The Patrick’s Boudoir Photography YouTube channel is a great source of information for those new to this unique subset of portraiture that relies heavily upon your ability to capture flattering, sensuous images that emphasize a subject’s best physical attributes. The video below is episode #22 of an ongoing Two-Minute Series.

Our instructor Patrick is a Vienna-based boudoir artist who specializes in natural light B&W imagery with simple gear. His straightforward lessons cover everything from simple window lighting without costly supplemental illumination, composition techniques, unique eye-catching effects, appropriate camera settings, post processing methods and more.

He does some of this in today’s lesion, but the main emphasis is on posing. If you’re just getting started it’s unlikely you have access to professional models (most of whom have slim figures) so your subject will probably be a spouse, significant other, or a willing friend who just may be more curvy or voluptuous that an experienced model.

This situation requires a different approach that calls for positive reinforcement and careful direction on your part so that your subject is relaxed, confident, and feels like an important partner in the session. You’ll also want to patiently guide her through a number of simple poses that accentuate her form without taking things too far.

By following Patrick’s suggestions in the next two minutes you’ll be able to fulfill these responsibilities and capture alluring images that make you and your subject proud.  Along the way you’ll learn how switching up your vantage point and a slight shift in body posture can quickly transform a good photo into a great one with a professional look.

The lesson concludes with a quick discussion of post processing and an illustration of how Patrick’s Ultimate Preset Pack (there a link in the description beneath the video), will enable you to make great edits with ease. There’s also a link for downloading his Free Posing Guide that will prove very helpful as your boudoir photography skills evolve.

Be sure to visit Patrick’s instructional YouTube channel where there are many more how-to videos, along with all the earlier installments of this Two Minute Series for beginners.

If you prefer shooting in color and your photographs look wrong, don’t miss the earlier tutorial we featured with a post-processing expert who demonstrates a quick trick for achieving images with perfect tones.

Photoshop offers a vast array of features, some more effective and easier to apply that others. Today’s quick tutorial from the globally popular PiXimperfect YouTube channel discusses two tools that are frequently ignored because some users dismiss them as useless or even destructive. Applied properly, however, they are very powerful and effective.

The subjects of ire are Photoshop’s underrated Smudge tool and Blur tool. According to instructor Unmesh Dinda, however, “these tools can dramatically improve your masking workflow and help you clean up rough edges, refine transitions, and create natural-looking composites with ease.

Dinda’s tutorials are built around a somewhat rare strategy: “We believe in learning the concept, rather than just learning the steps so that you can translate your imagination visually to the world. This will make you a better decision-maker because every situation is different and the definition of beauty is subjective..”

To that this end Dinda describes the backstory of the two tools in question, and then he walks you through simple steps for mastering them in a way that will add a surprising level of finesse to your Photoshop workflow. Once you understand and follow Dinda’s advice we can pretty much guarantee that you’ll no longer avoid the commonly maligned Smudge tool and Blur tool.

Dinda is known for his rapid-fire style and covering a lot of ground quickly, so we recommend being prepared to jot down a few notes as this seven-minute episode flies by in a hurry.

You may want to join the other five-million subscribers to the wildly popular PiXimperfect YouTube channel that includes instructional videos on just about any post-processing topic imaginable.

We also recommend watching the recent tutorial we featured from another insightful expert who explains why you may be sabotaging your chances of eliminating noise at high ISO settings. He then demonstrates a powerful technique for achieving “incredibly clean and sharp” photographs when bumping up sensitivity is required.