Nude photography composition

Nude Photography Composition

How to Photograph Nudes

Improve your nude and glamour photographs by being aware of composition. Composing nude photographs is no more difficult than other subjects.

The basics are explained in Beginners Guide to Photography Composition. This article looks at their application to the nude.

Lighting nude photos

Writing With Light – Nude photography lighting

Glamour Photography, How to Photograph Nudes

The word photography means painting, drawing or writing with light. It is impossible to make a photograph without light. The quality of your nude photography lighting depends on three things, the direction, intensity and quality of the light falling on and then reflected by your subject.

Photographing nude from a different point of view

Photographing Nudes – A Different Point of View

How to Photograph Nudes, Thinking About Nude Photography

Millions of photos are taken from about five feet eight inches (1.75 m) above the ground because that’s the average persons eye line. Whether photographing fine art nudes, boudoir or glamour nudes it pays to look for a different point of view.

Lighting nude photos

Lighting – Daylight or Artificial?

Glamour Photography, How to Photograph Nudes

Daylight or Artificial Light

Nature has given us a large, bright light source complete with some very handy diffusers (clouds) which is wonderful for lighting nude photographs. Unfortunately we have no control over when these diffusers appear and, although the sun is always shinning it reaches us with varying intensity.

Photo of nude woman with a camera

What Camera Do I Need When Shooting Creative Nudes?

How to Photograph Nudes

What lens have you got on that?

I hate talking about gear when I am using it. As a long suffering wedding photographer I used to dread the approach of the serious looking old gentleman, scuffed brown leather cased, 50’s vintage, camera round his neck. Usually he had just been fiddling with for at least ten minutes to take one photograph of his rather overweight, and definitely bored, wife in her best hat.  I knew the inevitable question was coming.

‘What sort of lens have you got on that?’

‘That’ was usually a 6×4.5 Bronica film camera. We used to use medium format cameras because no one believed you were a pro with a 35mm SLR

My reply was often a completely genuine, ‘I don’t know.’

I could see him debating as to whether to rush off and exclaim to the bride that she had booked a complete idiot to take her wedding pictures, or whether to tell me not to be such a sarcastic bugger.

How to photograph studio nudes

One Model – One Light

Glamour Photography, How to Photograph Nudes, Nude Portraits

Nude Photography with one light (and one model)

Keep it simple stupid is often pretty good advice. These photographs were taken in my studio with one light and one model. OK sometimes I used a reflector to lighten the shadows because the cameras dynamic range doesn’t match the human eye.