DIY boudoir photoshoot checklist 'cuz your body deserves all the love
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time to read 4 min
Published Dec 12, 2021
Updated Aug 24, 2026
your boudoir photoshoot prep list is here
Sexy lingerie? Check.
Sultry poses? Check.
Insane levels of confidence? Check.
Now that you've got the rules you think you're supposed to have, let's burn that bitch.
All you really need is a camera. And, of course, something you feel irresistible wearing.
Whether you're booking a boudoir photographer or shooting yourself at home, consider this less a checklist for looking sexy and more of a preparation for seeing what happens when you stop trying to. Once you discover how sexy it looks to feel sexy, you'll realize the best prep steps are the ones that help bring to life your inner boudoir muse.
As boudoir + erotica photographer LeZandra McGinnis told us, we're used to navigating roles, expectations and ideas about how we're supposed to show up. Boudoir gives you somewhere to fuck around with those rules.
So set the mood.
Then forget the rest.
xxx
1 week until boudoir shoot
choose what you want to wear
Pull way more options than what you need. (Sexy fact: many of use are mood-based creatures, which means we choose our clothing based on how we feel). Bustiers. A bodysuit, A fuck-off bra. Stockings. Leather. Lace. Sheer. Something barely there. Something ouvert. Something you've stashed in the back of your closet waiting for the right moment. (Pssst... it's that moment.)
Instead of building outfits around what you think will make your body look best or what you think looks like a set, build possibilities around different moods.
What would you wear if tonight you felt dangerous?
Playful?
Unbothered?
A little strange? A little shy?
Like someone you haven't met yet?
Bring her options. Play pieces that layer, that mix and match, that morph into new ways you might be feeling in the moment.
make at least one playlist
Don't pack a rotation of "sexy songs."
Instead, curate songs that do something to you. Add the one that makes you walk differently, slows your pace, sinks you into your hips. The one that makes standing still impossible. The one you that makes you feel alive. The one that stirs the part of you that you allow very few to see.
Make enough room in the playlist for the mood to change... because if we're doing this right, it will.
collect images
Save boudoir photography you love. Lighting. Crops. Movement. Strange poses. Film stills. Hotel rooms. Someone's hand disappearing out of frame.
You're collecting atmosphere, ambience that inspires you, not poses you're required to recreate. You're the muse. We're tempting her to come out to play.
who's holding the camera (or not)
If you're hiring a photographer, choose someone whose gaze you trust... and someone who creates a safe space for losing yourself in the experience.
That's more important than finding someone whose portfolio contains bodies that match yours or poses that look good. LeZandra describes part of the experience as becoming comfortable being seen rather than feeling like you need to hide. That's a boudoir photographer's entire job. Rather than telling you what looks good, they're focused on that exact moment you stop paying attention to how you look.
And if you're taking your own boudoir photos, a tripod, phone remote or self-timer is enough. Zero audience, zero performance, zero rules you don't approve.
1 to 2 days out from boudoir shoot
find your light
Stand near a window. Turn toward, away from it, close half a curtain, kill the overhead lights, try a lamp, a red light bulb. Most photographers will tell you to play around until you find what feels good.
While direct window light gives you something brighter, partial light with curtains and shades can create shadow and drama.
Find that light that moves you (and don't settle until you find it).
find the spaces
The bedroom works.. but notice where else you'd like to play.
A full-length mirror, a chair you want to climb on, faux fur throws that stroke the skin. That corner of the apartment at 4:30 when the sun hits with just the right orange glow. Once you find your spots, remove everything that doesn't fit. Nobody needs a visual reminder that you still need to fold the laundry.
resist the urge to over-prop
We're not recreating a themed restaurant or the book cover from a '70s romance novel. A mirror, a chair, a candle, sheets you want to roll around into. A cocktail or glass of champagne.
Choose 2 or 3. Stay open to possibilities and something unplanned is bound to happen.
shoot day
You did the prep work, now forget it.
Wear the lingerie you almost didn't choose. Layer it in a way you didn't plan.
Turn up the music and move your body way before you think about posing.
Let the first hundred photographs be "terrible" if they need to be. You're just igniting your body, getting into the experience and seeing who shows up to play. And... nobody needs to see these but you.
Take one sitting down, then standing up, one crawling, one dancing, one climbing on the chair, one in the mirror.
Follow your body and lean into whatever becomes interesting, whatever makes you forget you're taking boudoir photos.
LeZandra has watched this happen countless times from the other side of the lens: the longer someone shoots, the less concerned they are about getting it "right."
Don't spend the entire shoot trying to capture the person you already know how to be. Get curious about who else shows up and when she does, let her play.
the only boudoir "rule" we're keeping
There isn't a finished version of you that needs to show up before the camera comes out.
Your photos can be evidence of something much more interesting: a mood you embodied, an impulse you followed, a part of you that lost yourself for a few hours.
Maybe you recognize her immediately or maybe you don't. Keep playing.
