As a photographer, my job is to capture and create images with a client. While I direct poses and make wardrobe suggestions and selections, I do not insist that models reveal private areas of the body or pose in a suggestive manner that is beyond her comfort level. This document was written to help models and boudoir clients decide how much or how little they want to wear at a photo shoot. By reading and studying this document before a shoot, the client can go into the studio with her comfort levels and boundaries clearly in mind.
Most boudoir photos remain private. Some shoots involve lingerie and others full nudity. Every client has their own comfort level and tends to know what her partner prefers. Often the electronic files and/or prints from a boudoir session are used as a Valentine’s gift. This document was written with models in mind, but applies to boudoir clients as well.
As modeling is similar to acting, many jobs may require a model to dress (act) in a manner that they normally would not. Actors are merely playing a role other than their normal self. And sometimes, acting and modeling allows one to reveal a part of their personality that would normally hold back. As a Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey clown once told me: “I’m not so much acting as I am playing the part of myself that I could not be without the make-up and costume.”
Of course, many actors won’t do nude scenes and neither do many models. For some, a photo shoot is an opportunity to be different and models want to wear (or not wear) clothes that they normally would not, and reveal more flesh than they would in public. Like wearing a costume on Halloween, a photo shoot can be a chance to play “dress up.” Sometimes that also includes dressing sexy by using less clothes. When I do a photo shoot and the paying model is the client, they decide how dressed they want to be. When the model and I are working for another client such as a magazine ad, the client decides what the model wears. All models need to know where they draw the line on revealing skin.
For example: in general, the term “glamour” describes models in sexy outfits and poses as depicted in magazines like Maxim, but can also include nude poses such as seen in Playboy. The purpose of this article is to break down the term “glamour” into more specific details. Listed below are five levels of "showing skin" with examples of familiar publications and using the MPAA rating system as a guide.
Level 0: Rated G. What you would wear to church
This first category is pretty self explanatory. These are clothes that you would wear to school, church, family reunions and so on. There is nothing sexy or revealing about them. Of course, beauty and class can still be conveyed.
Level 1: Rated PG. Catalogs or Newspaper and Magazine Ads
Casual Wear:
These are outfits that one would wear when going out in public and want to look good for the guys: snug jeans, short skirts, low cut tops and so on. Maybe a little cleavage is showing, but otherwise they are not at all revealing. These outfits could be used in pictures that your mom would think is cute but might make your grandmother blush just a little because "we didn't show off our legs when I was your age." This level can be classy and sexy or just average, depending on the pose. Think of these images as the posters at a young adult clothing store at the mall or what many teens and young women wear themselves to the mall in the summer time.
Swimwear:
This level of swimwear is the same as one would wear to a public pool or to the beach. All your private areas are covered up and poses are not really sexually suggestive. Think of Swimwear poses as clean and innocent as family photos on the beach. They may not be framed and hung on the living room wall, but they would be in the family photo album. Again think of these images as resembling a department store newspaper ad for "Misses Swimwear." In other words, these photos would be used to sell swimwear to female customers, not to show off a hot girl to male viewers.
Lingerie:
Some lingerie covers more skin than a bikini one would wear to the beach, but since it is technically underwear, some people prefer to think of posing in a bra and panties as more revealing. It's sexy, but not sexually suggestive. Still rated PG and no more sexy than a magazine ad or clothing catalog such as Victoria's Secret. Panties, boy shorts, cotton, lace and so on fall into this category, but thongs or sheer see-through material does not. In this category "pink areas" (a term used to describe nipples and the pubic region - sorry that term is racist, but it’s common in the industry) are completely covered. Of course guys like to look at the Victoria's Secret catalog, but still these are images designed to sell the clothes to other female buyers, not to entice men.
Level 2: Rated PG-13. Men's Magazines Poses
Sexy Casual or Club wear:
There is not really a good clothing advertisement to compare this one to… This is what you would wear to a bar when you want to impress that one guy and get all the others ones to notice you. A good photographer or director can pose models and shift the clothes to be sexy and revealing some skin but still remain dressed. The skirt might be hiked up and the top pulled down low revealing bra and panties, but the model is not removing clothes. It’s certainly possible to remain classy at this level without being overly revealing.
Sexy Swimwear:
Thirty years ago the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue kept the models all covered. But in the last ten years they have become quite revealing including topless shots and bikini bottoms barely tied on. These are NOT images that would be used in an ad to sell swimwear and in fact some bookstores place the SI Swimsuit issue in the Men's section, not the Sports section. Imagine car and truck magazines that have a bikini clad model standing in front of the vehicle where the focus is on the model, not the clothes. This is the category for the Hooter’s Calendar. These are photos that are designed for readers of men’s magazines, not to sell clothes in a women’s catalogue.
Sexy Lingerie:
This category makes the leap from Victoria's Secret to Fredericks of Hollywood or an adult bookstore that sells clothes for exotic dancers and strippers. The model is still wearing some material over her private areas, but it’s as teasing as sexy as you can get without taking the clothes all the way off. These images are designed to be arousing for male viewers but without crossing the line into nudity.
Level 3, Not quite PG-13, not quite rated R. Implied
Sexy Semi-Clothed:
Say the model is wearing a zip up sweater that is not zipped up and no bra underneath. Obviously one would not wear an unzipped sweater with no shirt much less a bra, except for at a photo shoot. Imagine that swimwear or lingerie has become unclasped and the model is simply holding the clothes over her pink areas. Clothes are still being used in the photo, but they are not being worn in a way that one would wear them in public.
Implied Nudes:
These images are where the model is not wearing or holding any clothes, but no pink areas are seen by the camera. Think of a pose where her legs are crossed thus covering her pubic area, arms are in front of or holding breasts, long hair covers the nipples, hands are covering the crotch and so on. Props can be used in implied nudes also. The model may be standing behind a fence or tree limb that covers her pink areas.
Half Clothed, Half Implied Nude:
The model is wearing panties but no top with her back to the camera or covering her breasts with her arms. Magazines such as Maxim, FHM and Stuff use these styles of images, but when they use them on the cover of the magazine, bookstores tend to put them in with adult magazines.
Body Paint:
Being painted can include simple face painting like at an amusement park, painting over underwear; or being fully naked, but completely painted over. To see a variety of samples, visit my website www.louisvilleboudoirphotography.com.
Level 4: Rated R. Fully Nude
Topless vs. Bottomless:
In general, nudity is broken down into two categories: Topless and Bottomless. Many models are comfortable revealing their breasts and nipples, but not their pubic area. According to MPAA guidelines, a bare butt can be PG or PG-13, but once nipples are revealed, the rating becomes R. So for the sake of this document, Level 4A is topless and Level 4B is bottomless. Even still, there are varying degrees of nudity depending on the context. Below are three examples:
Artistic Nudes:
This category also could possibly fall into some previous levels depending on the context. A painting or statue of a model with full frontal nudity that is described as "art" (such as Michelangelo's David or Botticelli's Birth of Venus) would be rated G. Even contemporary artistic nude photos that are displayed in public museums or art galleries would NOT be considered rated R. One can find this level of nude images in photography and art books on the lower shelves in a book store that a child can pick up and look at while Maxim (which does not reveal pink areas) is covered and/or on the top shelf out of reach of kids or behind the counter. That's because most artistic nudes are not designed to be erotic or arousing. Renowned celebrity photographer Annie Lebowitz has many artistic nudes in her books, but no one would call those images erotic. My favorite Artistic Nude Photographer is Mark Esposito, largely because of his locations in the Southwest United States. http://www.antelopia.com.
Erotic Art:
Different people have different ideas of when the line is crossed from classy nudes into erotic images without crossing the line into porn. I describe Erotic Art as models who are not engaged in purely sexual positions or actions, yet the images are highly and purposely arousing. The best example of erotic artistic nudes is a German Photographer named Petter Hegre.
http://www.hegre-art.com.
Playboy:
For over fifty years Playboy has managed to be a trendsetter without dramatically changing their style. There was a shift in the sixties when they went from topless to bottomless. Playboy was considered the first pornography magazine available internationally, but in the last decade, porn has become more hard core and Playboy has not. Consequently, Playboy has settled into the mainstream as a men's magazine with sexy nude models, but without being at the same level as Hustler or what today we think of as porn. Playboy models are in various sexy poses, but are not touching their pink areas or imitating sexual positions. Thus, Playboy has emerged as a style all its own. It not the only example of this level of sexy nudity, but it’s the most universally understood. Today some might even call these images "soft porn" due to the absence of sexual activity in the image. Playboy style includes both topless and bottomless.
PS: After I first wrote this article, a friend told me that Playboy videos (unlike the magazine) do have the models touching their pink areas and thus cross the line from soft porn to purely erotic and arousing material.
Level 5: Rated X. Porn.
You don't really need me to write a description here, do you?
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