Pixiq

i want to become a photographer,

In 2004 my sister-in-law asked me to do some shots of her while she was pregnant. She was in her last trimester.
She asked if it would bother me if she went topless; no, didn’t bother me at all. When it comes to my art, I take it seriously.
The natural light through the floor-to-ceiling windows was fabulous because we were 25 stories up and nothing around us.
The shots were simple. The bed was the only prop.
I used my Mamiya 6×6 and I hand metered each shot with my Sekonic light meter. I used Ilford XP2. I shot just one roll of 12 (for those who don’t know, medium format film only comes in 12 or 24 exposures).
I was very methodical about each shot. I took my time. I made adjustments with her hair or maybe the bed coverings. I was always looking for things out of place.
I over-lapped two shots slightly offset. I always tell her they would look great in a suspended frame.
We talked and discussed each shot and different positions. This is always relaxing for the model, whether nude or not.
Technically, exposure-wise, they all turned out, however 6 were outstanding (I am my own worst critic :) That is a 50% ratio. Not bad, eh?
So, first and foremost, in order to do nudes, you need to find someone willing.

Cory Johnson
Max Photography
http://www.coryjohnson.net

Did you go to any schooling. I am an amature photographer and the closest school is in Santa Barbara and cost $76000.00. What do you recommend. Thanks, Mistie in Grass Valley

You are welcome to have a go at my stuff!

Allways learning. Thanks to write this post and share it.

A great tutorial, with very good and very smart advices. Thanks a lot to share !

You may have a go using my photos. I am a fairly well known and internationally collected nude photographer. I have sold pieces from a gallery in NY, but my largest art market is those wanting to hire me to shoot their figure before they are too old and surgeons.

To the above commenter, Mistie. For the most part I am self-taught :) A couple of night courses (a less costly alternative) helped me refine a few things, but otherwise I learned everything myself. When I started photography in 1991 I jumped in with both feet; it turns out I have an affinity for seeing things differently :)
In the beginning I started with black and white (very forgiving when it comes to minor mistakes :) I read a variety of magazines & books (in fact I still do, I always pick up little things); I taught myself about exposure and composition; I took notes of all my shots (all done with a Pentax ME Super, nothing fancy, and I still use it!) and had them critiqued by professionals (always helpful); I talked “shop” with other photographers and learned little tricks of the trade; I experimented with shots; but first, and foremost, take *lots* of photos! Don’t be afraid, it’s the only way you’re going to learn :)
And of course, with the advent of the internet, there are many places to get information and “talk shop” with others.
Remember, these are the elements which bring focus to a photograph:
- breadth
- depth
- theme
- point of interest

cory photographique
http://www.coryjohnson.net

i never seen such a realistic work..of photography..before.i m impressed..can u send me couples of black n white..that would be really helpful for me.
thanks to read me
Roby from Bangladesh

In your 4th paragraph, I'm pretty sure you meant "art photography" not "act." I love the articles in this site, but I catch a lot of gramatical errors.

Another great erotic photographer who is well worth checking out is HUDSON|manilla. He's the only UK photographer featured in the recently released 'Mammoth Book of New Erotic Photography'. It features work from the worlds top erotic photographers.

His work although erotic is very tasteful. Check out his website at www.hudsonmanilla.com or blog at hudsonmanilla.blogspot.com. I believe he is a Lightroom user; I for one would be interested to see if Pixiq could get him to do an article on his techniques.

if i had more money i would shoot more, so far i have done about 5 shoots of the following:
video/images of a female model, on a public nude beach. for anyone that hasnt done this and has been into photography for a few years or so, i suggest trying it, you will learn alot about shooting and dealing with models at a level you havent done so yet.
please spare everyone and dont do this type of shoot with a P/S. and if you havent done any type of shoot with any models yet, do a few first then, maybe, get into doing these types of shoots.
oh hell you wouldnt jump into the deep end of a pool without learning how to swim, would ya?

You might let your readers know about http://www.editorialnudes.com where you can learn about nude photography from the author of five photography books, that be me ;) Thanks, Rolando

Interesting article, some good tips. Thanks for the links, there were a couple I hadn't seen. My blog is blog.eleganteye.com

Some interesting work here: http://www.missaniela.com/ and Michael Ezra does wonderful form work: http://www.michaelezra.com/

Mike.
(http://www.wolfnowl.com/category/photography/)

Good solid article for beginners wanting to get into nude photography. I'd also encourage folks who enjoyed this to check out the tutorial section of Art of Imagery for more hints and tips.

Cheers,
- b

Hiya
Great articles. I alwys try to stress the tasteful side of nude photography. And don't forget it's fun too.

thanks

Steve DT
http://www.sdtfoto.com

I am looking for a photographer in the NJ or eastern Pennsylvania area, to take tasteful nude photos of me… thanks!

Your photos are not like true life. Nude is nude. Why don’t you show the body the way it was meant to be shown? When people get back to nature, what else matters?

I am working on a book of fine art FigureNUDE photographs. I have completed roughly the first third and it will be published in perhaps a digital format before it is available in print. You can see a few of them at FigureNUDE.com. Would you guess that any were done by a paralyzed, disabled artist from a wheelchair and involve photos of at least one disabled model? Haji; -let me know what I can do to help.

wow. it´s very nice

one of the most imp part of capturing, with camera now or with thousand year old sketching on walls and caves, or the paintings some four centuries ago to date, it is one of the most imp part of human imagination and attachment to female form by nature, that the art persists and will go on because this beauty cannot be seen anywhere on earth, even the most delicate of flowers will lag behind in front of the female nude form, so kudos to those artists, painters and photographers who brought them live thro their medium.

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Thanks for posting this. I’ve been wanting to get into nude photography for quite some time, and more tips are always appreciated. If you don’t mind, I am going to link to this article on my site: Glamour Photography Forums so hopefully more people will see it. Keep up the good articles!

Kyle

Thanks for your good site. You might like to critic my nude photo site given above.

thanks

Great Post! I just disagree with you about Petter Hegre. His work seems more like porn then artful nudes…

I was looking for tips on becoming a better photographer as I’m only an amatuer and I found your site to be a great help to me.

Thank you

Jim

i found this site to be a great help but i wanted to ask if there is any writen forms that you would need to fill out

Oh…and my online gallery of art-nudes is at http://www.david-nudes.com

Yes, Ive been working my butt off :)

the naked one in photography must suggest to be beautiful….the limits between porn and art are difficult to encircle!!thus to choose, I take the way of the sensuality

Thank you for your link on
http://photocritic.org/act-nude-photography/
I have changed my site so that all links are one page, could you please change the link to
http://www.mikesibthorp.com/photolinks.html
There is a redirect dealing with it at present but I will take that down soon. I get lots of hits from you site, many thanks
Mike

Great and good intro tutorial. Learn practice here: www,StudioPrague.com/workshops

Glamour & Nude Photography Workshops

Can I find a studio that will take my photo in the nude?

Thanks for the tips to get started.

Always enjoy reading about this topic and learning more. I am still in search of a style for my nude work but have some on the website I have listed.
Thank you

Enjoyed reading your site and looking at your images. I am currently working on a how-to guide book to nude photography.

I have been an advanced amateur photographer all of my life. I’ve been published in magazines, newspapers and books but had never taken nude photographs until 2007. I friend asked if I would take some nudes of her and I agreed since it had been a life long dream. She was in her mid-thirties, beautiful blonde hair, slightly overweight but willing to learn. I have read articles over the years of how to take nude photography but this was my first chance.

Since my model was willing I was over the first hurdle but I found that most everything that I had read was useless when it came right down to the shoot. The two of us worked together well and since I was shooting digital and not film the shutter button was almost worn out that day.

In the end we had well over 200 shots in the camera and, together we looked over the pictures on the computer. It was a learning experience for both of us. She was very happy with the results as was I.

We trashed about 40 of the pictures for various reasons but what was left was a nice group of excellent quality pictures.

She was so pleased that she entered ten of them in an on-line photo contest and won third place out of probably 800-1000 entries, not bad if I do say so myself!

What I learned from the experience is most of the stuff you read in books is common sense; lighting, composition, etc. You really get your education from doing an actual shoot and then being objective about the results. Having a willing model is a big help so find someone who is comfortable with their body. A little coaxing may be needed at first but you will get there. My model had a thing about keeping something on but when I finally talked her into getting completely nude she was thrilled with the feeling and said “This is the first time I have ever been naked outdoors and it feels wonderful.”, as the warm sun bathed her body.

So don’t sit around reading books and dreaming! Find a lady who is willing and learn together! It’s just like any other hobby. You can read every book written on a subject but until you actually do it you aren’t learning anything. Learn by doing.

Good luck to all you want-to-be’s out there. Keep the pictures tasteful and learn from your mistakes but remember you aren’t going to get those nudes in the camera reading books. Get out there, take pictures and LEARN!