Over the years I’ve shot hundreds of bondage videos, some good ones and others complete duds, especially in the early years. But from shooting so much material, I’ve become aware of many errors that you often see in bondage and fetish videos. I’m still no expert in photography – I still often screw up and there are always new things to learn, but I’m a lot better than when I was starting out. And just to be clear, I’m not trying to be snarky in this blog post or put down the work of other producers. Every single error I’m discussing here is something I’ve done myself numerous times; some of them are mistakes that I still make, though hopefully not so often. And to be honest, well, this is not really a top ten list – I just needed a catchy title for the blog post! But it probably is about ten items long, more or less, with most of these points inspired by a list of photo and video tips that I did on Twitter in early 2024.

Of course, the most common mistake in bondage videos is sloppy bondage and loose gags, especially wrinkled and poorly applied tape gags. I want the gags, especially tape, to be just so – tight and smooth. Someday I’ll do a tape gag that’s so well done that I won’t be able to top it, and I might just have to call it quits! For me though the gag is always the most important part of the bondage, more so than the ropes.

Aside from issues with the bondage and gags, one of the most common mistakes I see in bondage videos – actually an audio issue – is the clicking sounds that you often hear caused by the camera operator’s hand movements being picked up by the camera-mounted microphone. The mic will pick up any sound and if you move your fingers around or are just breathing heavily, you’ll hear every little movement and exhalation! Similarly, you’ll often hear clicking and snapping sounds from the tripod when it’s being panned or tilted. The real underlying issue is usually the camera operator not wearing headphones to monitor the audio while they’re recording. I get it – it’s a pain to have to put on headphones for each shot. It’s very easy to just say, “Oh, the audio will be fine, I don’t need to check it.” But with the microphone usually right there on the camera, you will pick up ANY hand movement, even if you just adjust your grip a little bit. For me, if I end up with a shot with clicking sounds, I don’t use it. Bad audio ruins the video. And unfortunately, even producers who have been shooting for years will still sometimes have those tell-tale clicking sounds in their videos. I would say this is maybe the number one error in bondage and fetish videos. It’s certainly very common and once you start noticing it you will hear it everywhere.

Something that’s almost just as common is shaky poorly shot handheld video with the camera jerking this way and that. It just looks terrible. When shooting video, it’s better for the operator to find the frame and commit to it. Then change the frame when it needs to be changed, perhaps adding a cut. But don’t drift around with the camera. This is a common mistake you see in bondage videos, where the camera operator probably thinks that they’ll add excitement or energy to the scene by moving around with the video camera. But it usually doesn’t work. You can certainly add some camera moves while shooting but they should be done smoothly and without any jerking motions, which is not easy to do. One of the worst offenses is when someone actually takes the camera off the tripod during the scene and still uses that part of the footage in the finished video. The clicking and snapping from the quick-release lever sound awful as the image jerks around.

Another thing I recommend is never do a zoom during the shot and leave that part in the final video. It’s so hard to pull off a smooth and unobtrusive zoom on most video cameras and it’s the kind of camera move that draws attention to itself, usually in a bad way. It’s okay to change the focal length with the zoom lens but it’s better to add a cut between those sections and don’t include the actual zoom. Zooming in just looks amateurish and again you’ll often get those tell-tale clicking sounds while executing the zoom. If you want to move in closer during a shot, it’s much better to physically move in with the camera rather than relying on the zoom lens. Moving the camera on screen takes practice, though, and should be done smoothly and silently, of course. A camera move can be effective when handled well, but not while zooming onscreen. This isn’t a Robert Altman movie.

I also try to remove all the crap from the background, including bondage gear and clothes and water bottles and empty cans of Red Bull. All that stuff is distracting. I’ve seen bondage videos where the background is just piled up with crap, and it ruins the atmosphere. It’s one thing if it’s a warehouse with stuff in the background or a construction site with material in the background. But if it’s your dirty clothes hamper it’s always best to remove it.

Another thing you often see in bondage videos are lights and light stands and tripods visible in the background. Whenever I see light stands or a tripod right in the frame, I always find it distracting. (Glass-covered pictures and mirrors can be a royal pain too and will often show reflections of all the photo gear!) And again, I get it – when you’re shooting bondage videos, you’re under a big time crunch. There’s a LOT of stuff to do and you want to get the material shot before the model taps out, which happens way more than people think. Many of my videos have ended abruptly just because the model had reached their limits and had to be untied. And to walk over and move that light or tripod takes time and it’s so easy to say, “Oh, it doesn’t matter that much,” or “No one will really care.” But believe me, people notice that photo gear in the frame.

One other thing to avoid is relying on auto-exposure when shooting video, (same with auto white balance). Sometimes you can get away with this, but the problem is that the exposure will often shift if you pan or move the camera, especially if part of the scene is brighter and another part darker. The hunting and shifting looks amateurish. It’s usually much better to set a manual exposure and commit to it. If you need to change the exposure between shots you can usually make adjustments by changing the ISO, which controls the sensitivity of the sensor to the light, but don’t change it during the shot.

The next point is more an observation: One of the hardest things is to see what’s right in front of your eyes. It’s so easy to shoot a scene without realizing the model’s collar is twisted up in a weird way or the wig was slipping up or the ropes were slipping off their shoulder. Seeing what’s really going on can be incredibly hard. I’ve missed so many things over the years, and in some of my videos all I see now are the mistakes and things that I didn’t notice. It can be heartbreaking to come home and look at the footage and realize you missed something that was right there in front of your eyes.

Related to this last point, I don’t know what it is about messed up collars on blouses, especially on satin blouses, but they just seem to be so prone to getting twisted up in weird ways. This is another thing that I’ve missed dozens of times. I remember shooting one video a couple years ago where I was fighting to adjust the collar of the blouse for most of the scene. And even though I was aware of the problem I still had shots where I hadn’t quite fixed it, and many of those shots I just discarded. Sometimes the pressure of the ropes against the blouse can cause the material to twist up, and a few times I’ve even redone the chest bondage to try to fix the issue. It can be crazy making when the problem persists.

Some other random mistakes: When you’re tying someone, it’s easy to accidentally drag the rope across their face, which is not only annoying for the model – I’ve had riggers do it to me – but will often also mess up their hair. I’ve certainly done this to some of the models I’ve worked with and then not noticed afterwards how their hair was now sticking up in a weird way. If I’m lucky I’ll immediately notice the problem and go fix their hair – and apologize for dragging the rope across their face! – but it’s a very easy screw-up to miss.

Another equally easy thing to do is to accidentally stand partly in front of one of the lights and cause your own shadow to fall across the model while you’re recording video. Again, this is SO easy to do. Sometimes if you’re not moving and the shadow isn’t that noticeable you can still get away with using the shot, but I’ve taken so many shots where once I start to slowly pan or tilt the camera you can suddenly see my shadow moving. I can’t count how many times I’ve done that! It’s better to change where you’re standing or move the lights a little to keep your shadow out of the scene.

All of these are of course my own observations about things that I’ve noticed over the years. Again, I’m not trying to put down any other producers or be a know-it-all. I still make mistakes on every single video that I shoot – sometimes lots of mistakes.

Having said all this, the main concern in shooting bondage is always safety. I never want someone to get hurt or have an awful or traumatic experience while tied up. There are intense things I’ve wanted to do but that just felt too risky in the moment. My stuff can be very strict but I always prefer to err on the side of caution. Thankfully I’ve been lucky and have had very few scary incidents. I’ve gotten hurt a couple times myself while tied up – and I’m glad it was me and not someone else. My injuries (mild nerve damage from which I thankfully recovered) were caused by my own stupidity, pushing myself too hard in overly painful bondage when I should have called it quits. And I’ve heard horror stories from professional models, mostly genetic female models, who work and get tied up a lot and have gotten hurt, some of them seriously and with lasting consequences. As sexy as it is, being tied up can be tough on your body and can take a toll over the years. It’s not always a big bondage orgy.

On that note, if you’ve read to the end of this rather long blog post, thanks for checking it out. I hope some of it was helpful or least somewhat enlightening or entertaining. The main point is that it’s a good thing to have a critical eye towards one’s own work and one’s own mistakes and to keep trying to improve. It’s an ongoing learning process that never ends till you call it quits.

If you’re a crossdresser who wears wigs and who also has sideburns on your “real” guy hair, one thing I sometimes recommend is just shaving them off. If you add up all the time that I’ve worked at trying to hide sideburns under wigs during photoshoots it probably adds up to several hours of effort. Those little hairs in front of your ears can be really hard to hide! Several times I’ve gently suggested to models that if they shave off their sideburns, it would just make everything easier.

I haven’t had sideburns on my own guy hair for more than thirty years – one day I just said enough and shaved them off. And no one has ever noticed or commented on their absence. Even the guy who cuts my hair – a very talkative gay gentleman – has never said a word about my lack of sideburns. They just aren’t there anymore so it’s a non-issue. Besides, sideburns are a pretty strange feature of masculine hairstyles. Even if a guy has fairly straight hair, the sideburns are sometimes curly and can have a mind of their own. So if you have sideburns and are getting tied up by me don’t be surprised if I put my hand on your arm, lower my voice, and say, “You know, have you ever thought of shaving off your sideburns? Let me tell you a little about my experience…”

A similar topic is the reluctance that some crossdressers have to shaving off their body hair, and I mean all of it. Many crossdressers can’t stand having body hair, and many of us will shave our entire bodies a couple times a week, and sometimes more often if the body hair grows quickly. Once you get in the habit though of shaving your body it becomes very uncomfortable to have any body hair at all. There have been a few crossdressers who wanted to do a photoshoot with me, but shaving was always such a big deal for them – they were afraid of being found out – so they rarely did a full-body shave. Some of them I just couldn’t shoot with because I could only get them to commit to a partial shave and some were even worried about that – nope, that’s not going to work.

And my experience with shaving one’s body is very similar to shaving one’s sideburns – no one ever notices! Maybe occasionally someone might notice if your arms and legs are smoothly shaved – maybe – but they’re probably not going to say anything. I’ve fully shaved my body for probably close to forty years and not once when wearing short sleeves has anyone ever asked me about my arms – I mean, never! It’s just a non-issue. If someone did ask me, “Oh, do you shave your arms?” I would just say, “Yes, I prefer it that way.” And depending on the circumstances I might even add, “I’m a crossdresser so I kind of have to, you know!”

My experience, though, is that people rarely ever notice such things. People are so wrapped up in their own lives that they don’t have time to reflect on that guy who appears to have unusually smooth arms – “What is going on with that guy? I must go over there and ask him about those arms – What gives?” But people typically don’t notice much and don’t care. So shave away! Even if you don’t crossdress you could easily get addicted to being smooth all over. If it helps, just picture me leaning in and whispering, “Give it some thought, you might like it.”

Back in the old days of the Trannies In Trouble Yahoo Group, there was a file section where members could upload short stories. Some of them were quite good and I downloaded a few of the better ones before Yahoo canceled all the groups. Recently an online friend sent me one of those old stories called “Do You Dare?” It’s a dark and very sinister bondage story where a hapless CD gets talked into doing self-bondage by a nice and classy (but dangerous) lady. I’d love to repost it on my blog here, but I want to get permission from the author first. She wrote “Valerie’s Short Stories” on the front page. And I think she also went by Valstor. I’ve looked online and on Fetlife, but I can’t seem to find any mention of her or of her stories. If anyone knows Valerie the writer from social media or has an email address for her, please leave a comment here or email me as I think her story would be very much enjoyed, and would send a shiver up the spine.

I was hoping I’d post something more fun and sexier before the Supreme Court ruled on Texas’s age verification law, but it seems I’ve been behind on everything lately! The ruling to uphold Texas’s law was pretty much what I was expecting. I read a survey recently where 70 to 80 percent of people polled were in favor of age verification laws. And I understand why. On the face of it, they sound like a good thing. What kind of lunatic would want minors to look at porn sites!

But when you dig deeper that’s not really what the objections to the law are about. As I’ve said many times, I don’t want anyone under 18 to be looking at Trannies in Trouble either! But the problem with the Texas law is that it doesn’t do what it says it does. It won’t keep minors off porn sites, sites that comply with the law will likely see their traffic and business decline, and some sites that don’t comply will get a boost. Again, it’s the kind of law where legislators can say, “Well, hey, at least we did something!” But the idea that minors in Texas will now be blocked from accessing porn is absurd. The use of VPNs will simply skyrocket, as they already have, as well as the viewing of non-compliant sites.

One of the biggest and most worrisome outcomes will likely be overreach. I won’t be at all surprised if we start seeing all kinds of things that aren’t even pornographic hidden behind an “age gate,” things such as sex education and anything to do with the existence of LGBTQ people.

I’ll try to write something more interesting next time I post but I had to at least make a mention of the case since I’ve written so much about it already. I’ll probably be reading about this ruling a lot in the next few days. I’m afraid things are only just getting started.

As I mentioned last December, the Supreme Court will likely release their decision this summer in the case involving Texas’s age verification law. It could be a hugely consequential ruling…or not. I’m not smart enough to predict what the outcome will be. But I do expect that it will likely be one of two outcomes – either completely unexpected and surprising or else anticlimactic with the court sending the case back to the lower court for review. But I really have no idea.

The legal question under review is very boring, focusing on which level of legal scrutiny the Texas law is subject to and whether it passes that scrutiny. It’s a dry distinction between “strict scrutiny” versus “rational basis review” (or possibly “intermediate scrutiny” though experts say that’s a less likely outcome). Basically, as I understand it, the court is deciding if the Texas law is narrowly tailored enough in its stated goal, which is to keep minors off porn sites. Does the law impose too much of a burden on adults who have the First Amendment right to view online porn or is the law not overly burdensome? At least that’s my layman’s take on what’s under review.

If the court upholds Texas’s age verification law, then the outcome could be significant, possibly leading to a national age verification law for porn sites. On the other hand, if the court sends the case back to the lower court for review, then there could be endless legal challenges for years as individual states pass their own laws. The arguments are dry as dust, but I’ll admit I’m pretty obsessed with the case since it could directly affect me and Trannies In Trouble.

If we were to end up with a national age verification law, then one almost inevitable outcome is that the law would be poorly executed and really wouldn’t keep minors off porn sites. A study on Louisiana’s age verification law found that sites that comply with the law likely suffer a drop in traffic whereas those that don’t comply with the law, such as XVideos (based in Europe), get a boost. Another likely outcome is that when age verification laws are put in place, online searches for VPNs (virtual private networks) go way up, with young people often way savvier users than adults. (VPNs, of course, allow you to appear to be logging on from a different state, allowing you to bypass the law.) And yes, I certainly want to keep minors off my website as much as anyone. If we do end up with a national law, I would of course comply as I certainly don’t want to risk getting busted or fined.

My gut feeling, though, is that with the current political climate in the US that we’re ripe for some new anti-porn laws. As I’ve said before, whether you love or hate Donald Trump, the political climate in the country has shifted. I’ll be the first to admit I’m more than a little paranoid, but new anti-porn legislation seems almost inevitable when you consider what we’re seeing on other cultural and legal fronts, especially with the endless anti-trans laws and executive orders. The decision that would really surprise me is if the court were somehow to rule that age verification laws are unconstitutional and we just go back to the status quo with click-thru boxes saying, “Yes, sure, I’m over 18. Of course I am!” The likelihood of that happening seems miniscule. As one recent article put it, “The Online Porn Free-for-All is Coming to an End.“

There may be other technological ways that could make age verification work better, maybe – existing parental filters and possibly so-called “device-based age verification” – but neither of those approaches has been widely embraced by legislators and society at large. And if one website requires age verification, then of course there will be hundreds more that are non-compliant, many hosted outside the US. So basically, we have laws that don’t really work but that allow legislators to say, “Hey, we at least did something.” Plus, age verification laws have the added benefit of just making it harder for webmasters to run a porn site. I’m reminded of Russell Vought’s statement, “We’d have a national ban on porn if we could, right?” Vought of course is the current head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and one of the most competent policy wonks of the current administration.

One of the biggest dangers of age verification laws is that they could easily be used to limit access to material that isn’t porn, so that even search results for sex education or LGBTQ issues could be put behind an “age gate.” The potential for overreach is obvious, where material that simply acknowledges the reality of being gay or trans could end up being treated as pornographic. And of course, there are the huge privacy risks and risks of identity theft if users are required to upload their driver’s license or take a facial scan just to look at a compliant porn site.

So here we are. I’ve never before been in a wait and see mode like this, waiting for a ruling from the Supreme Court, which again could be this huge thing or completely anticlimactic. We should know soon enough.

When it comes to the “wank bank,” I’m the kind of person who usually enjoys looking at still pictures more than videos. It’s a personal preference, and I know many people prefer videos. Sometimes, though, I’ll see short little videos on Twitter that may be only eight or ten seconds long and which repeat as they play. Some of those little “loops,” as I call them, are just incredibly HOT and really all that I need to, well, get a reaction. I’m sure I’m not the only one, and I suspect that more than a few people have had a similar response to the little video previews that I post on Twitter and Bluesky.

When you’re watching a longer video and hoping to get turned on by it, there’s often one section that does it for you – for example, the moment the gurl gets gagged, or a line or two that Star Nine utters in a particularly disdainful way, or the moment when the bad guy or femme fatale leaves the poor hapless crossdresser alone, tied up and abandoned in a cheap motel for the maid to discover. But it’s almost always a specific moment that does it, not the entire video. I’m sure lots of viewers probably often skip the intro and talking parts of my videos and just fast forward to the bondage. It makes me wonder sometimes if I should just try to make shorter videos that get right to the hot parts, though when you’re trying to edit even a simple storyline, it’s not always easy to judge what to leave in and what to cut. There was a recent scene with Ana Corvida meeting Otto and being put in some super-inescapable bondage. I really liked that one, but again for those who got off to it there was probably just a specific moment that really worked. I believe VLC Media Player lets you select an in and out point and just play that part on a repeating loop – a very important feature for your most effective porn viewing experience!

Below are a couple short video “loops” that I recently saw on Twitter that really grabbed my attention. The first one shows a beautiful dominant woman named Vie with manicured nails and bright red lipstick. One detail that drove me crazy was the way the sleeves of the sexy knit blouse she’s wearing are narrow and tightly fitted to her forearms, making her arms look especially sleek. And her entire manner and that little laugh at the end made me practically swoon. The minute I saw this little clip it was just like OMG! What someone finds a turn on, of course, is such a personal thing, but I certainly bookmarked that tweet. I just hope she doesn’t delete it! (I wasn’t able to embed the tweet here for some reason but just click on the image below to view it in a new tab.)

Another tweet that I really liked shows a very hot Domme named Navlia in a tight pvc dress and above-the-knee boots, making a snapping sound with a leather belt as she looks into the camera with a serious look on her face and an imposing cage behind her. Again, her whole manner is hot, and something about the snapping sound of that belt just really gets to me. I can’t say that I’m really into impact play all that much, but I certainly would be in this scene – for me everything here just worked!

If you want to worship goddes, don't wait 😈🔥https://t.co/UhGDnuOPKh pic.twitter.com/PPBJyEj3WH

— KinkyNavlia (@KNavlia) April 10, 2024

I’ve posted lots of short little videos myself on Twitter and Bluesky and I certainly hope that they’ve been bookmarked many times and enjoyed in the privacy of the bedroom with the door locked and the window shades drawn. I don’t get many comments on this blog, but I’m always curious which videos previews are the most popular (aside from the “like” button count on Twitter). It would be amazing to wake up one day and be blessed with a special ESP that lets me know which videos are being enjoyed at any given moment and which elements in them are the hottest. In any case, whoever’s out there enjoying my little previews, hope it’s a good one!

Apparently, there’s a law firm in Kansas that’s using the state’s new age verification law to solicit potential clients to sue porn website owners. Kansas’s law (one of the strictest in the country) is designed so that any citizen, not just the state, can bring a lawsuit against a producer. The Kansas law allows for a minimum fine of $50,000 dollars against any website operator with a site accessible in Kansas that doesn’t have an age verification system in place. It seems some producers may have already received letters from the Kansas law firm demanding a settlement to avoid legal action. I can just imagine having to speak to one of these lawyers: “It would be a shame to find yourself embroiled in a big lawsuit. But hey, buddy, making a settlement would be a much wiser path, spare yourself all that scrutiny and embarrassment of being dragged into court with your weird fetish website, could ruin your life. Yeah, would really be a shame if something like that were to happen to you, wouldn’t it?”

If this kind of thing escalates, it’s possible it could reach a point where I may have to block my own website from showing up in states where I could conceivably get sued. Pornhub has already done that, and in those states, you have to use a VPN (virtual private network) to get around the block. Thankfully VPNs are pretty cheap. Ironically, many teenagers are already way more familiar with using VPNs than many adults are. It’s too early to say what traction these legal tactics will have, and of course there’s the big Supreme Court case coming up in January challenging Texas’s age verification law which could change everything (or not). More wait and see.