Boudoir Practice

I have always had a love for the beauty that is boudoir photography. 

I have never had the confidence to attempt it though. Until now. 

My amazing wife has always told me that she would be my practice model which is convenient and probably the best way to ease me into photographing someone who is not fully clothed. I think I was more nervous about having to photograph someone who was just barely covered than I was about the actual photography and lighting that goes into it. Since I am mainly a natural light photographer I don't have much experience in lighting either. 

Small bit of background, I have been studying and practicing photography for upwards of ten years. I started in high school doing darkroom photography which will forever be my love in the photography world. I was taught lighting my second year in photography in high school and I hardly ever used it, mostly because I didn't have the equipment so naturally I geared more towards outdoor/natural light photography. 

So the more I talked about wanting to do boudoir photography the more my wife pushed me to attempt. Two nights ago we decided to get out my lights and set them up for me to get a feel for it. We talked about what poses we would want to do and I played around with the lights to get them how I thought they should go. Here are some of the images from the first attempt:

 (I couldn't decide which edit I liked more)

I was genuinely thrilled at how well they turned out. I sent them to a photography acquaintance of mine who is amazing at boudoir and was given some pointers on what to do differently.

The following day we decided to give it another shot. I was much more comfortable this time around, as was she. That made the process significantly more seamless. Here are the results of the second night.

These are just a handful of my favorites. I am very open to constructive criticism but please keep it gentle and constructive seeing as how these are just my first two attempts at this. I truly feel that with a little bit of practice and studying I can master the beautiful art that is boudoir photography. 

Photographer or not I want to hear your opinions. What are your thoughts on these images?