Copyright © by: The Night Hawk

The Complete Guide to Perfect Picture Poses:

By: World Renowned Photojournalist, Todd Ayres 

Chapter 6: Breasts

	Breasts, in their natural unfettered form are difficult to photograph unless you are shooting for National Geographic.  Home pictures of breasts hardly ever look like what you see in magazines.  Nipples tend to be bland and colorless and are often inverted.  The term "perky" also fails to describe those seen in most home pictures unless the model happens to be of the "A cup" size group.
	In most cases, if the model is lying on a bed, reclining on a sofa, or even sitting in a chair, the breasts tend to sag and often head for the underarms.  This is not unusual!  It is the natural state for developed breasts.
The problem then becomes, how can we cheat nature?
The easiest problem to overcome is nipple color.  Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile was famous for adding a form of rouge to her nipples to make them more prominent and visible through the thin veil she wore to cover herself.  An interesting oxymoron since she wanted attention drawn to her nipples but covered her breasts.  (Covering breasts was a practice unheard of at the time.)  Use lipstick or eye shadow to enhance the color.  For the best results, use two colors: one for the nipple itself and another for the areola.
The next issue to deal with is to bring them out of hiding.  Erect nipples are often equated with sexuality and sexual arousal or excitement.  This is most easily accomplished by chilling the room to a temperature around 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you don't have the time or the capability to reduce room temperature, you can substitute with a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol.  This draws the heat from the body and should provide a good puckered nipple to photograph.  Ice cubes can be used in a pinch as well, but they tend to melt on the skin leaving watermarks.
The most difficult part of the posing is to get the breast to "rise" to the occasion.  This requires a bit of testing for the best results.  From experience, I have found that when the model is reclined or lying down, the best pose is achieved by bringing one arm underneath the breasts to grasp the other arm, which forces the breasts into a “boxed” position.  This gives good rise and keeps the nipples pointed forward.  When seated, preferably on a barstool, one arm is used to support the breasts while the other is raised with the free hand behind the head.  This brings both breasts forward and the raised arm provides the desired breast rise.
The information presented so far is based on mature breasts of a size of at least a B cup.  Most of the techniques described will work on larger and smaller breasts as well.  Even if the breasts are smaller, the framing of the breasts provides a desirable effect.  With firmer or smaller breasts, often placing both hands behind the head, or even over top of the head as if reaching for something, helps enhance the effect.  For extreme sized breasts, you might want to have the model hold them as if in offering.  A coy smile would help make this type of pose much more appealing.
A final thought about taking "cheesecake" photographs like this is selecting the type of film to use.  If you are using a 35mm camera with a flash, be careful of "wash out."  It would be better to stand back farther and zoom in than to let the flash unit turn breast flesh totally white.  A low-speed slide film is the least difficult to have developed discreetly.  Take a few shots of the non-cheesecake variety to allow the film lab to line up the film, and then wait for the results.  If you don't want to have the slides processed into prints, you can always send them to me via the author of my life story, The Night Hawk, Night_Hawk@nighthawkstories.com for professional scanning.  If you decide to go with print film, ask for large prints since the larger the print, the clearer the scan.  Finally, for those avid photographers and ambitious types, try a variety of shots, and if you have a Macro feature on your lens, try a super close up of a nipple!
(Using a digital camera?  Let me evaluate your work!  Send samples to me via the author at the address listed above.  All photographs will be kept absolutely confidential.)
Remember that if the picture you take might be worth publishing and not just for personal purposes, you must obtain a model release before you can sell or distribute the picture for potential profit.

Happy Snapping!
Todd