Advice on Artistic Nudes

[wlewisiii]

May have gotten lost in the last thread, but one thing I'd suggest is framing with the intention of cropping either when printing or in Photoshop. It's far easier to subtract area from an image than to add it afterthefact 🙂

Also, I'm a believer in natural light if possible in this subject, however to get enough of it you may need some reflectors. The other lighting to try is a very dramatic "Rembrandt" lighting. Seat the subject near a window and look towards the wall near but not at the window. Put a dark background at about a 45 degree angle to the window behind the subject. Then put a reflector opposite the window but at a slight angle (15 - 20 degrees) to the window. The camera is positioned on line with the reflector depending on how you wish to frame. This gives highlights in some areas with very strong but luminous shadows elsewhere, much like Rembrandt's oil portraits, hence the name.

Hope this helps,

William

 

[Stephanie Brim]

NO. It isn't.

I don't want to do this again. It isn't about attention. I said that because if it's really that 'controversial' here then I won't post it here. But I would like advice. There are many people who have done nudes before...asking for advice isn't misplaced.

Putting words into my mouth and belittling what I want to do isn't going to help me do *anything*. The other thread was closed so that I could make this one for *advice* on what I'm doing. I'd like to keep this one for doing that.

Thank you to all those who have given me advice without trying to psychoanalyze me. I appreciate it.

 

[danielnorton]

Nudes

Nudes

bobofish, As a professional photographer myself, I have at least a half dozen young ladies (some not that young) a year contact me to shoot nude portraits. I'm no psychiatrist, but I think for some seeing themselves as "art" can be a wonderful and fulfilling sensation.
I'm proud to be asked to do this for them and can't understand your distain for dreaming, that's what makes us human I think.
Being interested in photography and having this desire, I think shooting self portraits makes sense. However, if you photograph yourself, you are only getting half the satisfaction. People seeing your prints as art is the rest, thus her need to want to display and possibly sell these prints.

Stephanie, If I'm wrong about the above and you really feel like it would be hard to find a model, it's not. I went to art school and had no trouble finding willing subjects and the female students had even less trouble. And now with the internet places like One Model Pace and Model mayhem are full of willing subjects.

That being said, one girl in my class shot nudes of herself for her entire junior and senior year. They where absolutely stunning.

Briefly, here's how she did it.

We had a small studio in the photo area, but any good sized room will do.
She used a black velvet backdrop (she had light skin so the contrast was great)
Place the camera on a tripod, you'll need a long cable release.
place something in the area you will be, focus on it, giving yourself plenty of DOF (f8 or 11 I'd say)
Place a large mirror behind the camera.
Use off camera flash, window light, or an inexpensive photo flood like the lowel tota light.

Shoot lot's of film.

Before you even load the camera though, spend some time in front of a mirror posing and twisting to see how your body looks, think of the figure as a landscape or abstraction, not a a female body.

I think until you get a feel for the nude, it's probably best to not shoot anything environmental (like on a bed or couch) as it adds another layer of complexity to your message and it's easy to drift into a glamour/pinup stye.

 

[bobofish]

Dan,
You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger dreamer than me. What this HERE is all about is something a lot different than a dream, and the organic development that a dream can bring about. Dreaming partly means reading between the lines.

I've said what I could, and it won't stick. Too bad, but I tried.

 

[yossarian]

Steph, I hope you read my PM, but I have another thought--IR does marvelous things to skin...

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Stephanie, do a Google search on Francesca Woodman. She was an extremely talented photograher who mostly shot self portaits, many of them nudes. Her first book was published when she was just 21 years old. A few weeks later, she took her own life. Her stuff is really, really good, I think you might like her. There are several websites out there with her images and some with some biographical material. Hey don't worry about what other people think, do what you feel is in your heart, and most of the time things will work out. Yossarian had a good idea with IR- also you might consider using a red filter as well- it will lighten skin tones considerably if you are into that type of look. As someone else said, this might be easier done with an SLR, but if you really pay attention to framing it can be done easily enough with a rangefinder. Good luck to you.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

When I said red filter I meant with regular B&W film.

 

[peterc]

Mechanics lights? Natural light? Incandescent bulbs? What is the best way to light nudes?

A couple of things:
1. There are numerous ways to light artisitc nudes. I presume you have checked out photos by photographers whose styles you like to emulate.
2. Get a cheap Polaroid or digital camera, set up in ways you think will work and use either an instant or digital shot to see if you were correct. Instant feedback will save you a lot of headache while you're finding your style.

Hope this helps,
Peter

 

[egpj]

With bobo's tough love I am believer.

Steph, you sound like a sweety but I think you should put aside youthful exuberance and contemplate what has been said here.

Youth is wasted on the young.

Glenn

 

[Byuphoto]

You guys sure give out ht eFatherly advice and a lot of it is just like my Father. "We are miserable so let's squash the enthusiasm and dreams of the youth".
When I was in hight school I took journalism/photography and knew right then what i wanted to do with my life. However, my Father knew better for me. He ridiculed my exuberance and squashed my dreamswith an iron hand. I volunteered for the Navy to escape. Something you might consider Steph. They have a wonderfull combat/journalism photography school. I wanted in this school but my Fathers wiil prevailed and I went to Electrician school because he said poor people like us could not escape what we were. I even bought a little darkroom outfit to use on the ship. When I got out I wnated to use the money to go to the photography class at the local University but once again I was told by all that knew better it was foolish and childish. I did not have the money, experience or talent to make a go of it. I worked at unfullfilling jobs for most of my adult life. I made good money but was totally miserable. Last year I decided to chuck it all and open my own studio. Now I will not say it was an instant success btu I got by and now the wedding/portrait part is paying off and I am making the art/craft circuit and selling some of my prints also. I out in a lot of time and effort and looked for all the cheap advertisement I could get. I traded portraits for radio air ads and used all the free local newspapers and even took otu some small ads in some local magazines. I pasted flyers at all the businesses I could and talked to all the wedding/prom rental stores around.
I say all this to come to this point. Never lose sight of your dream and don't let others squash it. I just hated I waited till I was 50 to make the move. do it when you can, do it when you are young, do it when you are old but just do it. If it fails so be it but you will not get old and say "What if"
PS: I live in a town of less than 100 and it is 20 miles to the nearest stop light so you do not have to be in a big city to make a go of your dream

 

[BrianShaw]

"who cares which brand of pan you're going to use? Is that a Wusthoff, Henckels or Shun you're chopping that carrot with? IT DOES NOT MATTER because you've never done it before."

Now I'm upset... before cooking with All-Clad I consistently burned meals using Mom's favorite, Revere Ware. IT DOES MATTER! Getting advise from knowledgable people increases the odds of initial success. Same with knives... I took Wolfgang Puck's advise and started out with Henkels. Twenty years later I now use Shun because I can from tell personal experience that they ARE better.

Stephanie... why are you still talking about it and not doing anything... photographically speaking, that is? I can't believe that this thread has resurrected! PLEASE... if you're that committed then JUST DO IT. Come back after you've taken a few and tell us if you like the results and the experience, want to do more or have regrets, want to share (for purposes of critique, of course) or want to keep them private, etc, etc.

 

[Poptart]

Hey, Revere Ware is okay! You leave Revere Ware alone!

Anyway . . . Steph, here's my analysis (heavy on the anal): Even our worst photos are smarter than we are. End of lecture. Looking forward to hearing about your shooting experiences.

 

[smiling gecko]

...only read through the first page or two or three, but here is my .02 cents worth...

...in hamlet, polonius advises his son, laertes, before leaving home :
“this above all : to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, then thou cannot be false to any man”

lots n' lots has already been said...just a few thoughts here:

1. listen to your inner voice
2. please your self
3. moderation in all things...especially moderation, sometimes in somethings
(apologies and a wink to terence, the roman comic dramatist)

btw,i did some for myself and they were "interesting", fun, documentary, and well, time will tell...

i was and am still interested in purchasing a print or two i saw in your gallery...but had trouble e-mailing you... i'm a techno klutz at times...will send you a pm in the next day or two.

<hey byuphoto: terrific post you made here -great insights & advice- i can identify>

hasta la vista, adieu, dasvidanya,,fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen, and later y’all
kenneth
___________________________________

"...patience and shuffle the cards" miguel cervantes
"nothing can be learned" herman hesse
"everybody knows everything" jack kerouac
"some memories are realities and better than anything" willa cather
" doo-wacka doo, wacka doo" roger miller
"we have met the enemy and they is us !" pogo

 

[RJBender]

I wanted to post "PORNO!!! PORNO!!! PORNO!! I sayz Its PORNO!!!" in the voice of Fog Horn leg Horn,,, but mt wife told me I shouldn't...

Does anybody have a Nooky I want to take some pictures of my balls..

Please laugh before you delete this.

Thank you for your support.
Skinny

Ah say, ah say... no need to thank us for support. Thank your underwear, son.

source: http://www.webundies.com/mk0487.htm ​

R.J.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I think that the only real issues I'm going to have with this are lighting and proper focus. I have plenty of natural light coming in this room if I take the curtains off the windows (it's also sunk-in, a basement, so there's no risk of people peeking in). I'll probably enlist the help of the boyfriend with framing, but I'll do what people have said and place something where I'm going to be to focus on first.

As to film...because of the fact that I should probably do these at a small aperture (f8 or f11), should I go with a faster film? Maybe something like Neopan 1600? Delta 3200? TMAX 3200?

 

[JohnL]

Unless you have done it before, you might find it worthwhile to get a book on posing, or your local library may have something you could look at. I'd need to do this if I were to attempt to shoot anyone who didn't already have some experience. If you have a model that knows her/his stuff, life is a lot easier.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

This is going to be an experiment...kind of meaning that I want to go in a little blind where my actual posing is concerned. I want to figure out for myself what works instead of reading it in books. I know that it'll take longer for me to do things this way, but I tend to learn more by doing instead of reading things in a book. I learned more about developing film by ruining a few rolls than I did reading a large amount on the process...my brain works strangely.

 

[wlewisiii]

Not so strange, Stephanie. I've often said that no one knows Unix till they've blown away the filesystem a dozen times... 😀 Especially with active users... 😱

I too took quite a few rolls (and more recently sheets :bang: ) before I got it right too. Your on the right track I'd say.

William

 

[Pherdinand]

i'd say just try a few options as you considered already.. Just do it. It's worthy a try, and maybe you'll like the results and you'll find a way to improve them. If not, you had some fun. Good luck.

 

[Sean Reid]

Stephanie,

My apologies if this has been suggested already. The best self-portrait nudes I've ever seen were done by the late John Coplans, a famous writer on art who became an exhibiting photographer late in life. In order to frame, he used a video camera which was set up to show almost exactly the same FOV as his view camera. They were located very near each other, of course. You could do the same with a cheap digital still camera (most of them have video out) and an old TV. That way you could see what you were doing. Duct tape on the old TV could give you the 2:3 ratio frame you need.

Cheers,

Sean