Try nude photography!
As your photographic interests progress, you are likely to try and take photos of somebody in the nude - It’s a very honest and challenging artform, which allows for a level of intimacy far beyond your regular portraiture.
Of course, with the modern world’s paranoia about nudity, it’s not easy to know where to begin, so I’ve written a guide which I hope will come in handy to everyone, and give some insight into the hows and whys.
Needless to say, the photos behind the cut may not be entirely safe for work, but rest assured they are all relatively tasteful.
What it is
Defining what “act” is is far from easy, but the common denominator is that someone in the picture is nude.
The problem with the definition is that people seem to attribute different things to act. The most important part of an act photo is that the person(s) in the picture is naked - and that this nakedness has a purpose.
Pictures with naked people don’t necessarily have to be act photographs. The piles of naked dead people in Auschwitz (famous TV footage and pictures) are definitely not act. Also, in several portraits I have seen the model is naked, but it is the sort of casual nakedness where you wouldn’t expect anything else, which once again isn’t perceived as act photography.
Taking good nude photos
1 - Find a model
This is probably going to be your biggest problem. It is difficult to take good act self portraits, so you will have to find a model. A wife or girlfriend (or husband / boyfriend) might be able to help you out, but the problem here is that you are likely to know this body well already. One of the few exceptions to this Petter Hegre (see the links section below), who has taken an extensive (and very intimate) act series of his wife - titled “my wife”
My point is that it would be better to take shots of somebody you have never seen naked before. That way, the picture taking process will be as much as an exploration for you (the photographer) as for the viewer
Finding a model can be difficult, especially if you do not have a photo studio or a professional business card (Neither those mean anything, as even people owning both can be psychos, but it helps when talking people into act modelling). You could, of course, call a professional modelling agency, and offer to do a few act shoots for new models who need a portfolio, but this is not likely to be cheap. Alternatively, using a online modeling agency such as OneModelPlace, you could find amateur models in your area.
When choosing a model, take somebody who has features that intrigue you. Don’t fall in the trap of picking somebody with a supermodel body - it removes much of the challenge. Instead, you want somebody who is different than average (making somebody who is not automatically associated with “pretty” look gorgeous is a lot more of a challenge than taking pictures of head-turners). A few pounds too much or too little is great.
Get a place
When working with act photography - no matter how much time you spend getting the pictures to look nice, and hiding away everything you would prefer not to show - the models will be moving, and everything will show, to put it that way. What you want to do is to find a reasonably secluded spot to take the pictures. A photo studio is ideal, but outdoors or on location somewhere makes for great pictures.
Make sure that the temperature wherever the pictures will be taken is good though, because remember; Somebody will be naked, and being cold definitely does not help to make people relax!
Take the pictures
Before you take the pictures, you will have to have thought about what you will want to do. Make some sketches, or have the model go through some poses with clothing on, to get some ideas as to where the shoot is going. Let the model have some ideas or set a theme to get going (a big black leather couch and a pale model or vice-versa can be very exciting)
When taking the pictures, take lots of pictures. This goes for any style of photographs, but particularly act. If you believe you got a shot right - take two more just to make sure.
This also means that you will run out of film fast. Great. That means you can take frequent breaks while you load new film. Have a chat, take it easy, have a glass of wine (if the model is nervous, this can help LOTS)
Experiment
Try new stuff. Combine strange things. Have you seen the picture of Atlas? Recreate this with a big beach ball, or a TV receiver set or something. Use candles as light sources. Take black and white or colour shots (whatever you normally don’t). Use an overhead projector or a slide projector to project shapes onto your model.
Learn more
Philip Greenspun has an excellent guide to nude photography on Photo.net, complete with lots of examples, practical tips, and interesting pointers. Not to be missed!
About.com has invited Peter Marshall to do A Beginners Guide to Nude Photography, which has a series of articles about nude photos, and how to go about photographing them
Examples of act photography
Jean Valette has several galleries of photos that show a careful balance of light and shadow.
Bodyscapes is a project by Allan Teger: set of photographs where bodies are seen as landscapes. Very clever, very sexy, but not rude.
Petter Hegre is a famous Norwegian photographer who specializes in nudes. A few great art shots, and a few that go to - and beyond - the line of pornography. But the sheer quality of the shots still make them worth seeing.
Michelle7 is a site that has been around for a long time, and offers a lot of different styles of nudes. Not all of it is to my taste, but the site shows off a lot of talent.
Man’s Touch shows off a large number of male nudes
The Art Nudes blog has a daily update of an artistic nude photo - most of them are of world-class standard - sometimes provocative, sometimes a bit strange, but always of very good quality.
Domai is a page which seems a little on the shady side - they keep getting models in that look as though they are younger than 18, although the site assures us that they are all old enough. Never mind that - the photography on Domai is always of extremely high quality, the models are beautiful, and quite a bit of it is very artistically shot.
Flickr is of course another source of nude photos - the “Tasteful nudes” pool is a great port of call for inspiration, mostly photos taken by amateur models, but a lot of it is rather good.
If all of this isn’t enough for inspiration, check out kyphilom’s Human Art links, Mike Sibthorp’s nude link list. Between them, there are hundreds of links to fine art porn pages.
Other notable links
A history of nude photography in the inter-war era.
Good luck, and if any of my readers have galleries of tasteful nudes - please do post a comment, I’d love to feature your site!
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This entry is © Haje Jan Kamps / Photocritic.org, and was posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
#1 - June 26th, 2006 at 09:07
i want to become a photographer,
#2 - July 26th, 2006 at 04:54
In 2004 my sister-in-law asked me to do some shots of her while she was pregnant. She was in her last trimester.
She asked if it would bother me if she went topless; no, didn’t bother me at all. When it comes to my art, I take it seriously.
The natural light through the floor-to-ceiling windows was fabulous because we were 25 stories up and nothing around us.
The shots were simple. The bed was the only prop.
I used my Mamiya 6×6 and I hand metered each shot with my Sekonic light meter. I used Ilford XP2. I shot just one roll of 12 (for those who don’t know, medium format film only comes in 12 or 24 exposures).
I was very methodical about each shot. I took my time. I made adjustments with her hair or maybe the bed coverings. I was always looking for things out of place.
I over-lapped two shots slightly offset. I always tell her they would look great in a suspended frame.
We talked and discussed each shot and different positions. This is always relaxing for the model, whether nude or not.
Technically, exposure-wise, they all turned out, however 6 were outstanding (I am my own worst critic :) That is a 50% ratio. Not bad, eh?
So, first and foremost, in order to do nudes, you need to find someone willing.
Cory Johnson
Max Photography
http://www.coryjohnson.net
#3 - August 1st, 2006 at 18:12
Did you go to any schooling. I am an amature photographer and the closest school is in Santa Barbara and cost $76000.00. What do you recommend. Thanks, Mistie in Grass Valley
#4 - February 22nd, 2007 at 08:20
You are welcome to have a go at my stuff!
#5 - February 22nd, 2007 at 11:38
Allways learning. Thanks to write this post and share it.
#6 - March 1st, 2007 at 09:36
A great tutorial, with very good and very smart advices. Thanks a lot to share !
#7 - March 10th, 2007 at 14:17
You may have a go using my photos. I am a fairly well known and internationally collected nude photographer. I have sold pieces from a gallery in NY, but my largest art market is those wanting to hire me to shoot their figure before they are too old and surgeons.
#8 - March 12th, 2007 at 20:54
To the above commenter, Mistie. For the most part I am self-taught :) A couple of night courses (a less costly alternative) helped me refine a few things, but otherwise I learned everything myself. When I started photography in 1991 I jumped in with both feet; it turns out I have an affinity for seeing things differently :)
In the beginning I started with black and white (very forgiving when it comes to minor mistakes :) I read a variety of magazines & books (in fact I still do, I always pick up little things); I taught myself about exposure and composition; I took notes of all my shots (all done with a Pentax ME Super, nothing fancy, and I still use it!) and had them critiqued by professionals (always helpful); I talked “shop” with other photographers and learned little tricks of the trade; I experimented with shots; but first, and foremost, take *lots* of photos! Don’t be afraid, it’s the only way you’re going to learn :)
And of course, with the advent of the internet, there are many places to get information and “talk shop” with others.
Remember, these are the elements which bring focus to a photograph:
- breadth
- depth
- theme
- point of interest
cory photographique
http://www.coryjohnson.net
#9 - March 26th, 2007 at 22:22
i never seen such a realistic work..of photography..before.i m impressed..can u send me couples of black n white..that would be really helpful for me.
thanks to read me
Roby from Bangladesh
#10 - August 2nd, 2007 at 18:33
I am looking for a photographer in the NJ or eastern Pennsylvania area, to take tasteful nude photos of me… thanks!
#11 - August 30th, 2007 at 23:28
Your photos are not like true life. Nude is nude. Why don’t you show the body the way it was meant to be shown? When people get back to nature, what else matters?
#12 - September 30th, 2007 at 21:37
I am working on a book of fine art FigureNUDE photographs. I have completed roughly the first third and it will be published in perhaps a digital format before it is available in print. You can see a few of them at FigureNUDE.com. Would you guess that any were done by a paralyzed, disabled artist from a wheelchair and involve photos of at least one disabled model? Haji; -let me know what I can do to help.
#13 - December 26th, 2007 at 22:32
wow. it´s very nice
#14 - March 17th, 2008 at 19:38
one of the most imp part of capturing, with camera now or with thousand year old sketching on walls and caves, or the paintings some four centuries ago to date, it is one of the most imp part of human imagination and attachment to female form by nature, that the art persists and will go on because this beauty cannot be seen anywhere on earth, even the most delicate of flowers will lag behind in front of the female nude form, so kudos to those artists, painters and photographers who brought them live thro their medium.
#15 - July 29th, 2008 at 22:09
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#16 - October 22nd, 2008 at 00:38
Thanks for posting this. I’ve been wanting to get into nude photography for quite some time, and more tips are always appreciated. If you don’t mind, I am going to link to this article on my site: Glamour Photography Forums so hopefully more people will see it. Keep up the good articles!
Kyle
#17 - November 29th, 2008 at 02:38
Thanks for your good site. You might like to critic my nude photo site given above.
thanks