Art Nude Photography Explained

By Simon Walden

Are you a photographer or a viewer of art nude photography?

I want to show you how to create art nude images and how to read and evaluate art nude photographs.

The photographs in the book I have taken over a period of time and I have selected them to show powerful techniques for creating amazing photographs.

My photographic methods are simple and are very easy to duplicate in your own work.

I will teach you how to evaluate an image. You will be able to look at a photograph and assess its qualities. You will be able to see why some images work well and others lack impact.

You will learn about the thinking behind images; how to read the image and techniques you can use in your own photography.

This book contains 70 colour and black and white images - each image fully described and high resolution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781326015459

Book preview

Art Nude Photography Explained

Art Nude Photography Explained

A FilmPhotoAcademy.com Book

By Simon Q. Walden

Copyright (C) 2008-2014 Simon Q. Walden

ISBN: 978-1-326-01545-9

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission of the copyright holder.

The photographs and diagrams used in this book are copyrighted or otherwise protected by legislation and cannot be reproduced without permission of the holder of the rights.

All text and images by Simon Q. Walden

Introduction

Are you a photographer or a viewer of art nude photography?

If so I want to show you how to create art nude images and how to read and evaluate art nude photographs.

The photographs in the book I have taken over a period of time and I have selected them to show powerful techniques for creating amazing photographs.

My photographic methods are simple and are very easy to duplicate in your own work.

I will also teach you how to evaluate an image. You will be able to look at a photograph and assess its qualities. You will be able to see why some images work well and others lack impact.

On each page I will show you a photograph, followed by a description. You will learn about the thinking behind images; how to read the image and techniques you can use in your own photography.

Welcome and thank you for buying this book.

Additional Senses

THINKING:

Photography is a visual medium. But if we can infer additional senses then we can build a stronger image.

The senses introduced may be abstract concepts or sensations that are more physical.

The use of textures within an image introduces a sense of touch. This is a very concrete physical sensation.

Camera angles introduce a sense of height and even vertigo. Simple motion blur invokes a sense of motion. There are more abstract.

SEEING:

The use of fur within a nude image always adds a concrete sense: the sense of touch. It is very easy for us to imagine our fingers moving through the fur.

In this way, we have instantly added an additional sense to this image.

There is also an inferred sense of glamour and richness. Furs are always associated with wealth.

DOING:

Sammie lies on the floor with the fur rug beneath her. I am standing on a chair in order to gain sufficient height.

The shot was taken in a small sitting room. The lighting is from a studio strobe bounced off the white ceiling - this creates the very soft diffuse light.

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Anonymity 1: Strength

THINKING:

As soon as we show a face in an image then it becomes a portrait. It becomes a study of the person.

To create a nude study we need to remove that personalisation from the image.

This is most simply done by hiding the face. This may be through posing, cropping or props.

I think of myself as a nude portraitist. Most of my images include the face and a sense of personality.

The more traditional art nude falls more into the anonymous study category.

SEEING:

Compositionally this image is about the diagonal line running strongly through the frame leading the masked face. Your eye can move around the image but is always brought back to the mask.

The use of strong, dark negative space means that the many repeating triangles in the image are brought to the fore. The main composition is triangular; there are triangles in all the negatives spaces formed by the arms, legs, body and bench. The triangles are as regular in shape as possible; nearly all of them are equilateral triangles.

This constant repetition sub-consciously reinforces the sense of strength in the whole image.

DOING:

Setup is a single light source to the right hand side of the image.

When working with masks (or hats or glasses) you must pay careful attention to the eyes. Especially with a mask, it is possible to lose one or both eyes un-intentionally.

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Anonymity 2: Candid

THINKING:

By not having faces within an image we invite the viewer to look around the image and take in other aspects of the image. The face is always such a strong draw that its very presence can detract from other features of an image.

Even with a face partially in shot, the direction of the gaze of the face can still lead the viewer's eye.

By removing all faces we can let the viewer explore an image.

SEEING:

Clearly the hand reaching to the bum is one of the strongest features of this picture. But as you start to explore you can see the other hand on the shoulder and the feet on the dresser all hold a delightful sexual tension.

You will also start to see beyond the obvious tattoos that there are dirty feet, odd bruises and marks on the skin.

See also how the whole image is slightly tilted and not well composed at the edges?

Normally I would clean up any of those distracting elements, but in this image they all work together to reinforce the idea that this is a candid shot, of two people in the moment.

None of it is supposed to be pristine. This is image about passion in reality.

DOING:

The two models are partners. This meant that they are completely comfortable with each other. This is important here, because it gives a very natural contact without being posed.

As a photographer you cannot pose that. I gave the girls a scenario and set them up on the dresser, but then let them be themselves. Often making a photograph is about creating a scene that your subjects can explore and develop.

We were working in their