Whether you're interested in spicing up your love life or seriously considering a porn industry career, there's more to taking sexy pictures of yourself than sticking your phone down your pants.
But we live in a digital age: It's tough, and getting tougher, to prevent your oh-so-very private images and videos from accidentally going public - or being exploited by people who might try to use them for their own gain.
If you want to make porn that's just for you and/or your partner(s), you'll first need to understand and accept a few things:
If you thoroughly understand the above and still want to make movies or snap pictures that'll make you look and feel like a porn star, these basic tips will help reduce the possibility of exposure:
Think very carefully about what pictures or videos you plan on taking and what you intend to do with them, because even novice porn stars' best-laid plans can go astray.
Simple though it may sound, an effective way to keep yourself out of the limelight is to shoot your body, not your face. To further obfuscate your identity, you might try adding a mask and covering any distinct piercings/tattoos.
Your filming location can also say too much about you.
If you're filming on a device with internet access, like your phone, tablet, laptop or computer, begin by turning off your phone's location services.
Then, do your best to remove any identity identifiers from your set. This could include diplomas, sports jerseys, family photos and location-specific items such as posters or banners. If you have the means, you can streamline this process by checking yourself into a comfortably generic hotel rather than shooting in your own house or apartment.
After you finish shooting, carefully examine every shot to ensure nothing too revealing slipped through. If anything did, delete the file or edit it out.
Another word of warning: If you're editing your video using an internet-based platform, any clips you upload -- even the ones you edit out -- will live online, in some capacity, forever.
Most smartphone cameras today will do the trick for enthusiastic porn amateurs. But finding the right angles can be tricky! Thankfully, a good-quality selfie stick or adjustable mount with a Bluetooth remote trigger is a great tool for making you the center of sin-ematic attention.
Ideally, your phone should be positioned wherever it can capture the most of you and your sexy nakedness and the least of everything else. Your bed frame? Not a great idea -- it'll probably rock and roll along with whatever sexy activities you'll perform. Better to fix it on a tall chair or bookcase to avoid making wobbly porn videos.
For amateurs, high-end microphones can be more trouble than they're worth: They'll cost you a pretty penny and they might pick up unwanted sounds, such as squeaky bed frames or someone's footsteps in the next room.
So, unless you plan on regaling your audience with an erotic story or two, you won't need a wearable mic; your camera's built-in one should do just fine.
If you're keen on making some audio porn, that's a different story. Just don't forget mics pick up a lot more than your voice; try to avoid any unnecessary moving around.
READ: A Guide to Audio Erotica.
If you're interested in turning pro, stick to adult industry-recommended sites. Until you get more experienced with their ideal file formats, how they work and the benefits they offer their performers, it's best to limit yourself to a single platform before branching out to others.
Say what you want about the porn biz, but it can be remarkably supportive of newcomers --particularly the camming side.
READ: A Beginner's Guide to Camming.
If you get stuck, have any questions, concerns or merely want to network, plenty of people are willing to lend a hand -- or, as the need arises, other body parts.
Tempting though it might sound, don't send nudes via less-than-secure platforms like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, SMS or email. Also, never keep anything on the cloud or your smartphone, as one hack or security slip is all it'll take for everything you have to go everywhere you don't want it to.
Instead, store your porn on an encrypted hard or flash drive.
For sending your sexy selfies to someone else, try secure messaging apps like Signal, Disckreet or CoverMe. These services will automatically delete your images after a set amount of time -- even after your lucky recipient has opened them. However, keep in mind the apps can't prevent a recipient from snapping a screenshot of your naughty bits.
Adult media expert Kimberly Kane said, of making porn, "I really enjoy the performance aspect of porn. Some of the best sex scenes to me can be poetry, and I think sexuality can be an art form."
In this spirit, the most arousing, exciting and hottest adult films are often those wherein the performer(s) are not playing to an audience but playing with, and for, themselves.
So, start by asking yourself what'd you like to see and, from there, what you'd like to do. Maybe it's a strip tease or sharing a fantasy? How about a fully-clothed peek-a-boo-show or showing off a favorite sex toy?
Making porn is a lot like making love; it's less about showing off and more about passion. Find yours and, trust us, you'll have as much fun performing in front of your camera as will those lucky enough to be in the audience.
