nude photography | The Nudist Magazine

Posts Tagged ‘nude photography’

True Confessions of Nude Photography: A Step-by-Step Guide to Recruiting Beautiful Models, Lighting, Photographing Nudes, Post-Processing Images, and maybe even Getting Paid to do it

As a seasoned travel photographer, my genre is quite the antithesis of this one: I shoot primarily outdoors rather than in-studio, I rely solely on natural lighting, I profoundly prefer candid shots over posed, and next to never do I digitally manipulate my images.

The upside to constantly traveling across the world is I know probably better than anyone which cities and countries are home to the most lovely ladies (Tokyo tops the list). I have always envied photogs who work in the comfortable confines of a studio, interact with a bevy of beautiful women and certainly get paid far better for their work than I. Why, then, shouldn’t I give it a try?

But before actually delving into nude photography, I first have been flipping through numerous volumes of photo technique guides to see if it is indeed a genre I could easily convert to (i.e. teaching an old dog new tricks), but thus far I have been put off by what I have seen: guides that are either excruciatingly technical or out-dated to the point of uselessness.

And then comes along True Confessions, a brand-spanking-new book that blessedly incorporates pretty much every up-to-date aspect of the nude photography profession into a refreshingly fun instructional manual for amateurs and pros alike.

With over 20 years nude photography experience (”hundreds” of naked girls, by his last count, lucky devil) combined with proper schooling, I can’t think of a better teacher than A.K. Nicholas. But even more important than his own experience and credentials is Nicholas’ talent as an author for being able to convey a highly-technical skill such as studio photography into easy-to-follow text and diagrams that will immediately put the reader at ease. “You’ll learn from my successes AND from my mistakes,” writes Nicholas. As a photographer who is entirely self-taught and has limited technical background, I appreciated this most about True Confessions.

At a 120+ pages, True Confessions is comprehensive. 20 of those pages are dedicated to the most challenging aspect of the job: recruiting and shooting models. Our Savior Nicholas plots it all out for us in hip lingo akin to the rules of dating (”I never call after a third `no’”; “concentrate on booking a specific day, not a specific model”). He then moves on to studio etiquette, such as how (not) to physically handle a model’s fun-parts, tips to make a new nude feel relaxed, and chatting a model up. “My goal is to make images, not to make friends,” states Nicholas. Elliot DiMauro from `Just Shoot Me’ would be so disappointed.

A sheer quarter of the book is on the art of lighting. Due to my personal jones for natural light, I was admittedly was initially loath to read this chapter. But Nicholas’ cool reasoning (”the key to background light is not a lot of light, but a lot of lightS”) complimented by helpful illustrated diagrams, example images and informational text – and even a token few pages on outdoor lighting – those 30 pages were, well, illuminating.

Arguable the most useful section of this book is on posing and composition. Nicholas dips into the “pin-up versus art” debate and critiques the mythical “Golden Mean” method, encouraging us to “depart from the formulaic,” though ultimately the author suggests a combination of classic and experimental composition to create new poses. The chapter closes (read: rewards us) with a whopping 100 (!) different sample poses ranging from traditional to avant-garde that are sure to give Playboy a run for its money.

Post-processing is covered in-depth (he suggests “a day of post-processing for every hour of shooting”), including instructional screen-captures of the most up-to-date computer software tips. Advice on shooting for microstock and making/selling 3D reference photos follows. A helpful glossary and sample model release forms close out the appendix.
2010.10.16 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
“Nude Visions: 150 Years of Nude Photography” Opens at the Museum of Visual Arts, Leipzig

The representation of the unclothed human body has exuded a great fascination ever since time began. The exhibition Nude Visions invites visitors to embark on a journey through a collection of depictions of the human body spanning 150 years. More than 250 original photos, books and folders with studies from the nude will be on view, including masterpieces from each period: from photographs dating from the 19th century which seek their models in Classical Antiquity and the Renaissance, up to Surrealistic experiments and fashion and lifestyle photography. The exhibition illustrates changing ideals of beauty and moral perceptions, and reveals once again the constant attempt to balance between educational openness, titillation and curiosity.

“Without any doubt, there is nothing which draws the attention of the observer to it so much as the naked human body“. This comment of the journalist and photographer Kurt Freytag in1909 is as true today as it was then. The exhibition turns this fact to its advantage and deals with the historical, aesthetic and ideological development of images of the human body in photography. The show is divided into seven chapters devoted to the meaning and function of the unclothed human body in photography, and tracing the history of the medium: “Academies and Exotic Pictures in the 19th century“, “Art photography around 1900 (Pictorialism)“, “Avant-gardes of the 20s and 30s“, “Artistic positions after 1945“, “Naturism”, “The Male Nude“ and “Glamourous Nudes“. The first coloured Daguerreotypes of curvaceous ladies with blushing cheeks dating from 1855 meet the unflatteringly in-your-face and voyeuristic self-portrait of the photographer Frank Stürmer from 2004. These two photos mark the two ends of the spectrum covered by the exhibition, which illustrates the evolution of nude photography over sixteen decades by the example of more than 250 eminent works.

Nude photography is always, too, a process of negotiation between revealing and concealing. This exhibition makes clear the ambivalence of what is visible and what is unseen, of shame and curiosity, of legitimation and provocativeness. How nakedness is treated is closely bound up with the specific social context in which it occurs, the ideas of morality and the aesthetic ideal of an era. The motif of the nude is always influenced here both by the historical artistic tradition and reactions to contemporary impulses, which are interpreted by the photographer. Thus the movement for women’s emancipation, for instance, led to new ways of looking at both the female and the male body, as seen for example in the work of Herlinde Koelbl. Images which were still regarded as being scandalous at the beginning of the 20th century, triggering moral misgivings and controversy about a subject perceived as being delicate, would hardly bring a blush to the face of anyone living today. It is not only the motifs which have moved on, but also the reproducibility of the images and the extent of their media coverage impact on the awareness and significance of nakedness in society.

The origins of the history of nude photography lie in the so-called “academies“, which provided painters, graphic artists and sculptors with study objects in the 19th century and which followed the historical artistic models of Classical Antiquity and the Renaissance. Nude photography soon increasingly became emancipated from being a mere model for painting and sculpture, and developed artistic ambitions of its own: photographers discovered in the art of the fin de siècle, with its debt to Symbolism, the nude as a reflection of emotional states and yearnings. In the outgoing 19th century, with its bias towards the exact sciences, the human body served as an object for the study of movement, such as in the celebrated series shots by Eadweard Muybridge showing the sequence of motions in human movement.

Whereas historically staged scenes and compositions are still created in the sheltered environment of the atelier at the beginnings of photography, we find the first open-air nudes after 1870. Wilhelm von Gloeden, Guglielmo Plüschow and others took advantage of the light in the Mediterranean South to stage their visions of an earthly Arcadia. As a feature of the Lebensreform back-to-nature movement which gained ground from the turn of the century onwards, especially in Germany, nude photography became a torchbearer of the Naturist movement. The ornamentally arranged groupings of naked dancers which Gerhard Riebicke for example photographs, mainly in the German countryside, became a symbol for the liberation from the moral constraints of civilization and industrialization. The aesthetic of athletic bodies engaged in sporting activities or dancers in motion was taken up in the heroic physical ideal of the National Socialists and can later still be found in the cult of bodybuilding.

A new, more radical vision was developed by the Avant-garde movements after the 1920s, with their abstract and surrealistic experiments, such as the stories narrated in a play of light and shadow by František Drtikol or the deformed bodies in the works of Hans List. The theme of “glamour“ plays a crucial role above all in fashion photography. That chapter poses the question as to what role is played in the debate on fashion by the way of showing the unclothed female body, by male desire and how perceptions change in the course of cultural history. Glamour can be seen in the erotic images from the Atelier Manassé, shown in soft focus, in Bert Stern’s portraits from the “last sitting” of Marilyn Monroe, up to and including Helmut Newton’s photos. In addition to these, selected works by amateurs as well as the male nude as an expression of gay emancipation will also be presented in pictures, particularly by Will McBride or Herbert Roettgen, who placed the representation of the naked male body in the focus of their work as an expression of their homosexuality, an emblem of their coming-out.

The depiction of the naked torso is shrouded in an aura of scandal and has always been a political bone of contention, whereby images of the bare human body send signals which differ according to their historical context: the photographic artists of the 1970s, working within the framework of body art and performance events, declared the directness of their own physical experience to be a political necessity. In retrospect, their work can be seen as a last desperate attempt to grapple with the vanishing concept of the subjective personality before the transition to the post-modern age. The private spaces of life too are meanwhile also illuminated in a quite different way than 25 years ago. The photographer Thomas Ruff deals in his works, which he imbues with a diffuse haziness by digital means, with the theme of the exhibitionism which can go as far as pornographic exposure of one’s own and others’ nakedness in internet forums. Nude Visions shows that the representation of the naked human body always also has something to do with the quest for insight into what human beings (and one’s own self) really are and what role they play in society.
2010.09.01 / no responses / Category: Nudist Events
Deluxe: Erotic Photography

Hardcover erotic photography from the Amazon store.
2010.08.28 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple

The advent of digital photography has dramatically changed the view of many people on nude photography. There was in the past a background fear of exposure, of pictures sent off for development and viewed by any number of people, of extra copies being made, of pictures showing up in unexpected places, of the thought police deciding that this picture violated the obscenity laws. With digital photography all of these risks go away. As the author says, ‘This is an awsome revolution for people who have a passion for glamour but, at the same time, want to be discrete.’

This book is the result of a series of workshops that the author has taught which cover all aspects of glamour photography. He covers clothing, accessories, props, picking the foreground and background so they add to the beauty of your subject. Posing the model which can accent the models best features and conceal any problem areas.

Although this is not a large book, it is a surprisingly complete introduction to the subject.
2010.07.25 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
True Confessions of Nude Photography: A Step-by-Step Guide

This book goes way beyond being another posing guide. It takes you through all the steps you need to know to photograph nudes. I got mine last week and read it cover to cover. It was like talking to a seasoned pro willing to mentor the new guy. The lighting diagrams and detailed explanations alone were enough to make this book worth buying. I scheduled my 1st ever nude session this week because of what I learned in this book. I now have the confidence and know I won’t mess everything up and will know how to handle the shoot.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who truly wants to shoot beautiful nudes.
2010.07.11 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
Nude Photography: The Art and the Craft

The latest photography offering from DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) is a glossy treatise on mastering the art of nude photography, from selection an approach to perfecting your chosen techniques and post-production tips and tricks. Author Pascal Baetens is a Belgian jack-of-all-trades who has specialized in portrait, fashion, travel, and nude photography in a range of industries (editorial, commercial, and private). The Baetens DK Nude Photography course opens with a historical perspective, followed by a lush academic discussion of nude photography styles. The meat of the book are sections on photography techniques (composition, lighting, posting, locations) and post-production (cropping, reframing, filtering, retouching).

This oversized 250+ page hardcover concludes with a gallery of nude photography featuring the works of ten international artists, accompanied by biographical information, artist’s notes, first-person essays, and behind-the-scenes set photos. Works of dozens of renowned artists appear throughout the instructional pages of this text, rendering it well-deserving of the cover price.
2010.07.04 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
Digital Nude Photography

This book is obviously aimed at the digital crowd, and therefore, most of the examples and techniques benefit digital camera users. However, there is a lot of basic information in here that pertains to silver-based images, too. I liked the author’s approach — aimed at someone that would like to do nudes but not really knowing where to start. It’s a good reference and how-to for aspiring photographers. The post-processing sections are also very good tutorials.
Overall, I recommend it — even to aspiring photographers that would like to do nudes with a film camera.
2010.06.12 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes (Hardcover)

This is not a review. This is a rhapsody. If you are a woman, you will find yourself in these pages, in these photographs, in these stories. If you are a man, you will find your girlfriend, your mother, your wife, your sister, your aunt, your grandmother. Though these stories and exquisite photographs are of 54 individual women of all ages, races and body-types, their courageous words and photographs will break open your heart to your own beauty, suffering, doubt, rage, sorrow, joy, pain and gratitude. Buy two books. One to keep and one to give away. You will be glad you did. Then let the conversations begin among girlfriends, mothers and daughters, lovers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. Let the shame and rage go. Know your own beauty. Answer the questions yourself. What do you love about your body? What frustrates you? How have you supported your body? Then you can sing a song of your own courage, grace and beauty. Amen.
2010.04.11 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's
Paris Pussy: French Glamour Girls of the 50s and 60s (Paperback)
2010.01.24 / no responses / Category: Nudist Books & DVD's