This is a living document with shot ideas, inspiration, mood boards, and just general brainstorming for shoots I’d like to do and shots I’d like to create.
Some general comments – make sure to pay attention to emotion and mood. Always do face closeups, get them to emote and express. Side-eye, lip biting, flirting, playful everything. Pretty is great, but pretty is not enough. Character matters. Get them to smile, frown, be sultry, be sad… emotions are sexy. All emotions. Don’t just focus on pose, composition, smiles. It’s okay to be vulnerable. To be flirty. To be strong. To be basic. To be over the top.
Movement. Focus on movement. Don’t do only posed shots. Do some with movement, some with emotion, it’s okay to have some out-of-focus shots. Don’t be precious. Shots don’t need to be perfect to be good. Character is awesome. Character is more important than precision or technical accuracy. Let character shine through.
Secret Society
I’d love to do a nudes & robes type of “secret society” shoot, loosely (very loosely) inspired by the visual of the Eyes Wide Shut secrete society. Not even an homage, just something that’s thematically and visually similar. Might be fun to tie in with some traditional occult elements as well, and would even be fun to gender swap so the men are the ones who start fully nude.
Pandora’s Box
A photo sequence or triptych of Pandora finding and opening the box. Use soft focus and color grading, maybe even hand-painting over B&W to evoke the feel of an Arthur Rackham fantasy illustration. Maybe make it sexual, and what’s inside the box is sex toys or something similarly “naughty”
Ride ’em Cowgirl
A modern and somewhat stylized, sexy western “Black hat” theme – chaps, black panties, black corset or halter, black cowboy hat, a black choker that says “RIDE EM” (or maybe “RIDE ME” would be funnier?), maybe a whip. For funsies, maybe throw in some cutesy, colorful clothing items or props for some shots – go for contrast, use things that are totally at odds with the rest of the theme. This could work against a white or other solid color background, or could use bare concrete floor and bare walls, or could find an outdoor location that’s vaguely western-ish.
Alice in Bathroomland
The 1920s bathroom with the old style mirror and vanity in my studio really makes me want to try and capture the vibe of this early 1970s nude shoot that Kristine DeBell did with Helmet Newton. If you’re wondering who she is, Kristine DeBell played the title role in the X-rated Alice in Wonderland movie from the 70s and was one of the first adult actresses to have any crossover mainstream success. I’d love to remove any modern elements from the bathroom and just shoot moody, strongly lit, some black and white some color, but color-graded the color shots to look like 70s ektachrome. More sexy/cute than just plain sexy, but go for a strong 70s vibe.
Captured Angel
This is just a very simple concept that’s been knocking around my head for a while. I want to combine a leather bondage blindfold, with white angel wings and wrist chains, but nothing else. Maybe some other bondage elements (collar, leash?), but keep it fairly sparse, maybe use some diffusion to soften the images, The whole thing would be fairly barren, just the model on maybe a white or pale blue background, kneeling, sitting, laying. Going for unintentionally sexy. Scared, but maybe a little turned on, too. A lot of writhing around and maybe a slow conversion to enjoying it. Possibly build some paper mache clouds. Maybe some shots taken from the loft looking down.
Classic Demarchelier-Style Studio Nudes
One of my favorite photographers is Patrick Demarchelier. He’s taken many iconic photos over the years, including the Kate Moss Calvin Klein jeans add from the 90s. In the 80s and 90s he shot a lot of black-and-white studio portraits and nudes that look deceptively simple and straightforward, but his lighting setups are amazing.
Batter’s Up
I’m not a sportsball fan, but while I was searching for Kristine DeBell pictures for the BathroomLand concept, I found shots from an old cheesecake Baseball-themed shoot she did that I really like. I thought it might be fun to do a set similar to these..
Mosquito Netting / Sheer Fabric
Play around with posing under mosquito netting and/or sheer fabric. Don’t necessarily use the mosquito netting on a bed – could do standing, sitting. The sheer fabric will obscure details while clearly showing body shape. Play around with having Isa close to the netting, and also back away from the netting, wrapping herself up in it, etc.
- Try shots with netting pulled against body and others further from net to give different amounts of blurriness
- Try some shots using diffusion – pantyhose over lens, or perhaps a Tiffen Black Mist Pro 1/2 filter to give effect similar to:
- Might be a good concept for trying more sensual poses, since a lot of details will be obscured by the netting and diffusion
- Standing, gripping a handful of net in each hand tightly, almost like holding prison bars – where the fabric is gripped, it will be more opaque.
- Just generally play with the fact that more layers become more opaque, move the fabric around to reveal or obscure
- Could do solid background or environmental shots
- With fabric, could use high power fan to hold it against model’s body and cause the excess to fly behind her in interesting ways.
Dirty Girl (erotic)
Not a fully formed idea, but I’d like to do some shots of a model lounging around reading a dirty magazine or watching porn on a big TV. Could make it sensual but not explicit, or fully explicit, or a combination. Would lend itself to video as well. This idea needs to be fleshed out more.
Gloomy Tub Bubbles
I love this shot. I want to figure out how it was done and do something similar.
Kinesiology Tape or Bandages
- Kinesiology Tape: Wrap hands and forearms boxer style in bright-colored flex tape. Maybe wrap further up forearms than a boxer would, nearly up to elbows. Could also do ankles or any other body part that looks interesting wrapped
- Tape reference.
- Simple nudes in front of solid background, focus on interesting hand placement and color contrast.
- Mood for shot somber, even a little sad. Make us wonder why she’s wearing the wraps – she doesn’t look like a boxer.
- Play with hand poses to create sexy Instagram-safe shots by placing hands in front of tits/pussy or angling body, crossing arms in the shape of an X, etc.
- Crop some in really tight to focus just on body, from nose down to thighs.
- Also do some of face with wrapped arms in various poses around her head.
- Some closeups of taped hands in front of chest, stomach, pubic area, arms crossed with hands in armpits, forearms covering nipples
- Left hand crossing over and holding right arm above elbow, right arm dangling
- Play with different expressions, more somber and serious, but try some with lighter expressions
- Play with long exposure blur – Use flash to freeze frame, but leave shutter open and have her move arms to try and create interesting blurs and streaks
- These pictures are 100% NOT the vibe we’re going for, they’re just here to show wrapped hands.
On the Concrete Floor (Window Light)
There’s a loft above the studio from which you can look down on the old concrete floor. I’d like to do some shots taken from above of the model laying on the floor with window light casting shapes around her (we may have to fake the window light with a gobo since it’ll be nighttime). Similar to the iconic Robert Farber window light shot, but from above. Play with shadows from blinds and from window frame.
Attitude & Skirt Lift – Metal Stairs and Art Deco Millwork
My apartment used to be part of the original 1927 hotel’s lobby, and some of the original trim from the columns is still visible. When they turned this into an apartment, they added an industrial set of metal stairs up the loft. At the top of the metal stairs, is the top of one of those original columns with the original ornate plaster trim.
I’d like to do a Helmet Newton inspired stark B&W set of shots mostly from a distance and showcasing environment. These are attitude shots. Not smiley happy shots, but fierce shots. Angry shots, Detached shots. Shots that don’t necessarily make much sense, even. Do some brightly lit, but also some with deep shadows.
(You’ll notice Helmet Newton inspirations in multiple of these ideas. I just got the giant Helmet Newton book, so it’s fresh in my mind).
Do some shots topless in a long skirt with classic Vogue-style poses. Some where the model looks unhappy about what she’s doing. She has reasons for doing it, it’s her decision but she wants to communicate her displeasure through her face. Do a set of skirt lift shots, front and back, then some with skirt completely inverted so it hides upper body and face. Try to utilize the architectural elements in interesting ways.
Simple Black on Yellow
I like the look of this yellow background with black see-through clothing and would like to play with doing something similar.
The Classic Helmet Newton “Big Nudes” Style Studio Shots
In the early 90s, Helmet Newton released what was probably his best-selling book released while he was alive. It was a book of very simple studio nudes with only shoes or sunglasses or maybe one article of clothing taken close to a white background with a single semi-hard light with very distinct shadows. The poses are fairly contrived and simple, but with definite attitude.
Variant Idea: Paolo Roversi Nudi-inspired
Just a few years after Big Nudes came out, Paolo Roversi released a book called Nudi. In it, he had similar white background studio shots, about half of which were very famous fashion models (Devon Aoki, Kate Moss, Mila Jovovoich), and the other half were just models he knew personally. Instead of the single light source and noticeable shadows that Newton used, these shots were taken with soft lighting and over-exposed to wash out a lot of skin details and then printed on creme paper.
Some of the model’s poses have attitude, like Helmet Newton’s, but several take more demure poses.
Variant Idea 2: Gershon Kreimer Inspired
A photographer from LA whose work I enjoy. I came across his work because we’ve worked with several of the same models. He has two series of shots similar to the ones above – one that’s in stark bright light and slightly overexposed with model’s clothing and props limited to black and silver. The other has a blue gradient background and more subdued lighting and focuses more on interesting and unusual poses. Both series tend to feature some clothing items or accessories, but are mostly about the bodies.
Blue Gradient Series
Stark White Series
In the Tub
Marking this one as a “maybe”. Model may not want to get wet and it may take too long to set up and might eat too much into our time. If we try this, it should be the last set of the day.
The building the studio is in is a hotel built in 1927. It has wonderful giant black-and-white tile bathrooms.
I’d love to do a shot that’s sort of a cross between the iconic shot of Lee Miller in Hitler’s tub, and a classic Helmut Newton Vogue nude. Remove the modern elements from the bathroom and the shower curtain, maybe get a prop cigarette or a vintage magazine or other period-appropriate props and do various shots in the tub.
Variant Idea: Candelit Bath
Get a bunch of candles,shoot so it looks like natural light, try both relaxing vibe and sexy vibe, Same concerns as previous one.
Tied Up in Pearls
I have a really long spool of fake pearls. They’re cheap, but on camera they look pretty decent, especially under strong lights. I’d love to wrap the pearls around your torso to make the shape of a slinky tube dress, photograph it in front of a blue background with a light shining on it so it’s lighter color right behind you, getting darker towards the edges. Have you work through a bunch of poses, but we won’t fix the “dress” as the pearls loosen and start to reveal more flesh.
The Mirror Erotic
It’s well-tread territory, but mirrors and other reflective surfaces can be a lot of fun for erotic shoots.
Art Deco Nudes
I love the 1920s nude work of photographers like Albert Arthur Allen and Alfred Cheney Johnston. I’ve got some art deco props and clothing items, so I’d like to so some shots inspired by their work.
Simple Nudes / Incongruous Nudes
You’ve got an amazing body, so I’d love to do some very simple, but well lit nudes. Poses that don’t feel posed – just you being you, only nude. Sort of like a more polished version of the delightful selfies you post to Twitter.
We could also do the silly high-fashion nude thing where they take a nude model in front of white or a solid color, but then add clothing, jewelry, accessories that are bit out of place. Swim goggles and a swim cap, but otherwise nude. Aviator goggles and a scarf, but otherwise nude. Bike helmet, sunglasses, and sneakers but otherwise nude.. Wide brimmed hat and hiking boots but otherwise nude. Just a hat, purse, and high heels, but otherwise nude.I think you get gist.
They’re Here!
In the early 80s, there was a horror movie called Poltergeist. It had an iconic scene with a little girl silhouetted against a TV showing static. TVs have gotten a lot bigger since then. With a 65″ television showing static or with interesting, unusual, or disturbing video playing, I think we could get some very interesting shots. This could lend itself to video also.
Maybe start in a very thin or sheer nightgown or dress so the light from the TV outlines the model’s shape, then work through different poses in front of the TV, then removing the nightgown, maybe some sitting on a coffee table in front of the TV, etc.
Light Play / Self Play (Explicit)
Refraction and reflection are cool. I want to do a studio set with really moody lighting, maybe against a red background (or a different color), but dramatic lighting, perhaps similar to the first shot below, but i want the model oiled up so she’s shiny and her skin reflects the bright lights.
I want her posing with and playing with a clear or glass dildo that will catch the contrasty, moody light and bend it in interesting ways. Get closeups of it going into pussy and mouth, clean, instagram-safe shots just posing with/near it, maybe some close cropped face shots holding it next their face or sucking on it – just look for any interesting ways to use the light and reflections – maybe use some gels.
California Sk8ter Girl
It’s perhaps over-done, but it’s a classic for a reason. Nude skateboard girls with sneakers, tube socks, perhaps knee pads and jewelry, but otherwise nude. Variant options: Rollerblades or roller skates.
Mini Concepts
These are shots I’d like to do that won’t necessarily work for a complete set – just one-offs it’d be fun to shoot.
Wind Tunnel
I picked up an outfit recently that’s see through, but has a lot of shiny, colorful dangly pieces all over it that pretty much obscure everything. The reflective pieces could be really interesting under bright lights, maybe with gels on some accent lights to really bring out the iridescent color of the danglies. Could dance, jump, and just generally move to get the dangly pieces moving.
I have a powerful fan in the studio. We could blow that on the model to really get the dangly pieces moving.
Prettified Pussy
It’s a bit of an overdone concept, but pussy is timeless. I want to do, essentially, a pussy still life with decorations – fabric, flowers, whatever.., maybe shooting some additional full-body shots to provide context.
Glazed and Confused
I want to do some shots using confectioner’s glaze. It has a passing resemblance to cum and has a lot of potential for sexy but SFW shots.
The Loving Mouth (Explicit)
A very long time ago, I came across a series of photographs called “The Loving Mouth”. I never found the original source of them and haven’t been able to find them since. I always assumed the images came from a book, but I never found it, if it was. The series was an extensive set of really well done, beautifully shot, soft-focus blowjobs featuring many different subjects. They were cropped in very tight, most of them just mouth and cock and shot in soft-focus. I really, really liked them and would love to a series that’s inspired by my memory of them. None of these shots below are quite what those original shots were (the last one’s the closest), but they’re cropped similarly.
Random Inspiration Photos (Holding Tank)
This is just a collection of images I’ve found that I like something about and would like to use as inspiration for a shoot. Many of these could be fleshed out into full concepts. This is like a holding area for future ideas…
Artsy Erotic (Holding Tank)
I recently started shooting some hardcore work for a content-creator couple I know and I’ve rather enjoyed it. What I’ve shot for them is very editorial and commercial, but I’d love to start looking for opportunities to shoot explicit images that are more artistic, featuring interesting composition and lighting, unusual angles, etc. I don’t really have an outlet for these yet, as I don’t think I want to post hardcore content to social accounts that use my real name, but if I can find content creators down here who need content, I can let them have the content. Or, maybe I can finally get my OF creator account verified and start posting stuff like this there.
Artsy Video Too (Holding Tank)
I’ve been meaning to start doing more video, and I’d like to carry over the artsy erotica concept to video. Not commercial, editorial porn – more artsy videos with interesting lighting.