Frequently Asked Questions

Mateusz is a portrait artist, specializing in boudoir. He shoots portraits, bridal boudoir sessions, couples boudoir, and maternity sessions. We primarily shoot sessions in our studio but are willing to shoot on location for a additional fee. 

You can contact us by email or phone OR schedule a consult with us here: https://calendly.com/silkandsaltphoto/consult

Pamela will talk to you about what to expect from your experience and can take a credit or debit card number over the phone to reserve your date. The session fee is $500. To book, you can just pay half the session fee over the phone and then the other half is due before your shoot. Pamela will then send you an email with a link to sign your photo shoot agreement electronically. Once you sign, you will get your booking confirmation and prep guide within 24 hours! *Digitals and products are purchased separately at your image reveal and ordering session* Read about the whole experience *HERE*.

Boudoir, or intimate photography, is a genre of photography that captures a person's sensuality. Boudoir can be seductive, strong, or romantic. Our goal is to empower you to see the fierce, independent, sexy, badass human that you are. Boudoir images are purposefully intimate, which is why we are so adamant about protecting your privacy.  We use only natural retouching techniques on your images. It is important to us that you look like yourself in the finished product, not like a plastic doll.  And we never, ever want our clients to think they look amazing because of Photoshop.

Mateusz is our principal photographer and he is not only very skilled at what he does, he’s also very professional and respectful.  Please feel free to request a free consultation with us before you book your shoot so you can meet him and decide for yourself if you’re comfortable with him.  You can also learn more about Mateusz and why he loves to shoot portraiture here.  Pamela also attends every shoot as Mateusz’s assistant. 

We love shooting couples, throuples, and polycules and the cost for a session is the same as an individual session. The only exception is if more than one person wants hair and makeup, then there is an extra fee of $150 for each additional person wanting hair and makeup.

We are located at 810 East 800 South #203, Salt Lake City, UT 84102 

 If you’re more comfortable having your boudoir session in your own home or if there’s a particular place that you are just DYING to shoot at, and you can ensure that you won’t be interrupted during your session, then we are happy to come to you for an additional fee! We can also rent any studio in the Salt Lake area that will give you the look and feel you want when you cover the rental fee.  Many studios do not have beds, though, so if you are looking for that seductive boudoir bed shot, let us know and we’ll find you the perfect space. 

Ideally, you’ll want to schedule your boudoir shoot about 2 months prior to needing the finished product in-hand. We only shoot three to four sessions per week to ensure our clients get a personalized, boutique experience so DON'T WAIT to email us! It's never too early to get on our schedule. Your image reveal and ordering session will be approximately 1-2 weeks after your photo shoot, and your finished product (depending on what you order) will arrive between 3 and 6 weeks after that. 

The whole boudoir experience, including hair and makeup, outfit changes, and shenanigans takes about 4 hours. If you're opting out of hair and makeup, plan on about 2.5 hours. 

Silk + Salt proudly offers in-person image reveal and ordering sessions one to two weeks after the boudoir photo shoot.  We've gotten REALLY good at helping clients decide between images, showing similar images side by side for easy selection, and assisting clients with getting great variety for albums and the perfect wall art pieces. Because we do show a LOT of stunning images, it can be overwhelming to navigate on your own and we don't want our customer service to stop at the photo shoot.  The in-person image reveal is so appreciated by our clients and is always our favorite part of the whole process! Set aside about an hour for your reveal session.

The boudoir experience starts at $500. That includes the two-hour photo shoot with Matt and Pamela, a pre-shoot consultation, professional hair and makeup, up to four outfits, access to our client closet, professional modeling direction, professional image retouching and editing, and an in-studio image reveal and ordering session.  At your ordering session, you'll get to see a slideshow of at least 50 edited images and samples of all of our products. 

 You are not obligated to purchase any products or digitals before your ordering session. We offer a wide range of products and collections and most importantly, NO minimum order.  We only want you to buy what you love.  We put our collections together with great care, based on the highest quality standards, client demand, and product availability. AND we offer flexible, no-interest payment plans. Our collections range from $2200-5500. Want to see what product offerings are available at your ordering appointment and their prices? Click HERE.

To book, you'd just pay half of the $500 session fee and then the other $250 is due before your shoot. No other money will be due until your image reveal and ordering session. If you're ready to reserve your date in the studio, call Pamela at 801-804-3445.

Option One: You can use a third party to buy your products now and pay for them later. We get paid in full at your ordering appointment, allowing you to receive your order as soon as possible. We will recommend vendors and help guide you through this process.

Option Two: You can set up an in-house, no-interest payment plan with us. The down payment minimum is $200 and the longest term of payment plan is 18 months. With this option, you have to wait to receive your products and digitals until your account is paid in full, but you are welcome to pay off your balance at any time. We'll ask you to fill out a payment plan agreement that will give us permission to run your card each month on the day of your choosing.

We offer gallery quality, ready to hang wall art in metal, acrylic and fine art paper as well as albums, print boxes, a leather envelope with smaller prints, and more. You can see many of our product offerings and their prices HERE. 

We can get all of our products to you within six weeks of your ordering session and many of them arrive sooner.

Albums! Almost every client we see ends up buying an album. We have four choices:

• 8x8 linen album (20 images)
• 10x10 velvet album (30 images)
• 10x10 leather journal album (40 images)
• 10x12 couture album with an acrylic picture cover (50 images)

The linen album only comes in black linen. The velvet album is our most popular and has several color options. The leather journal album comes with a beautiful wooden box with a glass top and the couture album comes with a box with an acrylic picture cover. See our print products HERE.

Absolutely! For clients coming in from out of state we always drop ship your products directly to you. Because we like to check your order and ensure its quality, we offer in-studio pick up for our local clients. We unbox and check every item in your order and then repackage it in a way that is easy for you to transport home. Besides, we love to see your excitement when you see your order for the first time!!

Hair and makeup is included with every session but you are welcome to opt out as well! We work only with very experienced professionals who can give you any look you want, from very natural to very glamorous. Talk to us about your preferred style at your pre-shoot planning session!

Each person's boudoir experience is unique, therefore this is a very personal question. We want to give it the personal answer it deserves. In addition to sending you a prep guide at the time of booking, we proudly offer pre-shoot planning consultations over Zoom about three weeks before your shoot date.  We will give you personalized information on how to prepare based on your individual concerns and desires.  We pride ourselves on offering a LUXURY EXPERIENCE to our clients! That means we are building relationships and lovingly guiding our clients through this entire process.

Ultimately you want to wear whatever makes you feel sexy or powerful at your boudoir shoot. That can be bodysuits, jeans, a bedsheet, a ballgown, or nothing at all. We have a huge client closet ranging from XS-6X that you can borrow from for your shoot! Please don't spend money on anything that you're only going to wear once!!  But if you’re dying to go shopping and don’t know what to buy, just ask Pamela and she’ll guide you on what to look for.  You’ll want to have about five to six options total (yes, nude counts as one outfit!), but that can be a combination of what you bring and what you borrow from our client closet. From those we'll choose three to four for your shoot. We've also had plenty of clients bring nothing with them and only borrow from our client closet and those shoots have been some of our favorites!

If you identify as a woman, you can bring absolutely nothing to your boudoir shoot and still have a great experience and a beautiful gallery. We have everything you'll need. But you have the option of bringing your own outfits and we always suggest bringing at least a pair of nude and/or black panties/underwear with you. You might also want to bring your own robe to wear during hair and makeup, but we have one for you if you'd rather not. We do not have shoes in the client closet so if you are a shoe girl, bring your favorite pair!

If you identify as a man, you will want to bring several outfit choices. Pamela will guide you on exactly what to bring based on the look you are wanting to acheive, but some good options are solid color underwear, plain black or white t-shirts, your favorite pair of jeans, a dress shirt, and a suit. Don't forget socks, shoes, and a belt if you opt to bring a suit!

I’ll tell you a little secret: even models don’t look like models unless they’re working with a great photographer! Mateusz knows what he’s doing.  He is the master of lighting and posing and has spent hundreds of hours studying and practicing how to make people look like the sophisticated descendants of Roman gods.  Another secret? Why not?!  NONE of the people in our galleries are models!  They didn’t know how to pose and they thought their facial expressions were dorky, just like the rest of us.  All these beautiful people came to us hating parts of themselves and hoping we could make them look sexy or gorgeous or handsome or sensual.  And then you saw them and thought they were professional models!  See? We got you, boo!

About three weeks before your photo shoot you'll receive an email from us with a link to book your pre-shoot planning consultation over Zoom. This is an opportunity for us to plan the look of your shoot together, answer all of your questions, and to get to know each other. We know this experience can feel vulnerable for most people and we don't want you meeting us for the first time on your shoot day! So we try to ensure you're as comfortable as possible going in.

Our clients do not look gorgeous in their photos because of Photoshop.  We use posing and lighting to capture the best quality image, but mostly we use your best attributes! If we can’t convince you that you are beautiful exactly the way you are then we’re not doing our job.  Therefore, it’s our policy to do minimal editing on your images. Our post-processing techniques are focused on skin smoothing, color, contrast, sharpening, and the like.  What we do edit: things that are temporary in nature.  Woke up with a zit on shoot day?  You bet we’re not going to make you remember that zit forever.  Didn’t sleep the night before because you were feeling nervous?  Dark circles- be gone!  We will smooth out your skin and buff out stretch marks if you ask us to.  What we don’t usually edit out: tattoos, scars, your body shape, things that make you, you. Check out Mateusz's blog post about his editing philosophy *HERE*.

OF COURSE, DARLIN’!!  Who ever said you have to be nearly nude to feel empowered?  We can style a unique shoot just for you. Our focus is on capturing your unique personality and so what you wear should reflect who you are. If you're all about jeans and t-shirts, then that's what you should bring. We also have a full client closet with options besides traditional lingerie that you can borrow for your shoot. 

We are down!  We like to get saucy, but we don’t ever venture into pornographic territory.  We want to celebrate the beauty and sensuality of the human form, so what we do is artistic above all else.  Nudes? Yes.  A little bit of erotica through suggestive posing? Yes. Genitalia?  That’s a firm no.

We currently shoot boudoir on Thursdays and weekends, but only four shoots per week total so that we are able to give each client a personalized, luxury experience.  If you want a weekend shoot, you'll most likely have to wait a little longer for it. 

WALL ART and ALBUMS make the best gifts. We know how to create a gift your partner will love! If we’ve done our job, these are going to be the best images of yourself that you’ve ever had made. We want you to want to display them and give them as gifts.  The vendors we work with make the highest quality products on the market.  You can order a large statement piece or a series of smaller pieces for your master bedroom wall or (if you’re really audacious) your living room wall.  All of our wall art comes ready to hang.  Albums also make a really lovely gift.  You can put quite a few images in an album and either tuck it away in a nightstand or proudly display it on a coffee table.  You can see many of our luxury products HERE.

Hells, yes!!  Your privacy is our top priority.  All of your boudoir images will be retouched in house and none of them will ever be shared without your permission.  However, if you do decide to let us use your photos on our website or social media, we will only use the ones you specifically give permission for and we won’t use your name or tag you in our posts.  Basically, whatever requests you have for your privacy, we will honor.  And we’re happy to sign an NDA if you need one.

Boudoir is absolutely for men too!  However, our studio no longer shoots men unless they are booked for a couples experience. Because we believe men deserve to have an empowering experience too, we happily recommend Boswell Photography in Salt Lake City. Laurence Boswell is someone we have worked with and trust. He consistently produces quality work and will treat you with respect. Tell him we sent you!

Absolutely! On the day you book, we will send you a prep guide with instructions on how to do this. We will not copy anyone else's work (or even our own!) but we do love to see what styles you are drawn to and can give you unique images with the same emotional tone as your inspo photos.

Yes! While Mateusz does luuuurve black and white (obviously), he always edits a small amount of each session in color. If you want more images in color than he usually edits, you can request that at your pre-shoot planning session before your shoot. 

Yes, of course! If it is within Mateusz's purview, he will accomodate you. We always ask about your editing preferences at your pre-shoot planning session. Some things we don't do: 

• editing one object in color in a black and white photo
• changing the size or shape of your body
• smoothing the skin until it looks more like plastic than skin

Yes! We offer a complete digital collection on our menu of full resolution images for $5000. These files are huge so you should be able to print up to a 48x72 with most files. With the purchase of these files, you are also purchasing the right to print Mateusz's work for private use. We also proudly offer metal, acrylic, and fine art paper prints that come ready to hang.

All prints and digitals must be ordered at your image reveal and ordering session one to two weeks after your shoot. We don't store images long term because these files are huge and we do three to four sessions per week! That would be a lot of storage! If you give us permission to use your images online, we will keep a few web-resolution files of our favorite images from your shoot.

Please do! We will never post your photos without your permission, but we feel incredibly honored when our clients share our work. If you want to send us some love you can tag us in your post, too!

FB and TikTok: @silkandsaltphoto

Insta: @silkandsaltofficial

Only if you say it’s ok!! (We never tag anyone in our posts or use your name!) Naturally, we would LOVE to use your boudoir images from your session, but they’re just that- YOUR images- and we don’t have the right to share them unless you feel completely comfortable with it.  Some clients feel comfortable sharing any and all of their images, some only want to share the anonymous images where their face is not visible, and some don’t want any shared at all.  Whatever you choose, we will honor your wishes. 

Definitely!  If you need a best friend at your boudoir shoot to calm your nerves, bring ‘em! In fact, invite them to book their own shoot right before or after yours (if it’s available) and you can do some best friend shots together, if you want!! However, we ask that you choose only one person to invite and that they not interfere with the process of the shoot.  We are also happy to include your partner(s) in some or all of the shots at no additional cost, if you’d like to do a couples/polyam shoot.

We know you're dying to get to your boudoir shoot, but we don't want you to literally die trying! If it's dangerous to travel on your shoot day we will reschedule you at no additional cost! Also, if you get sick with something contagious like Covid, please don't come to the studio! Contact us and we will figure out the best thing to do together. We will make reschduling your shoot a priority.

Contact us by email as soon you know you need to reschedule your boudoir shoot! hello@silkandsaltphoto.com 

With more than 30 days notice, it is free to reschedule. If it is within 30 days of your shoot, we do charge a cancellation/rescheduling fee: 

Cancel or reschedule within 30 days of shoot: $100 

Cancel or reschedule within 14 days of shoot: $250 

Cancel or reschedule within 72 hours or no call/no show: $500

If you need to reschedule because of an illness or emergency, just let us know what is going on and we'll happily waive the fee.

We grant our clients a personal use license for all of their images. This means you can use them and share them in any way you like as long as you're not making money off of them. If you'd like to hire us for a commercial job, just contact us to get a quote!

Let us talk to them! If they still aren't convinced, bring them with you to your session! Once they see how relaxed and fun the atmosphere is in our studio, you might be able to talk them into being included in a few shots toward the end.

We hear this all the time from people who think they need to lose weight before doing a session. If you have a body, you have the body for a session. We shoot all body sizes and types and our client closet includes sizes XS- 6X. We truly believe all bodies are beautiful and worthy of documentation. If you don't feel the same way, book a session with us and let us prove you wrong.

Of course! At least 50% of our clients shoot part of their session nude. We shoot artistic nudes, so as long as you're not looking for anything that ventures into pornographic territory, we can accomodate you. 

Though we specialize in empowerment photography, we shoot a very select number of weddings  and family photo sessions every year. Usually, these are done at the special request of a previous client or someone with whom we have a working relationship already.  As with our portrait brand, we offer a luxury and very personalized experience for our wedding and family clients.

In 2020, we were honored to receive the 2nd place award for boudoir in the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International competition along with their Silver Award for both print and digital images.  We were thrilled to receive this incredibly competitive, prestigious award. This was the first of more than 30 awards that we have received from esteemed photography competitions all over the globe.