One of the biggest concerns women share with me before their boudoir session is their stomach. If you’ve ever worried about this, you’re not alone—but I’ve got you! My job is to make you feel confident, empowered, and stunning in every pose. With the right angles, lighting, and positioning, we’ll highlight your best features while downplaying any areas you feel less confident about. Here are my favorite boudoir poses to hide tummy insecurities while keeping the focus on your best features.
Lying on Your Stomach

If you want to downplay your lower tummy while highlighting your curves, a simple yet effective pose is lying on your stomach. But instead of just lying flat, I’ll guide you into a position that enhances your natural shape.
One option is bringing one knee up slightly, which creates beautiful curves on one side of your hip. Another trick I use is positioning your face lower than your hips. This subtle shift accentuates your waist-to-hip ratio, making your curves stand out effortlessly. With these small adjustments, we can showcase your butt and hips in a flattering way all while concealing your tummy.
Lying on Your Back

Lying on your back might not seem like the obvious way to flatter your tummy, but gravity works in your favor more than you’d expect. To enhance the effect, I’ll guide you to arch your back slightly and press your hips into the bed or floor. This gentle stretch naturally smooths and elongates your midsection, helping you feel confident and elegantly posed.
Arch Your Lower Spine

Arching your back is one of the easiest ways to create a flattering shape in photos. Not only does it highlight the natural curve of your lower spine, but it also helps elongate your tummy for a more streamlined look. No matter the pose, a generous arch enhances your curves while naturally drawing attention away from your midsection.
The trick is to create a beautiful shape and then photograph it from your most flattering angles. This can be done in different ways depending on your body type, but the key is in the body language created by arching your lower spine. When done subtly, it’s a classy way to convey sensuality through body language in your images.
Show Off Your Legs

Focusing on your legs is a simple yet effective way to draw attention away from your tummy. By making them the highlight of the pose, the eye is naturally drawn to their shape and length, creating a balanced and flattering composition.
A great way to achieve this is by crossing or bending your legs strategically. This not only enhances your curves but also provides subtle coverage for your midsection. Posing with one leg positioned in front of your body can help frame your shape beautifully while offering a bit of concealment where you want it.
For a more elongated look, extending your legs adds elegance and grace to the shot while shifting the focus away from your tummy. Pairing this with a slight arch in your back or a well-placed arm can enhance your overall silhouette, giving you a confident and sculpted appearance.
Highlight Your Back

One of the easiest ways to take the focus off your tummy is by posing from the back. This works especially well if you have a naturally defined or muscular back.
If you’re plus-size and want a more sculpted look, I’ll guide you to lift your arms. This simple adjustment helps smooth the skin around your upper back and love handle area creating a more elongated and flattering pose.
This pose is super effective for women of all body types and looks especially great if you have a nice butt to show off. You can make it even better before your photo shoot with the tips in this post about toning your butt for boudoir photos.
Over-the-Shoulder Glance

This versatile pose works beautifully for full-body shots where you engage with the camera or for more intimate, candid moments when looking down. Over-the-shoulder glances add a sultry yet sophisticated feel, drawing attention to your eyes and expression.
Shooting from behind naturally shifts focus away from the tummy, highlighting the curves of your back and butt in an effortlessly sexy way. Whether standing, kneeling, or leaning against a surface, this pose flatters a variety of body types and creates a timeless, confident look. The right lighting—whether soft and natural or dramatic and moody—enhances the elegance, making this a go-to pose for hiding tummy insecurities.
Detail Poses That Hide Your Tummy

Another great way to take attention away from your tummy is to crop it out entirely with statement shots that highlight your best features. A classic example is a booty shot where you push one cheek toward the camera, emphasizing your curves.
This idea goes beyond just your backside though. For instance, you can also focus on close-ups of your hands, bust, hips, or any thing else to demonstrate sensual body language. By drawing the eye to these areas, you create bold, flattering images that celebrate your favorite features.
Face-First Focus

Close-up boudoir photos are one of my go-to shots if I have a client with tummy insecurities. It’s a pose that really should be in every set, no matter your body type. This is because the face communicates so much nonverbally and helps give your boudoir photos a unique personality.
All that said, close-up boudoir photos are probably the hardest shots to pull off well because you have to nail them. If there’s even a hint of a lie in your body language, the viewer will see it instantly. You can check out this post about how to make come-hither looks if you’d like to practice before your photo shoot.
Pose With Fabric to Edge Your Body

One of the best posing techniques for hiding your tummy in boudoir photos is using fabric to conceal your stomach while outlining your body. Often, simply holding a sheet in the right way creates a beautiful implied nude look while completely covering your tummy.
You can achieve the same effect with blankets or bed sheets, whether posing on the bed or in a chair. When draped correctly, the fabric highlights the elegant S-curves of your body, adding a tastefully sexy touch to your photos.
This technique works especially well for plus-size women because you can cut into your body line pretty aggressively with blankets on the bed while still keeping the photos artistically sexy by showcasing your full body line uninterrupted.
High-Angle Poses

By photographing you from above, we can take attention away from your tummy by focusing on your upper body and face. This is very effective for those who worry about their torso area but have beautiful, expressive faces and large busts.
If these are power features for you, it’s easy to pose you in a way that highlights them while thoughtfully diminishing your tummy from the frame.
A good supportive bra can make a huge difference when photographing you at this angle. You can learn more about how to pick outfits for a boudoir shoot here if you need help getting started.
Curled-Up Poses
Curled-up poses are a fantastic way to draw attention away from your tummy and highlight other assets like your bust and legs. Since this pose prominently features the legs, adding a pair of thigh-highs to your outfit wouldn’t be a bad idea. My favorite brand is Kix’ies, but if you’re wondering where to buy boudoir outfits, this post will give you a great place to start.
Posing Out of Shadow

Posing out of shadow is one of my favorite ways to creatively shift attention away from your tummy and toward other features. I do this by first turning you away from the light source, then directing just your upper body back into the light. This places your tummy in shadow while cross-lighting your body. The more body fat a client carries in the torso, the more aggressively I’ll pull them away from the light to further conceal the tummy area in shadow.
Whenever possible, I also love posing you into interesting light patterns and letting shadows create artistic effects on your body. This technique is the secret to precisely highlighting your best features and drawing attention away from your sensitive areas.
Posing Women For Boudoir Photos

Whether you’re naturally slender or curvier, I’ll pose you in ways that create balance. A slight hip shift, a change in weight distribution, or a subtle twist can enhance your best features and delete insecurities. Posing women for boudoir photos is about finding the best angles for your body type to define your waist and sculpt your figure in a flattering way.
If you’re on the fence about doing a photo shoot with me, you can check out the free preview to my boudoir posing PDF that teaches other photographers how I pose women like I do. It will give you kind of a behind the scenes look at how we’ll create your photos.
If you’d like to experience first hand what it’s like to be guided by me towards phots like I show on this page, tap the button below and I’d love to talk details about your intended session with you!