First things first! You need to decide the purpose of your session! Are you doing the session for yourself, as a gift for someone special, or are you interested in a couple's session where both you and your partner participate? If there is a deadline for delivery of professional prints, custom portraits or a photobook, then you'll need to hold your session on a date that will allow enough time for the editing of your images as well as the production of special order items.

Once you've decided on what you want from your session, you can book by phone or in person. Whenever possible, we prefer to meet prospective clients during a face-to-face consultation in order to ensure that both the studio and the client share the same vision and that all personalities click. One of the most important aspects of shooting boudoir photography is that the atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable, and that the client trusts the photographer. Without that comfort and trust, the photos just do not work.

Once you decide to book, Loren Scott Photography requires a non-refundable retainer of $100 to hold your appointment date and time. The remaining balance of your package will be due on the day of your session.

If your session is for yourself, with no hard deadline for product, then you can hold your session as soon as you're ready. You can call today to book your session for tomorrow, or you can book your appointment for a date a few weeks (or months) away in order to give yourself time to plan and prepare with tasks like lingerie shopping and scheduling hair and makeup services.

If you're working with a deadline and plan to use your pictures as a gift for a specific occasion (birthday, anniversary, military deployment, etc.), then you should book your session as early as possible. Depending on the type of product you plan to order, you'll need to consider the following guidelines when choosing a date for your session:

IF YOU PLAN TO ORDER PRINTS
If you plan on only giving prints with basic edits, schedule your session to be held at least 4 weeks in advance of your deadline. This will allow time for completion of basic editing and the posting of your images to your online web gallery, time for you to preview and order the images you'd like, and time for delivery of the professional prints.

IF YOU PLAN TO ORDER CUSTOM PORTRAITS
If you plan on giving custom portraits with full retouching, schedule your session to be held at least 6-8 weeks in advance of your deadline. This will allow time for completion of the full retouching edits (which take a little longer than basic edits) and delivery of the professional prints.

IF YOU PLAN TO ORDER PHOTOBOOKS
If you plan on giving a custom-designed photobook, you'll need to schedule your session to be held at least 12 weeks in advance of your deadline, as the production time and delivery of these books can take several weeks. If you have less than the suggested 12 weeks to work with, RUSH services are usually available but typically increase the cost for photobooks by 30-50%.

IF YOU PLAN TO ORDER FOR THE HOLIDAYS
If you are working with a deadline for a major holiday such as Valentine's Day or Christmas, you should try to schedule your session to be held at least 12-16 weeks in advance of your deadline. It is best to book as early as possible, as our holiday schedule fills up quickly, and the production times for prints, custom portraits and photobooks can take a little longer. Also, our photobook vendor typically imposes deadlines and cutoffs for accepting orders during peak periods. So the sooner we can complete your session and submit your order to them, the better!

Upon booking a session, the first question a new client usually asks is, "What should I wear?" and, "Do I have to be naked?" Whether the session is for an individual or a couple, what your wear or don't wear is entirely up to you! Your choice of wardrobe depends on your own comfort level and what you ultimately want your photos to look like. If the pictures will be a gift, you should wear something that the recipient will enjoy seeing you in but only if it makes you feel comfortable and confident.

Lingerie is a no-brainer, but a little black dress or a simple tank and pair of jeans can look as equally sexy. If you like the pin-up look, vintage style outfits and costumes are FUN! And if your photos are a gift for someone who is really into a hobby or sports or is in a specific line of work, a personal item belonging to them (think firefighter turn-outs, a sailor's cap, motorcyle boots, or a hockey team jersey) will make your photos all the more special to the two of you.

If your ideal photos include nudity, you can choose to do implied nude (where it's obvious in the photo that you're not wearing anything, yet nothing actually shows), partial nude (such as bare on top with a pair of panties or boy shorts), or full nude (this one is self explanatory). Beautiful nude portraits can be accomplished using posing furniture, posing on a bed with sheets, or posing under dramatic lighting against a simple cloth backdrop. And you can still incorporate some wardrobe into nude photos - a strand of pearls, some big earrings or a pair of heels can add some unexpected flavor to otherwise au natural images.

For Bridal Boudoir Portraits, it's great to incorporate wedding day items into some photos. Your veil, garter, shoes or wedding lingerie are perfect. And if you already have your dress and would like to bring it to your session, we can incorporate it, too!

Prior to your session, try to wear loose-fitting clothes. It takes about an hour for marks caused by bra straps and waistbands to disappear. Drawstring pants and zip-up hoodies are ideal. And don't forget to bring a robe or something similar that you can use to cover up with in between shots or during set changes!

For the individual client: Boudoir photography is an intimate process, and we want your experience to be professional, relaxed and comfortable. The only studio staff present during your session are the photographer, Loren, and his wife Rachel, as an assistant. For your comfort, and ours, you will never be left entirely alone without another female present.

While some clients prefer to embark on the boudoir experience on their own, many clients do ask if they can bring along a friend to help ease their nerves. We do encourage you to bring along one good friend to serve as your "cheerleader" during the session. A cheerleader is someone who you will be comfortable posing in front of and who will support and encourage you and add to the overall positive experience of your session. You should not bring along someone who will be at all negative or critical, as their presence will only serve to make your session more difficult. Friends or family members who you would not want present during posing should not attend, nor should any babies or children. Since our studio is a private home, we do not have a suitable waiting area for guests to relax in while your session is in progress.

For couples: Because the couple's sessions are such a sensitive and intimate experience, it is usually best when just Loren and the couple work alone in the studio. At the couple's request, Rachel can be present to help assist with pose suggestions and set changes. Otherwise, no one else should be present during these sessions.

In the days leading up to your session, try to hydrate as much as possible. Drink plenty of water and moisturize! Your skin will look more radiant on picture day. While a pre-session glass of wine or cocktail is a perfectly acceptable way to loosen up for the shoot, multiple drinks or hard liquor are never a good idea. (The drunk look is not sexy, and you don't want your photos ruined by red, sleepy eyes or sloppy posing!)

Because your portraits are an investment, we strongly encourage you to invest in professional hair and makeup services. Even if you’re going for a more natural look, properly applied foundation, blush and eye brightening makeup can greatly enhance your look in the final photographs, and is worth the investment. While our studio does not employ a dedicated makeup artist, we can arrange for a hair and makeup artist to assist onsite for a fee. If you prefer, you can also bring your own hair and makeup artist for a small fee for the additional prep time in studio. Or, we can refer you to a professional salon that you can visit prior to starting your session (we've worked with Rylin Ashlee Salon in Temecula many times and highly recommend them). If you do attain professional makeup services on your own, let your make-up artist know that the make-up is for photographic images. Makeup should be full-coverage, but not heavy or caked on.

We discourage the use of tanning beds or outdoor sun exposure within three days of your session. Even moderate sun exposure a day or two prior to your session can leave uneven and blotchy coloring that goes unnoticed by the naked eye but is glaringly obvious in your photos. Please do not get a spray-on tan or use any self-tanning or bronzing lotions on the day of the session, as these will discolor the backdrops, sheets, chaise lounge, cloth wraps, and/or bubble bath used in your shots. Do not use any body make-up on the day of the session for these same reasons. Spray-on tans or bronzing lotions should only be used on days prior to the session to give adequate time for absorption.

Finally, be very careful shaving and waxing prior to your session. Everyone's skin is different, and you know your skin best. If you plan to try any new procedures in preparation of your photos, do a trial run at least 10 days in advance in order to give yourself time to heal from any bad reactions. Not only are rashes and ingrown hairs painful, but they can be hard to correct in Photoshop!

Time is of the essence, and it’s important not to be late to your session. It’s also important to be no more than 5 minutes away from stepping in front of the camera when you do arrive on-site. Some shots are perfect at first click; others take a lot of adjusting—pose changes, lighting or camera settings, even wardrobe changes—to get it exactly right. The more time you allow yourself to have in front of the camera, the better your images will be and the more you’ll have to choose from at final image selection. So, arrive on time and ready to begin!

After the session, final images with basic edits willl be ready within 2-3 weeks. At this time you will be invited back in to our studio to preview the final images and place orders for any professional prints included with your package as well as additional prints or special order items such as custom portraits and photobooks. After placing your initial print order, the final images will be posted online in a private, password-protected web gallery for three months to allow you to order additional prints directly, if you so wish.

Professional prints usually arrive within 5-10 business days. Custom designed photobooks usually arrive within 4-6 weeks. Delivery times vary during seasons of high-demand.

Your privacy and comfort is our utmost concern. We do not publically display or post online any revealing boudoir portraits of our clients without specific permission from the client. However, during private in-studio consultations, it is helpful for us to be able to show photos from past clients' sessions to other perspective female clients in order to help them decide what types of poses may work for them at their own session. Our session rates have been determined with this type of controlled promotional use in mind, and is outlined in the release section of your boudoir photography agreement. (While most clients are perfectly comfortable with this type of use of their images, if for any reason you are not comfortable with other perspective female clients seeing your images, you may purchase exclusive licensing rights of the images from your session for an additional fee.)

Your final edited images are uploaded to a private, password-protected web gallery where you can view and order prints. Unless you share your password with others, no one else will be able to access your web gallery images.