Motion in Nude Potography
After writing an entry called “Nude Photography” in this blog, which describes the basic rules of nude photography, I decided to challenge myself with available light, texture and an inexperienced model. And I wanted to do that all in of course black and white. This time I wanted to get away from a regular studio, strobes, stands, and softboxes. So I chose Ironworks in Vancouver.
I started looking at many nude photos and I realized majority of them lack motion. There is always beautiful girl in a photo with great lighting and shadows, but not much motion. The motion gives the photo another dimension. In that dimension viewers can imagine and build their own story about the photo however they feel and connect with that photo. Also motion in plain studio would limit the viewer’s choice to only the beauty and the skills of both photographer and model.
The lighting is the main challenge in nude photography with available light. You have to work fast so you do not loose the light and it’s direction specially in the winter. You also cannot move the source of light so you have to work with your model to get the lighting the way you visualized it. Another challenge is for the model to adapt her movements to the direction of light.
Tools of the trade:
These sort of photos can be categorized as fine art. In that case you want them to be as authenticate and as true as they can get. My suggestion is to use film camera. The film grains makes the photo much more interesting and true. When it comes to choosing film and since it is a low light scenario your best bet would be either an ISO 400 or ISO 1600 film. My films of the choice are Ilform HP5 ISO 400, Kodak TMAX 400, and Fuji Neopan 1600. When working with films, if you have enough available light that you can shoot at F4 at the speed of 1/125, try to under expose the photo by 1 f-stop. That gives you a bit darker image a bit moodier image. You can apply some filters to achieve different effects. Try to study and learn the use of filters before applying them to your photos. I found these two articles very helpful:
“Using coloured filters with black & white film” and
“Photo Filters for Black and White Photography”
I personally use Nikon F3. It is not an expensive camera to buy and it has all the features I need to complete my project. The light meter is extremely accurate and the body is a solid one. As for digital I use Nikon D200, you can use any camera you want but make sure whatever you capture can be properly converted to the black and white.
The photos you see in this blog are all captured with Nikon D200 and Nikkor 12-24mm which is an ultra-wide lens. This lens makes your photo even moodier.
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Your nude photography is very lovely. You catch the lights and curves and textures of these lovely humans very beautifully.
the shadows and curves are breahtaking
The last image, of the model with the blanket over her, is a masterpiece. Really beautiful. Regards.
As I said on your flickr, brilliant stuff. Learning a bit more of what went into this shoot was great. And she is inexperienced? Even more impressive. Alexandra is stunning.