As a boudoir photographer, the most common area I hear women have insecurities about leading up to their boudoir session is their stomach. In this post I’m going to show you some boudoir poses to hide tummy insecurities.
By showing you some easy ways to downplay her insecurities and instead highlight other features, we can capture some tasteful boudoir photos without her mid section being the center of attention!
1. Lay Her On Her Stomach
One of the most obvious poses you can use to hide a woman’s stomach is to have her lay on it. This might seem easy at first, but you’ll quickly realize that she won’t be flattered in this position until you have her bring one knee up. I usually direct my clients to do this by cueing them to bring their knee up like an army crawl.
This will help lift her but up and give her body more shape. Make sure to extend her other leg to elongate her body, but not so much that it’s perfectly straight.
2. Pose Her On Her Back
Posing a woman on her back might not seem like an intuitive way to draw attention away from her tummy, but in reality gravity will help hide her insecurities more than you think.
For additional enhancement have her arch her back and dig her butt into the bed, or floor. This additional bit of direction will help her stretch in her tummy more which will further diminish her tummy.
Master The Art of Posing Women
In this guide I’ll show you how to pose the nude female form in a way that tastefully flatters her body type and creates emotion. This guide is intended for beginner and intermediate photographers and will teach you how to balance the proportions of any woman to make her look her best.
By first teaching you the fundamentals of posing, these principals will help you progress to a point where you can confidently pose any woman in an improvised fashion.
3. Arch Her back – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
The lower back is the sexy part of a woman’s spine. Coincidentally having her arch her back also gives her an excuse to elongate her tummy. No matter the position, having the woman arch her spine is almost always a good thing not only for hiding the tummy but for accentuating her natural curves.
4. Show Off Her Legs – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
One of the best ways to hide a woman’s tummy for boudoir photos is to simply feature other parts of her body instead. By making her legs a main feature of the photo, you’ll naturally put attention there rather than on her tummy. Additionally you can use the placement of her legs to block her tummy and offer her more concealment.
5. Highlight Her Back – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
Another simple boudoir pose to hide her tummy is to simply pose her and photographer her from the back. This idea works really well for women that have a muscular back.
For plus size women that don’t have a lot of muscle definition, have her pose with her arms up. This will help stretch out the skin on her back if she has love handles at her upper waist.
6. Over The Shoulder – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
Similar to highlighting her back, you can also photograph her over her shoulder to put more emphasis on her face. This is a very versatile pose that you can use full body while she looks at you or even close up while she looks down.
7. Highlight Her Booty – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
Another way to photograph her from behind is to make her booty the focal point of the image. Make sure to photograph her from a low angle and ask her to pop one butt check toward you. This will help accentuate the proportions of her hip to waist ratio for a flattering detail photo of her body.
8. Focus On Her Face – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
Pose her so her face is the closest thing to the camera. Anything that’s brought closer to the camera will get emphasized while everything further away will be diminished. This will put all of the viewers attention on her face and downplay her tummy. Use long focal lengths and wide f stops to enhance this effect.
9. Use Edges – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
Another way to get her to stretch out her tummy, is to pose her on the edge of a bed, couch or chair. I like to direct the women to put her upper back on the edge of her bed and have her dip their hips low. Gravity combined with or without a back arch will improve her tummy area. For added effect, have her take a breath in as you take the shot to give her an excuse to suck in her stomach.
10. High Angle Poses – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
By photographing the woman from above her eyeline, you can not only slim her out, but you can also take attention off her tummy using perspective and angles.
For example, if you pose her on her back and have her lift her chin toward you as you photograph her from a low angle, you can put almost all the viewers attention on her face and bust. If she has a moderate to large bust you can actually block her tummy altogether with this angle.
11. Curled Up – Boudoir Poses To Hide Tummy
Another great pose to hide the tummy is to have the woman pose in a curled up position while sitting in a chair. By having her bring her legs up onto the chair, you can block her tummy with the pose.
Keep in mind that since you’ll be posing the woman in a curled up position, this will diminish her shape. Thus, you’ll want to make sure she’s wearing a top that shows off her chevage so you can highlight her visible curves.
Other Ways To Hide Her Tummy
As you can see there’s many boudoir poses to hide tummy insecurities for women. That said, posing isn’t the only way you can help highlight other areas and diminish her tummy. You can also hide her stomach using lingerie, lighting, and props.
Using Light To Put Her Tummy In Shadow
Another way to use posing to give the woman cover for her tummy, is to pose her stomach into shadow. This is a technique I use often on my boudoir photo shoots if the woman only has two piece lingerie or if she wants nude or implied nude photos.
Lingerie To Hide Her Tummy
By helping your client choose flattering lingerie for her body type, you can help simultaneously give her tummy cover while also accentuating her best assets. These boudoir outfit ideas will help you suggest some good styles for her unique body type if you need some inspiration.
Blocking Her Stomach With Props
One of my favorite ways to give women tummy cover is to use props I find in the photoshoot environment. Bed sheets for example are something I use on just about every photoshoot. By having her hold it the sheet in front of her, or by posing her with them on the bed, you can strategically place them to black her stomach.
Master The Art of Posing Women
In this guide I’ll show you how to pose the nude female form in a way that tastefully flatters her body type and creates emotion. This guide is intended for beginner and intermediate photographers and will teach you how to balance the proportions of any woman to make her look her best.
By first teaching you the fundamentals of posing, these principals will help you progress to a point where you can confidently pose any woman in an improvised fashion.
