FAQ : Stylistic | abbywinters.com

What's with these Intimate Moments videos?Top

Our Intimate Moments (IM) videos run for around 10 minutes each. They are a single shot of a model masturbating to orgasm - for real, not faked. Some are subtle, some are screamers, but they are all fascinating to watch their methods and results.

Sometimes, we shoot double-IMs (DIM), this is where we have two models in the scene, both masturbating to orgasm. They might interact, or just trade glances, or ignore each other. Sometimes, we have one girl masturbating, and one just watching her closely.

We have some self-imposed constraints on these videos.

1. The video camera is on a tripod, and no one is operating the camera. We set it up, press Record, and leave the model in the room on her own. This way, we do not affect her work. Sometimes, the model moves (tho we ask her not to move position completely), which means the shot looks a little weird - half her leg cut off, or a lot of blank space on the left hand side. This is a little annoying, but does not diminish the power of her performance in our opinion.
2. We instruct the model to take as long as she needs. For some, this is five minutes flat, for others, it's 45 minutes.
   
3. We usually only use one camera, but we are starting to experiment with additional cameras
   

We use two Sennheiser 416 shotgun mics to capture the best possible sound we can.

We value your feedback on IM's, and there's a thread on the boards to discuss them. Please do not ask us to show more vagina closeups in IM's - you're missing the point. If you want that stuff, check out the model's regular site video. The IM's are something else.

We have all heard of ladies masturbating with a shower head or faucet in a bath, right? This is pretty much impossible for us to film, as the sound of the water drowns out any sounds the model might make. That being said, we have done a few bath IM shoots.

Why aren't there more masturbation videos?Top

We add two Intimate Moments masturbation videos to the site each week.

It's our policy not to coerce models or push them to do things that they're not comfortable with. It's also our policy to not to direct models to fake an orgasm. There's enough of that overacting on the internet as it is, no need for us to contribute more!

We came up with the idea of setting up a camera in a private room for models who are comfortable to masturbate to orgasm. We set the camera rolling, and leave them alone to do their work. We call these shoots Intimate Moments and release all of them on the intimate-moments.abbywinters.com site and some on DVDs.

Why don't you have more Indian/African American/non-white models?Top

We don't have as much racial diversity as we would like, but we can only shoot models as they come to us. We never turn away any person if they are suitable for the site, you can rest assured.

Australia is a predominantly white country.

Also, have a look at our model lists: Replete With Melanin and Asian

How come not all the models do explicit poses?Top

Models on this site do a range of posing levels. They are paid differently depending on their posing level. Unlike some sites, we don't coerce models into doing more explicit posing, nor do we make it a requirement for working with us.

At the interview stage, we show models the types of stuff we shoot, tell them how much we pay, and let them make an informed decision. When we get models back for redux shoots, they are often comfortable to do a little more.

Our minimum requirement is nude - legs together. Around a third of our models do this level of posing. We add one or two models a week at this posing level.

Next is open leg, pretty obvious. This does not include hands-on stuff, but does include pretty much any position a model can get her body into, legs akimbo. Around a third of our models are comfortable with this level of posing. We add around one model a week at this posing level (sometimes none).

Then we have explicit and insertions levels of posing. This means they will be holding their vaginal lips open, and possibly inserting fingers or toys or whatnot. This may also include masturbation stuff. We add one model a week at this posing level (sometimes two).

We sometimes get criticism that no one wants to pay to see models in nude only poses, that we should make the models do more... And we get an equal amount of criticism that no one wants to see that explicit stuff, so we should not shoot that. We also get a lot of positive feedback about both types of shoots (way more than the negative combined), so we end up averaging it out. 

If you're after hardcore explicit stuff only, this site is not for you.

How come there are no pics of girls in sexy clothes like G-Strings, panty-hose, stockings, high heels, and so on?Top

We shoot models dressed in their own clothes, usually what they wear to the shoot. The fact is, very few Australian gals of the age we shoot wear heels-and-stockings clothes normally, and we're not a dress-up site, so you're unlikely to see that here, sorry. Some models prefer g-strings ("thongs"), and we shoot them wearing these sometimes.

That being said, we do buck our own trends sometimes; check out our 'After Dark' series.

There are plenty of glammy sites out there, and some of them are excellent. (We can recommend http://www.simonscans.com - normal girls dressed up this way, excellent photography, and a great site.)

For more info on what we shoot, and why we shoot it, please check out the About The Site page.

What's this Dressing Room thing all about? It's kinda dumb. And low quality.Top

The Dressing Room sets are an idea we had in late 2004. Here's how it works: we try to hold the camera really still and take a fast sequence of images of the model getting dressed as if the camera was not there (sometimes we actually hide behind stuff to help the model feel like we're not there!).

The models get dressed as they normally would, and it can be fascinating to see a tight pair of jeans slide up a shapely bum, or see how different models tuck their breasts into the bras in different ways, not to mention adjusting knickers and skirts before they face the world!

We try to use natural light (ie, not flash gear) to get a realistic look to the images. This means, we have to up the sensitivity of the camera (ISO) to get a correct exposure... Unfortunately, that also means a reduction in quality in the form of grain (noise).

We think these effects add to the overall feel of dressing room sets, but we also acknowledge that not everyone likes this. We add a DR set for most new models who appear on the site, and they are not taking the place of sets that could be going up instead. You can treat them as a free bonus that you choose to enjoy or not, as you prefer.

If you think that getting dressed on a nudie site like this is silly, you may choose to page through the set backwards, so she's undressing. ;)

What is with these recommendations?Top

The recommendations (suggestions for other adult websites that are linked from our main news page) are sites that our staff either likes themselves, or highly regard. These link to galleries on our site with some pics from the other site, so you can get an idea of what we are recommending.

No money changes hands for these "ads", but the clicks are tracked so webmaster can see where their traffic is coming from.

These websites also have prominent links to us on their sites.

Links to all the recommended sites, as well as some good review sites, are here.

How come all the models are so young? Let's see some 30, 40 year old models here!Top

We mainly shoot models aged 18 to 25, but every so often we shoot older models (up to 40), but they will never be a focus of this site. You can see the older models on our site, and here's how to do it yourself on the Browse page:

1. Go to the browse page
   
2. Filter by type, Models
3. Click on the Age sort-by option once (shows youngest-first)
4. Click it again, for oldest-first
5. Go crazy. And check out Adaline, cos she’s our fave (35)
   

How come a bunch of pics in each model's gallery look the same?Top

Actually, we're not ripping you off. This is a style of shooting that many of our customers enjoy, and does not appear to be done any place else we have seen.

What happens is this: We sometimes lock off the (stills) camera on a tripod, compose the shot carefully, and get the model to perform an action - say inserting and removing a dildo. Then, we take a pic at between three and eight frames every second, recording the action as she performs it.

If you download these images (as a zip is the easiest way), and use an image viewing program that allows you to press a single key to page through the images (you might want to choose to view our images full screen, "fit to screen"), you get an extremely high-quality "movie".

This allows you - in this example - to see what happens to each individual pubic hair, fold of skin, tiny muscle, and dollop of girlcum in the best possible quality and largest amount of detail.

Perhaps this is all a bit too explicit or "clinical" for you? Sure, we understand not everyone wants to see this kinda stuff, so we do the same thing for other actions as well, like a model taking her top off (seeing her tummy muscles and skin and breasts all move about is fascinating, we think!), or exercising, or rubbing lotion all over herself, or two models kissing passionately.

Some people think this is a waste of... something. They never can seem to tell us what, but we always say two things to them:

First, if you prefer, you can treat these sequences as a free bonus that you choose not to enjoy. They are not something we charge you extra for, we just add them into the set because we think they look cool, and we get a lot of positive feedback from customers.

Second, we provide many different options to download files from our site - entire set zips, entire page zips, custom zips you make yourself, or just single files you can choose to save on their own. If you want to skip these sequences, go right ahead. We ensure the sets look fine without them.

What do you do to these images, anyway?Top

All the series of pics on abbywinters.com are numbered in the same order they are shot in, so you get to see how it really happens. Before an image set is published on the site it goes through a lengthy post-production process.

1. Primary edit is done by whichever photographer did the shoot.
   This involves removing the bad shots (usually focus problems, camera shake, badly framed, redundant, etc). This is the longest part of the post-production process. The photographers try to take lots of great images, and then complete the edit in the same week it was shot. There can be several thousand images shot per shoot, especially on the multi camera girl/girl shoots, so editing can be an agonising process.
2. Edit review is done by the Still Editor Manager (SEM) to refine the edit and provide feedback to the shooters.
   The SEM works with the shooters to help them refine their choices, and action the vision of the Creative Director (CD). Suggestions from members can also have an impact on the type of coverage provided.
3. Batch processing and file management is done using both Adobe Lightroom and CS2.
   Lightroom is used to process and manage the images. That involves a minor Levels or Curves adjustment (for exposure and colour balance correction), some additional Saturation, an edge sharpen, and another sharpen. Branding with our logo and a pixel size reduction (by 42%) is done using Photoshop. We do not airbrush any of our images, or remove blemishes. We never crop images in imagesets on the site (we do crop the profile pics, and special promo ones like those on the tours and portal).
4. The final review is done by the SEM and Creative Director
   This is a last assessment of the set before being released on the website. The CD checks the editing, processing, branding and file naming. The SEM will action any requested changes.
5. Zipping, Uploading and Archiving
   The images are added to a zip, and uploaded to the server. The final set is also archived on a storage server.

Throughout the process the internal Post Production Content Management System (PPCMS) tracks the image set to ensure every step is completed.

There's no touching up on ANY of the pics, and we are proud of that. They are taken well in the first place. And the girls are real. The camera does not lie, and nor do our eyes. Note that occasionally, on some images, we may blur items in the background that show a model's full name or address.

We try to photograph the girls as they are, as we know them. There's no such thing as a "perfect" person, and far be it from us to try to make one! We produce pics technically that are as true to life as we can make them.

How come you keep focussing on the wrong part in image sets?Top

There is a technical limitation of cameras that affects the "depth of field" of an image - that is, how much is in focus. This is controlled via an "aperture", the hole in a camera that lets light onto the film. The larger the hole, the more light gets let in. A secondary effect of using a large hole is a shallow depth of field: what the photographer focussed on is in focus, but not much in front or behind that point is in focus.

So why not just use a small hole ("large f number"), so you have a large depth of field?

Part of the mandate of this site is to shoot models in their natural habitats when we can, and there is seldom enough light in these environments to achieve a depth of field (DOF) that has everything in focus.

We could bring in high-power flash gear and aim a million watts at the model, but we'd lose the intimate feel of the images that we think is so important - and sets us apart from a lot of our competition.

Or, we could use a slower shutter speed, which would allow us to use a larger f-number (more depth of field), but then we'd need to use a tripod to hold the camera steady, which would affect the pace of the shoot and our photographer's rapport with the model, which is bad.

Also, if you have everything in focus, the image looks cluttered; there's no separation between the foreground (the model), and the background (say, a bookcase). That makes for a visually confusing image. A lot of stock porn sites will shoot models against sets that are deliberately bland for this reason. But we don't shoot sets, we shoot models at their homes.

Well, the lesson in optics is lovely, but I didn't pay to see blurry pics of the goods!

Quite. So when we shoot (especially in those low-light environments), we're careful to include images with a range of focal points. It's then down to the image editor to sort from the 800 or so images from a shoot, down to a cohesive imageset of 150 or so.

Our editor is well aware of the issues between titillation, clarity, and frustration. We think she strikes a good balance between being true to our mission, and downright raunch. It's a fine line to walk, and we freely admit we don't nail it every single time. She'll usually include images that are similarly composed, but with different parts in focus.

But we do think we do a pretty good job most of the time. Have another look through an image set you think "suffers" from this "fault", with this in mind, and let us know what you think.

How come there are not more boy-girl shoots?Top

We first did a few girl-boy shoots to try it out in 2003-04. We have a policy of only shooting models with their real-life boyfriends, in an effort to make the whole thing less sleazy, and to capture that spark of genuine attraction which is so hard to find elsewhere. Since then we've played around with it a bit more, and made some pretty sexy and tasteful shoots. We currently add one new girl-boy shoot per month.

Girl-Boy isn't our 'main course', it's just something we do for fun alongside everything else. If you only want loads of girl-boy content, this site probably isn't for you. That said, if you';re craving some genuine and 'real' girl-boy erotica, you should definitely check out our stuff, we're quite proud of what we've done.

You can see all of our girl-boy shoots here.

What's with these Tiers (T1, T2, T3) of girl-girl shoots?Top

This is a shorthand way for us to refer to planned shoots in the office, that has spilled over to the site (a shoot for girl-girl material usually includes both stills and video components). Here's text adapted from our policy doc (yes, we have a policy doc for this kinda stuff!):

Girl-Girl Fun - level Tier 1 ("GGT1")
This includes being fully naked as for “nude”, and may include some light contact (such as rubbing in lotion to non-genital areas), but no sexual contact (such as kissing or genital touching). An example might be play-fighting, or mutual sunscreen-application (all over).
(Note that T1s are usually reserved for groups of four to six girls.). All Tier 1 GG Sets

Girl-Girl Make-Out - level Tier 2 ("GGT2")
This includes “girl girl Tier 1”, with the addition of passionate sexual contact – kissing, breast contact, bum squeezing. Usually no vaginal contact, but may be implied or lightly touched. All Tier 2 GG Sets
(We also have some Tier 2.7 shoots, which include finger stuff but no oral) All Tier 2.x GG Sets

Girl-Girl Hardcore - level Tier 3 ("GGT3")
This includes the things that happen in “girl girl” Tiers 1 and 2, with the addition of genital penetration with fingers, and oral sex. All Tier 3 GG Sets

We aim to add around two (sometimes three) GG shoots a week, varying the exact number of T1s, T2s, and T3s.

TIP: You can always find these different GG sets from the LISTS menu by clicking on 'browse models'.

How come you do not give the models stats like Playboy?Top

Uh, cos it's lame?