Nudes

Just looked over your photography pages, and found the info on B&W IR photography.

I do a bit of freelance work, and I have done some work with IR at nighttime activities, such as dances, when a flash would blind everyone. I had quite good luck placing a #87 IR Gel Filter (Kodak) over my flash, an old Vivitar 283, set on auto in the "yellow" range. I was surprised to find that the flash read the IR light as if it was a regular flash.

I got shots from about 50' in to about 15' (and no one was blinded). Of course any closer and people's skin began to take on a strange appearance.

Just wanted to pass this on. Keep up the good work.

Jim Rementer

The nude is one of the hardest subjects to do well. I have found through my galleries that the images which sell best are ones without pubic hair. For some strange reason -- prints displaying pubic hair seem obtrusive to the viewer, while the hairless versions are much more collected. Perhaps we can learn something from 17th century painters? Also, as far as shooting black and white of models, I use a red filter over my lens and dark haired models for some of my work with great success. The red filter "whitens" the skin tones and greatly conceals skin blemishes and discolorations. Photographers just starting out may want to try this outdoors against grass -- the grass turns very dark and contrasts well with the white skin tones of the model. To the artist, my praise. Of the hundred or so gallery sites I've visited so far -- yours in the best organized and most informative. Thanks!

Isn't nudity being able to show who you are beneath the clothing, beneath the flesh, the person you are within the body. Being nude, to show yourself, be yourself, nothing covered nothing hidden, beneath the clothing beyond the body.

WOW!, first of all. Next, I think that your work is wonderful. You are one of the only artists I've ever read, that are truly able to write - to convey the emotion of their artwork into language, not just art. My mother is an artist (not starving, I'm happy to say), and I've learned a lot about art over my eighteen years of life. At least enough to know that you are a "genius" I use the term loosely, only because people throw the word around way too much, and the true essence of the word is lost. Thank you for your time, and your art. And by the way, I feel that the one controversial picture is art, not pornography.

A comment on Mr. Wolos' note above:

The image refered to on the gateway page that "might disturb or offend some people" has aparently been deleted. It was a photo of a stripper on stage, dark background, on camera flash, legs spread directly toward the camera.

I disagree with Mr. Greenspun's choice of examples to illustrate the point that the line between art and porn is a thin one. The arm and sheets photo is obviously not porn - maybe it's art; while the (now deleted) photo was IHMO, soft core porn and not art. Both photos were far away from that thin line by my way of thinking.

A photo balancing on that thin line might be the infamous Robert Maplethorp self portrait of himself facing away from the camera, bent over, with the end of a bullwhip inserted in his rectum. The lighting and sharpness of the large format photograph is very precise. Porn? maybe - a "penetration" shot. Art? also maybe - a statement about Maplethorp's lifestyle, shocking the viewer into forming an opinion of him, you pick the meaning or the reason. Viewers' reactions may change after considering that Maplethorp died of AIDS several years after making this photograph.

I enjoyed looking at your photos of nudes in motion. As a sculptor who does figurtive nudes in motion I am always pleased to find someone who can work with this fascinating subject. The photo reference books I use , however,are few in number: Thomas Easley's "The Figure in Motion" and the works of Eadweard Muybridge. The latter did not have $30,000 in strobes when he made his 100,000 glass plates at Penn in 1888. Using the sun or whatever reflected light he could capture, he made such a statement that the artists of Europe treated him as a Messiah when he toured. It would be good if a photographer of today were such an artist that he would seek to duplicate 1/10th of Muybridge's work with modern equipment. The nude in motion has more than a front and a side. You have made a good start. Arne

I see that the artist is somewhat dismayed that this is a very popular page of his, and feels that there are better works. I for one much prefer seeing a nude on a beautiful landscape, or a nude on an interesting and artistic backgrounds, etc. than most any other subject.

The artist should ask himself: Why is the viewer bothering coming to his site to look at his nudes when there are literally thousands (probably millions) of sites out there featuring nude women in an astounding variety of positions and states of exposure?

Because many, like myself, want to see TASTEFUL NUDES. Especially those of us that live in the United States where a nude body put in an elegant or sophisticated light is so rare to behold that it is craved like gold or money or other precious commodities.

We will spend hours searching the net for a site that gives us nude people (most often nude women) in a high-resolution and high-quality format, that (1) aren't sticking strange objects into their body orifices, (2) aren't surrounded by 800 orange, yellow, and red flashing advertisements, and (3) have words accompanying the image that make our minds actually think a little bit.

For my part, I have found not a single other site on the internet or web besides this one that provides all these things, and FREE OF CHARGE to boot?!?! I'm surprised your page of tasteful nudes in high-quality format aren't visited so often that your web server doesn't halt completely!

I have viewed your images (the non-nude ones, too) and enjoyed all of them. But because the nudes are the most rare and precious images in my society, at least, I keep coming back to them, like an addiction. I never have this urge to go to any of the 1,000,000 porn sites that are the alternative.

Now a shameless plug: my web site, at www.philovivero.com/~philov has a super-small set of static pages that emulate this. No photographs of nudes, but a few image-manipulated drawings. No commercials, no credit cards. So maybe viewers would like to go there just to check it out for a little bit.

Beautiful images, I must say. Specially gorgeous is the picture of Heather combing Alex on a bench: the picture looks so simple...

I would like congratulate you on your excellent photo layout well done!also the photo date rape really touch me.as a man I don't have any idea what a woman feels after a brutal attack. This photo gave me a tiny insight how horrible rape is.I feel that it is time for society to conditioning our young boys to be overly agresive and teach our sons how a man should treat others with kindness&respect.9years ago my wife and daughter were killed by a drunkdriver leaving me alone to raise our son God I hope i did my best.

This site is simply superb, and of course the way tips are given on such type ofphotography is of great assistance for the amature photographer. Furthermore thephotographs are not at all obscene, these are the real class photograph.

I was extremely impressed with the shot of the nude with back arched that you did as a junior at MIT. It is actually quite unusual, and quite original in its feel. I agree that photography has little to do with the camera, and everything to do with what is in your head. Fine work!

Phil, a picutre of your naked friend in an empty condo, or rather your narrative to it reminds me of an excerpt from one of Sergey Dovlatov's books, who had some mind-boggling humor leaning towars absurd, like a real Russian writer should. You might want to read his mamoirs of working for an Estonian newspaper in 1970s, where he describes a news photographer, who had cigarette-butts floating in the developer, etc. Anyway, this is a piece I translated from memory. "In a museum of partisan warfare somewhere in Russia... A large glass-clad display case with a human skull. The description reads - ""This is a skull of partisan Kowalczuk. Here are personal belongings of partisan Kowalczuk - a nail which he used to attack the German officer and a bullet from his skull."" ...Partisan Kowalczuk spared no expenses..." Love the site, BTW.

I am 18 and just getting into nude photography. I really enjoyed looking through the photos because they aren't just pictures of someone nude, they are feelings, and personalities. I look for the more modern pictures to get my ideas from. I really think this will contribute a lot to my personal study of black/white nudes. Thanks for a site like this.

i, myself, speaking as an artist of both audio and visual medium, can honestly appreciate some subtlety and simplicity, meaning that less is more and does leave the imagination and emotional charges open to the experience that "tasteful nudism" brings to the table. by not exposing everything to the naked eye, your senses are drawn more to the overall beauty and splendor of the subject rather than a blatant statement of mere sexuality, as such. the human element in and of itself is dynamic and multi faceted like a cut diamond, and it is the archetype for every perspective, that we perceive it as such.

well, I know within me that I see these things in a very different perspective. others would call it porno but looking at it even without the paints on the body is per se an art. what is wrong with other prople is their pre-conditioned judgment once they see this thing. one thing more, this concept of pre-judgment maybe to others would say it just came when they saw it but actually they were conditioned to be so. it was how they were brought up and what kind of environment they used to live in as their consciousness passess through time.

Beowoulf Agate/LSD

I dont believe showing off body parts, especially private parts, for viewing to the public is a form of art. In fact i think its embarassing. To me this form of activity could lead to a more negative society, a society without rules...maybe a society without dignity. We cant expect everybody to view these pictures as a form of art? Maybe these form of art should be constrain within its community and not to the open public especially where places that is accessible to the underage. This is just a comment. No intention whatsoever to offend anybody. Thank you.

I think when it comes to decieding whether or not something should be considered ART or PORN, You must analyze your feelings. Does this photo that your looking at have focus, balance, and point of impact? or does it make you feel like you just took your viagra? If its's the later, then YOU individually have to deciede whether or not its pornography. I observed all the photo's posted. My personal feelings say its ART. Not because its in black and white. Not because there seems to be a layout in a respectable nude position, But because I FEEL its art. Thats what art is.....FEELINGS!

girl in blue room

An impressive site, but some words of criticism… first suggestion, perhaps you should use more serious models, or else have the models perform more serious acts and expressions. I find it very hard to respect a nude photograph of a person smiling or jumping when put in such a serious atmosphere as a white drop with diffused lighting, such as with the photos you posted of the female nude in motion or “The Three Graces.” Secondly, try bringing your subjects out of the studio. I enjoyed the photograph of the model in the bare condo because it gave the subject ground, reality and atmosphere (although your intended message was hard to accept: hardwood floors and clean white walls are not a typical sign of poverty!). Thirdly, and probably most importantly, research the zone system; try adding some contrast. Many of your photographs were so grey they bored me, and the only ones I actually stopped to view were the color photos and the one of woman’s back (torso wrapped in a towel, with a black backdrop). That one was exceptional; very beautiful. But in order to evoke any emotion from a work, light is the key in photography. My photography instructor constantly pounds, “We live and die by light.” Dramatic lighting is key in provoking any mood from a studio piece. These are the words of a 19-year-old photojournalism student who hates the studio and produces slightly-blurred movement shots, so you’re getting tips from a completely opposite view of photography. In fact, my jaw drops in awe of your technical abilities, for I am far from producing such beautiful prints! However, if your intent is to create a mood, at least consider my comments. I prefer criticism over empty praise, also, so forgive me if I seem harsh. To Razak, the one who commented that nudes are unacceptable and should be kept private in order to sustain dignity in society: OBLIVION in society is hollow and unacceptable. Children who are permitted to drink at early ages in other countries proceed to drink responsibly, while American teenagers are drinking themselves and others dead. Particularly with tasteful nudes, as this site displays, the unclothed body would be chuckled at less often by immature young adults if it was exposed more freely to them at youth. And besides, we all wind up getting laid at one point. My site: http://hometown.aol.com/tooonist/Tooonist.htm (this is a rough unfinished sketch of a page and is not NEARLY as impressive as this one is as far as construction goes!)

As someone who once had an interest in nude photography ( until society imposed restrictions on this interest ) it was refreshing to see this site. I think the nude in motion is very hard to do get right, your shoot of the girl dancing in the studio is a perfect example. A nude should not only be a record of the human body, but to give the mind something to think about, the photos' of the feet and arched back are good examples, and some are to please the eye with magnificent backdrop of nature that take the eye from the nude so she/he becomes second to nature. The one thing your site does show very well, is that even here in the work of a serious nude photographer, male genitalia is still somehow tabu, even if it was not conciously done so. Otherwise some very good photography, keep clicking and good luck with your future shoots. lance.

<BR> I like this page, but the author almost seems to apologizing for its existance in some places. Unfortunately, that attitude seeps into the rest of the site. I have a number of nude images - art, not porn - posted here on Photo.net, and I have been flamed, both on the boards and in private email, for them. I have asked the webmaster for help several times in dealing with the posted flames, and my emails are ignored. <BR> <BR> This is a site with many well-educated, intelligent members. They are surely aware that the nude has been a legitimate subject of art for centuries. Yet I still have to stuggle against criticism - not of my technique, which I do not mind, but attacks on my morals and my character for taking such photos. I think that of the admistrators of this site could be more supportive of artistic nude photography. They choose not be, which I find significant. I think it limits the site - people moan and complain about the boring photos here, but until the site administrators show support for more personally risky photos, thats mainly what its going to be. I like Photo.net - thats why I am here - but I wish it could be less...narrow.<BR>

Amy Powers

Phil,

A few things. The first is that I really like your three graces and motion pieces. One of the issues with motion however is lack of context. You were clearly playing with an undeveloped concept and I regard it as a sort of a "sketch" for the three graces set. The thing I like most about "three graces is the humor you bring to the subject through the use of props. Others have objected that your studio offers too serious a setting for smiling joyous models, I disagree; your picture of the three graces skipping rope with the cloth was the first nude that has ever made me laugh. It captured a wonderful joie de vivre and speaks well of the working relationship among your models.

The other thing regards Christina. You've framed it badly, tucking it away by itself and contextualizing it as a concession to thrill seeking teenagers. Why did you actually work with her? There must be a story behind it, and you have done some marvelous work with it. You've been accused on this comments page about being overly apologistic for your nudes. Nowhere are you more apologistic than there. Rethink the way you are contextualizing the images.

I agree with the writer who said that a nude against an interesting backdrop posed artitically is totally captivating and much sought after. In fact I think that Phil has a lack of interesting backdrops in his nudes, although they are quite good. For a better example of nude photography in natural settings check out Erick Boutlier Brown, He is a Nova Scotian photographer with an impressive body of work that relates to the subject. I am grateful to Phil however, I want to get into nude photography and have found this site to be very helpful and informative on the subject.

In the time since I made my first comment, I have percieved a shift in the general attitude of Photo.net habituees towards being more open to nudes as an legitimate art form. There are still some who will snigger and elbow each other in the manner of sixth grade boys, but I have also found some insightful and very encouraging voices here, and that really great for me. I hope that this general trend continues...

I am surprised, and disappointed also, about the very reserved attitude I find on this page toward nude photography. I see two main bordering or parent genres of nude photography being portrait and artistic. Both are about exposing something of yourself or the person in front of the camera in the picture. For one person that will be very subtile but for the other it is more progressive, striking. That is what makes photography like any other art form so interesting: it's personal and it shows emotions that are not to be seen all the time. Remember what Freud says about art: "Art is a form of replacement-satisfaction for unfulfilled desires, like dreams. The difference is that art forms are not narcistic or a-social, but intended for other people to share and fulfill the same desires." Like Freud or not there is a truth in it. There is nothing dirty about it other than our nature. In normal life we want to hide it away and it can only come out in neurotic forms, whereas in art it is "exposed" in a different way that more people can relate to. . Artist in the widest form have always played a progressive role in history, alowing more of what's inside people to come out. Please don't be too reserved about nude. I'm not saying you have to share your ideas with everybody but this is a page for photographers and believe me, the distinction with porn pages if you will is more than evident: we don't have to defend it further. You're nude back with towel in B&W is really high quality and I loved the nude reflexion on top. Keep up the good work!

Someone with way too much time on their hands!

I wish you would leave politics and photographic technique separate. Your photo of a woman being stepped on and your association of that with the Republican party is poor. Very weak indeed. Why not do the same but with a baby being stepped on by the woman who decided to kill it? And associate that with the Democratic party? See, not very appropriate either is it?

Richard Martin

As a amateur photographer who is looking to get into more nude-are photography I just want to thank you for giving me some insight and motivation on this art.

Your insights and photos are wonderful, and they help me come to grips with my creative inabilities of which I am trying to conquer.

Again, Thank you.

Mark.

In one of the above comments, Danielle E. Corsetto, (November 12, 2000) said "I find it very hard to respect a nude photograph of a person smiling or jumping when put in such a serious atmosphere as a white drop with diffused lighting..."

Why only a nude person? Why would a smiling clothed person in such a 'serious' atmosphere be taken more seriously?

While I agree that a beautiful face with a solemn expression has a high element of class, these type of 'candid' shots have their place, and I personally didn't have a problem with the setting.

In fact, the contrast between the setting and the expressions is what I liked the most.

Artistic nudes have the cliche of being serious, and solemn. They also have the cliche of depicting something depressing, like being alone and naked to the world, etc. "This is artistic nudity! No giggling allowed! That would be immature.."

Here, for once we can see people in their natural state, expressing natural emotions. I think its quite appropriate.

I've little interest in labels individually assigned to images, nude or otherwise. I enjoyed this tutorial because it displays and explains photographing nudes. I don't expect to do much (if any) nude photography, but I still want the insight.

I think your work is fantastic. I was impressed with the woman in the empty room.

Jeff

Shadow, Light, texture, setting, yes... but above all; beauty, strength, grace, intrigue... le femme mystique ... bring forth our sense of awe and wonder and impel us to LOOK again. Herein the child and the eye meet, something stirs within, and you are responsible for that. Thank you.

Your website is pretty amazing and I have been coming back for years, my complaint is not with your work but with the nude photography genre in general. I think it comes down to sexism and who's body we can see naked and who's we can't. Female nudes are common but male nudes are not. I want to see more equality in nude forms.

Gordon

I believe that a majority of the comments which "praise" this photographer's work come from the male gender who usually like any type of naked woman photograph. While the more astute, mature and sensitive appraisals of the work come from the female perspective.

As a man I believe the work to be static, without sensuality (if this is what is trying to be communicated) and of the nature of simplistic and symmetrical compositions with a misunderstanding of the human body as portrayed by a camera (which I do believe is the most difficult way of depicting this subject).

Suggestion: truly flood your eyes with photographs of the human body by those photographers whose intuitive sensitivity surpasses the typical naked person pic.

The mind must be open as must one's grasp of the last 100 or so years of photographing the human form. A few photographers to review: Immogen Cunningham, Sally Mann, Ruth Bernhard, Bill Brandt, Jock Sturges, Edward Weston, Wynn Bullock as just a start.

I liked this page, I must add that Photography is a form of expression and any thing is well expressed when it is nude - Mahesh

imply awesome work done with beauty.

nudes reveal and reflect the inner beauty of life as expressed in unusual ways.

rey sabio (matacon)

Awesome work. it has made me more creatve in my art

Meryam George is miss Egypt 2006 What you like? !!!

An inexpensive cvamera and simple lighting can go farther than a $5,000 Rollie and a thousand lights, as exhibited by the nice pic in the dorm room with a $100.00 Yashica TLR. It's no wonder you could not re-create this wonderful shot as well, because you said it best when you stated brains beat out equpment. A key thing to keep in mind is that it's not the fancy gear that makes the picture; it's the talent BEHIND the gear. I still use an array of Nikons, Holgas, and..yes..a Seagul TRL. Your stuff looks grrrrreat!

Boring, membosankan, sudah terlalu umum

Very nice introduction to nudes...would like more examples and ideas about photographing men.

Male nude photography has occupied a somewhat ambivalent place in Western culture from its beginning. Eugen Sandow, the first professional bodybuilder sold photos with his genitalia covered by shadows or leaves out the front door at his posing exhibits, and the entirely naked pictures more discreetly to some of his other patrons.

On the other hand, casual snapshots of kids at summer camps swimming naked were quite common in the earliest part of the 20th century. Cultures are nothing if not inconsistent.

Once upon a time it was written that the difference between a photo-grapher and photographer was that the former shot only naked women. For over 50 years I have been involved in photography, much of that time being paid for my photographic services. Over that time I have also engaged in many discussions on the subject of nudes, some similar to this thread. It is my general view that the attempts to elevate nude photography to the level of an elitist art form only provides cover for us men who just love to see beautiful women sans clothing. There. I am out of the closet.

LOL! That may very well be true. But, as the saying goes, men think about sex just as much as women think about being sexy. See the correlation? For every photo-grapher that wants to shoot nudes, there seems to be an ample supply of subjects. :)

Nude or not nude? If nude, I'd like not concentrate the focus of the fact that the model is nude...: Luca

All your photos are interesting, some erotic, some titillating - but NONE vulgar. That's what I think is real ART FORM. Would like to see more of your nude studies in future - let me know if there is any other site I can view more of your pics . Thanks and congrats.

Bob

art fart

this person's ridiculously large online collection of ridiculously vapid, barely even superficial images is the perfect proof that in the digital age, Anyone can get their work seen if they know how to negotiate the web a bit. I have to laugh when I imagine what my old SVA photo teachers Larry Siegel or sid Kaplan would have said if these photos were presented in class (first year photo mind you). They wouldhave promplty tore this photographer a new one. Seems like he did no homework at all. Anyone with at least one eye could go too any bookstore and see some of the serious photographers of our day and previous days to see what the possibilities are, what works, what doesn't. This images maker hasn't taken in the work of Josef Sudek, Harry Callahan, Roy DeCarava, Antonin Kratochvil... anyone!! Looks like MIT really needs the income I guess. Tom and Ray Maglizzi probably take better photos than this! But then, we do live in a society that gets all their products from China at toyzRus and Walmart and thinks that MacDonald's is nourishing food. And if one watches the requisite amount of television and reads the requisite magazines that fill their heads with waste, it does become a bit harder to recognize something like a really good image. If this person was in my class I would make him take pictures for a couple years with a pinhole camera and never EVER write anything about his work, let alone put them on the internet.

Could someone tell me how or where I can get nude 35mm film developed?

Thanks,

Ed

Take your Nude 35mm to a professional photography shop and explain that it is of an adult but not pornographic nature, most dealers will be happy to accept your film for processing.

I hope this helps you!

the workk is greatt. i think it depends on how people see nude. if they will like these photos

As a webmaster I like this site and all the content very much. Many excamples for "how to create the best photograph" can you see in the different galleries from Gallery of Nudes with nude photographs from some of the best photographers worldwide.

...in the States, there is many professional labs will do this for you, once your work is not prono. I took nude pics as well, and the lab tech is very good to put my works in different drawer...and I found it all sealed each time. Well, I think you'd better to goto the lab many times, then they'll do it for you by the base of trust.

Great article and good tips on nude photograpy.
I am now studying part-time course on photograpy, all the articles and comments here have help me alot.

Thanks!

Negli ultimi tempi mi hanno avvicinato delle escort - sarebbero delle accompagnatrici - per fare delle foto. Ho sempre amato fare le foto di nudo. Ma questo delle escorts è un aspetto del nudo che non avevo considerato.

"All your photos are interesting, some erotic, some titillating - but NONE vulgar. That's what I think is real ART FORM. "

I disagree. I think real art can be vulgar because life can be vulgar. Its sincerity and clarity of vision that makes art.

The real difference between the art of nudes and the art of porno is our bounderies,our judgements about aesthetics,our values and our interpretations of the the reality.

cualquiera

I'm sorry but the photo with the arm sticking out the sheets (i could barely tell what it was) cannot appeal as art to me even if i want to think of it that way. My 6yo son can be more creative than that.

J'approuve entièrement l'avis de Alin concernant cette composition représentant un amas de draps froissés avec une portion de bras émergeant par-dessus. Une photographie doit être représentative et être facilement lisible pour celui qui la découvre et aussi agréable à être vue. De plus, peut-on encore appeler cela une image de nu ou de la photo d'art?

Richard Forster Geneva (Switzerland) http://aphroditephoto.bookfoto.com/

Hi, what difference in lighting a white girl and a black girl?

dan

This got me to thinking and I have put up an example of one of my racier art nudes at: http://glamourphotography.co/?p=852 and have personally concluded that this is a highly personal topic.

We as artists are often pushing up against society's boundries and definitions.  The definitions change with society and over time and amoung individuals within a society.

C'est l'art, n'est pas?

Couldn't be a lead article about "nudes" on such a prominent website like photo.net be more fresh, especially the photos/illustration?

I have to say I agree Dan.  This is an old article and it's starting to show it's age...though I guess it's easier to complain about such things than take the time to put in the effort to remedy them!