How to shoot Artistic Nudes.

By this, I don't mean making your model look like a porn star. Sometimes less is more. 

Lets get started.

 Knowing what you are looking for before you start shooting.

The photo above is of my good friend. What ended up happening with us is that we started taking photos and we quickly realized that we didn’t really have a clues when it came to posing for nudes.

("We both didn't want Hustler Magazine style posing")

The first few shots I took were quite bad and we quickly realized that we (or I) were not prepared. So we decided to take a break and I pulled out a few of my photography magazines and books where I knew there would be good examples of some poses that we could aim for. After a few secounds I found a shot that to me looked like it was made for her.  A shot of her setting with her back to the camera  where the focus being her back. I lit from the side to accentuate her curves. We saw this ‘classic’ nude shot in a couple of different books and thought it’d be a good place to start. Knowing what we wanted to achieve in this shot helped a lot. Taking nude shots is not as simple as grabbing a camera and getting naked.

 

Make the model Comfortable.

Warm up the room. Yes, its  a practical tip and perhaps an obvious one. Make sure the heating is on! I actually didn’t notice the coolness of the room (I had my clothes on after all and perhaps had a bit of adrenaline at the thought of messing up the shoot) but my friend certainly did. It’s hard to pose and look relaxed when you’re shivering!

 

And more importantly ...

Keep the mood relaxed and fun 

I had the advantage of the model being my friend and having my girlfriend there with me. However  even with those two advantages it was a somewhat never wracking experience for both of us. Being naked in front of another person and being that other person can be quite confronting. Although it can also be quite funny if you let it be. We took the ‘funny’ approach and spent a lot of the time giggling and joking around and I think it helped us move beyond the initial awkward stage. I also had a couple of sheets and blankets handy so that between shots my friend was able to coverup and keep warm. We also used them to keep her covered when we were taking some of the close up shots later on where they couldn’t be seen.


Over all the experience of photographing a naked person was one that was a great learning experience. And if its done right and with good taste you would be able to capture you model in a way that even her has never seen...

 

 Happy Shooting everyone :)