How Many Boudoir Pics to Buy?

I want digital files so I can also have them in case he loses the book at the hotel and I can make him another one on Shutterfly or somewhere cheap. I could just walk away without buying anything extra, but having an album with 6 images is a little lacking. Plus, it would be nice to have other images that aren’t in the album so that I can surprise him every now and then with a new picture, without having to pay for a new shoot. So, what should I consider getting? I know I haven’t even viewed the pictures, yet, but I know I will like a lot of them. The photographer is our wedding photographer and she takes amazing pictures. She was showing me some right after she took it and they looked amazing on the camera, even without editing.

So which would you choose, if those were your options and you liked enough pictures to fulfill any of those options?

I think you should do the album. You get 35 photos, and the digital images. You can keep the nice album at home, and get a shutter fly album with different photos (if he loses that one its ok).

ETA: And it looks like the best deal.

Hmm if I'm reading this right, I'd say the Bombshell Album. It sounds like you'll get a nice album, good number of pictures, AND the files. It seems like the biggest bang for your buck.

I do have a question for you though....I just had mine taken last weekend. Are you doing yours like a regular photo album? I saw you mentioned Shutterfly, so if you did something like that would it be like an album (with one picture on each page) or a book?

I would wait to see you pictures, do you think there will be 35 of them that you like enough to put in an album? I can't wait to hear how your pictures turned out! I got 20 pics in the package that I bought and I made an album for FH with those.

@WWKatie, I did mine as a book through shutterfly, one pic per page.

I'm glad that you love your photographer, but I have to say, this is seems like such a rip off! When I started reading I was thinking that this was a good cautionary tale against buying packages from those boudoir studios; I'm really surprised that a wedding photographer would have this kind of pricing structure. I did my boudoir with my wedding photographer, whom I also adore (and who is pricey for weddings), and it was just $500 for the whole thing including her travel fee, about 150 digital files (I had to provide location and decor). Of those, I would only really use about half, but still...

That being said, if you really love photos, there will EASILY be 35 of them that you would want to keep. You're right, doing this all over again would be silly, so I vote for buying as many digital files as possible now (if you can afford it, which it sounds like you can). Honestly, the $750 deal is a lot of bang for your buck, compared to the lower options -- check out the albums, if your photog has samples, and make sure you like them! You should go with that!

I had almost 2 hours of shooting. And she was showing me some on her camera right after she took them. So I know I will like at least 10 of them. It was in a boudoir studio with different "scenes" and I had 4 different outfits, so they won't all just be the same photo with a different angle. But, if I get the album, it would cost me $1132 in the end (adding in tax for the album). Do I really want to spend that much on pictures? That is half of our wedding photographer's cost for the day!

Katie - It depends how many pictures I like. They do the set up of the Bombshell album, but I ultimately approve the layout, if I remember correctly. So that one would be moreso a story line. I attached the pictures they have as an example of their Bombshell book. But if I did it on Shutterfly, I would just do the cheapest book, for like $11, and just do one picture on a page, since I don't have as many images.

Thanks, K+S!

FutureMrsT- It's a LONG story that I was going to share in my post when I shared my pictures. But basically, my wedding photographer shot my boudoir pics, but she is just the shooter in someone else's boudoir studio. But a couple months after I booked, my wedding photographer decided to leave the boudoir studio because she didn't like the price rip offs and the way she handled her company. So, my photographer stayed at the boudoir studio and quit right after I left my session. She wanted to see mine through because she knew I was shy, but comfortable with her. My photographer cannot give me any of my photos she took because they are the studios property and the studio could sue her. If I would shoot with my wedding photographer again now that she left the studio (not using any discounts, which she probably would for me), it would cost me $175 (I think that includes the hotel room cost) and her albums start at $350, but she gives discounts on albums for her brides. She is starting her own boudoir company in August, so I'm not sure entirely what is involved in the packages with her.

Aaaah, that makes a lot of sense. What shitty timing! Really nice of her to stay for your shoot, though.

Hm...this is really tough. It seems like the choice is really between doing the 10 for $400 or the album for $750. Doing only 20 pictures for $600 if you actually like many more of them seems silly, when you could get so many more, PLUS the album for an extra $150. I don't think there's any way to decide until you see the pictures and actually figure out how many you really love. Ten pictures is a pretty low number for 2 hours of shooting. I think that if you really love a lot of the shots, $1200 is justifiable.

She didn't show me every single picture she took, I was just saying that I know I will like more than the 6 pictures that I get regardless She showed me about 10 shots and I loved every one of them and would want a copy. I just wanted to see what people thought of spending $750 (plus tax) on an album and digital images. If you guys don't think $1,200 seems completely unreasonable, then I'll consider it. I have a feeling that I will love enough for the 35 images. I just don't want to feel like I'm making a horrible financial decision. Hopefully I'm not getting too personal here, but FH has an issue picturing people in his head. So I feel like these pictures would be very useful in his private times when he is on business trips, which is beginning to be about once every month or so.

I know how you feel. I would try and look at this situation as a special case and spend the money on what you want. Unfortunately, to get what we want out of these sessions we have to pay far too much for what we want.

I had my boudoir shoot not long ago and I paid $650. This included hair, makeup and 25 digital prints. If I want more digital prints, it's $35 per print. If I want a basic 10x10 album, it's $500. I find these prices insulting. I am more than willing to pay for one's skills but I find the product pricing far too high.