard to do artificially, but you have a VERY narrow（狭窄的） window for natural light. Poseing to get body lines and clothing lines just right takes time and a very good eye. This isn’t just photography that uncle Joe can do with his phone. This takes time, talent, equipment and patience. I good shoot will take quite some time. Retouching takes time. So you have to pay for all that time. And someone who is really good at this is going to be a perfectionist（十全十美）.

So yeah, you are paying for talent and time. It’s worth the effort and money. Boudoir and nudes（裸体的） are some of the most beautiful expressions of the human body and while anyone can take pictures of underwear and naked people, it take a special person to make it art.

Evie Beltramett, 10 years experience in photography

Boudoir is a term that refers to the bedroom. Boudoir photography is generally（普遍的） shot of women, typically scantily（不充足的） clad（穿衣的） or nude, in erotic（引起欲望的） or sensual（色情的） positions. Many boudoir photographers offer sittings for both single individuals and couples.

The base cost for a boudoir photography shoot is the sitting fee. Generally, the sitting fee is $50-$400. The sitting fee typically covers the amount of time spent with the photographer, one or more settings and a few initial prints. Higher sitting fee prices usually cover longer sessions with more settings.

Many boudoir photographers offer packaged pricing that include makeup（化妆）, hair styling and tanning in addition to the sitting, multiple settings and photos.

Boudoir photography sessions include time with the photographer, one or more settings, and digital images. Some photographers also offer guarantees（保证） that all original files or negatives will be destroyed.

Alessandra Pardo Fernandez, MA Photography, London Metropolitan University (2014)

Honestly talking, making photos is cheap and easy, specially with new cameras around.

I have seen prices from 300 to 700 US$ per hour. Off course is expensive.

I would suggest, if you don’t mind a medium quality photo session to hire an hobbyist photographer, something around 50 US$ (take in mind that you will need to have the clothing and make your own make up, and possible use your own room)

The other option is the more expensive, several photographers will tell you that they do ‘art’, or that have ‘unique techniques’ the true is that the difficult part is not to get a very good photo (take a look at nowadays instagram great photos) is in fact easy, the detail comes to the equipment, the location and special dedication（奉献）.

A decent（得体的） or superior quality boudoir photo session will need high quality lenses and cameras, specially for the bokeh effect and the light amount (low light conditions indoors), which can cost around 1.5k each, also have in mind that several of these photo sessions are in hotels and need make up artists to make the girl look like a pro model, and the clothing is another detail if your model needs them. So just in costs we are talking about several hundreds.

On the other hand, to be sincere（真诚的） here, if you get a playboy model would be a lot easier to make a girl looking great in a boudoir photo session, but the reality is that most girls will need your help, it will be necessary to make more edition and more effort on the poses to get the model look like and feel like a magazine model. So ad some extra amount here.

In conclusion（结论） you can do it the cheap way or the more expensive.

You can get pretty good results with the US$50 session, but if you want the HQ, the editorial look, then that has its costs.

Cheers!