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Shooting fine art female nudes
Techniques
14 September 2007 11:50
The human body has been one of the most popular fine art subjects for centuries. While the early artists strove for accurate and lifelike representations of the people around them, the advent of photography has driven creative types to look for new ways to represent this most familiar subject.
Many fine art portrait photographers echo the almost staged locations and sets of the formal portraiture commonly used up until the 20th century. These amazing images often require elaborate and expensive locations, and hugely complicated lighting set-ups.
As such they are almost impossible for most of us to shoot, so we’ve concentrated on the more accessible options of shooting details and simple studio portraits. These rely on using shape, form and lighting to give them a more personal and fine art appearance. This means that, unlike most normal portraits, the subject doesn’t need to be looking at the camera, or even include their eyes or face at all in the shot. By excluding the eye contact with the subject it makes the image more abstract and allows both you and the viewer to see the portrait in a new way. Here’s some tips for great fine art nudes.
Shoot in colour: While many fine art shots work best in black & white, don’t discount shooting colour images as well. Working in colour makes it more difficult to achieve the abstract and tonal effects of black & white, but it gives the results a more ‘real’ and natural appearance. For a subtle, almost hand-coloured effect you can simply reduce the saturation of the image in Photoshop.
Body abstract: Details of the form, light and shapes of the model’s body are a classic way of shooting fine art images. By cropping in close you can create more abstract results than shooting the whole body of a traditional nude or glamour image. The shadows and shapes created by high contrast lighting are particularly suited to this type of image, as it emphasises the shapes to produce dramatic results.
Unusual framing: For a more striking effect don’t be afraid to try compositions that you wouldn’t normally attempt. For this head and shoulders portrait we positioned the model at the bottom of the frame and used a spotlight on the black background to add interest to the top part of the image. The effect of the composition was also enhanced by getting the model to face down towards the bottom of the frame, a classic technique in fine art portraits to add a sense of unease or mystery to the image.
Working with your model: Communicating your ideas and the type of shots you are looking for is essential whether you’re using a professional model or simply a friend. Before the shoot sketch out your ideas, or take along some examples of images similar to those that you want to take. Most professional models will be familiar with this type of shoot, but the clearer you explain, the more likely you’ll get the shots you are after. This clear definition is even more important when working with amateur models, friends or family. Communication can be helped during the shoot by reviewing the images together to fine-tune poses and composition – but try to keep this to a minimum to keep up the flow and energy of the shoot.
Supporting material: If simple nude shots don’t suit the style of image you are trying to create, you can use a piece of fabric or material to add extra texture, shapes and interest to your shot. As well as texture it can also be used to cover the model’s body for a more tasteful result if you or the model aren’t comfortable with a nude shot.
Black background: Simple, plain backgrounds are a great way of making the tones and shapes of the body stand out. The dark, moody results you can get by using a black background is perfect for many styles of fine art image.
Window light: You don’t have to use studio lights to shoot portraits or fine art nudes. The diffuse light from a window has a softness that complements this style of image perfectly. It lacks the controllability of flash, but if you are shooting in a spare room or your own home you can use net curtains or curtains to modify the quality of the light from the window. The other limitation with window light is that you’ll need to shoot at wide apertures or increase the ISO setting to give shutter speeds fast enough to handhold the camera and freeze any movement.
Male nudes: While you can use many of the same lighting techniques using softboxes to create soft, even light, you can also get away with shooting with harsher, direct light as this actually works well with the male body and helps to bring out muscle detail. So long as your model has a rippled physique, try lighting him from above to create shadows under the pecs and abs, which will bring out the best of his muscle definition.
Strong sidelighting works well too, but we’d suggest that you take some time to move a light around your model and discover which directions bring out the definition in the different muscles. It’s best to spend most of your time photographing the torso, which offers plenty of possibilities, while male legs aren’t especially photogenic and don’t offer as many shots as you may expect.
Unlike the female form, positioning a male body square on to camera works well but be aware that men will never look as graceful as women, so don’t try to put them in poses that you would place a female model in. Male nudes work best with a more aggressive or powerful feel.
Model release: If you are thinking about displaying your shots – whether as prints or online – or selling them, you can’t simply use the pictures without the subject’s permission. To use the images you need the model to sign a release form that sets out under what circumstances they are happy for you to use the shots. You can download a form here.