1x.com - How I made: Nude Photography

Photos Artists Forum Tutorials Critique Books Buy Prints About

Stumble 1X

Tour

Join

Sign in

How I made: Nude Photography

Open this photo in the gallery

Peter Kemp

Posted 5 months ago

This photo was made for a new cover of a photo magazine. The big deal was to turn around the `normal´ roles of photograher and model. Using the old fashioned camera -a genuine Graflex Inc USA 1919 - gave my picture some extra cachet.The genuine old soap, the brushing sweeper in combination with the great look of `my nude model` might put a smile on the face of the viewers.

My friends Raffaella and RudoX where made even more beautiful by make-up artist Jetty van Pelt. The photo was made in a small studio in the basement of a house of my friend Ron Meijer.

(1) SETUP AND PLANNING:
The props used for this picture were collected by me and my models.
The tub was collected out of an icy underground, since this photo was taken in winter time. Freezing in Holland.
The clothes were collected by Raffaella, after I made it clear that I wanted to create a vintage atmosphere. the hair and make up was performed by jetty van Petl ( make up artist)
The background - which dropped down a couple of times during our shoot - consists of old wall paper which has been found at the attic of my parents.
The old carpet I borrowed from my neighbour, who is a owner of a store in second hand stuff . The wooden floor I bought for a cheap price and was built up before the shoot.

(2) THE PICTURE:

This picture is part of a series of 3 pictures called Nude Photography.
It was made with a Nikon D2X camera and a 28-70mm Sigma lens on a tripod.
I used F9, iso 100 and a shutter speed 1/125 sec, which is quite normal for studio shooting. Nothing special!
Two flashed were used. One soft box as close as possible near "my naked male model" . Bringing my soft boxes as close as possible to my model I tried to create some kind of old fashioned yellowish light.
On the other site of the studio a flash with umbrella was positioned right behind Raffaella. With the purpose to create the light which let her hair and back glow and fill in dark spaces.

(3) PROCESSING:
The post-processing was done with Adobe Bridge and Adobe Photosohop CS 4 on a windows XP computer. Using a wacom intuous 3 tablet for adding some dodge and burn technique to emphasize the skin tones and details in clothing. No cropping has been done, since this was the picture I had in mind and it came out in the right composition. This is caused by the fact that everybody knew before what I wanted to do. Since I use mood-boards which I send to my models and make up artist a week before the actual photoshoot take place. So everybody knew exactly what we were gonna do ...

(4) OUTCOME:
My first intention was to change the normal roles between Mister Photographer ( who seems to be in charge all of the times ) and the good looking posing model.
So " my model' is making the picture instead of the photographer. That was my first goal.
Secondly I wanted to make a statement against all the rough sexual orientated photos, which can be found around the internet nowadays. That is why my photo is called Nude Photography.
My aim to create story telling pictures will - hopefully - let the viewer stop by and look a little longer to find the hidden message in this photo.
By all the reactions I received abou this picture I guess I made myself clear ....

(5) 3 HINTS:
Create the picture you wanna make with a team and with a smile.
Do use and take advantage of the qualities your team and don´t forget creating pictures is fun .... We really had a great time and were laughing a lot creating this` silly `scenes, where for example the backdrop fell on top my nude model into the tub a couple of times.

(6) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Coming from Holland I am a freelance photographer and I like to do story telling pictures in a vintage atmosphere. I try to create some mystery and fun into my pics.
My scenes focus on detail. But a deep and longer look might open the door to another journey. Well ... anyway all is thought of long before the camera clicks.

My photowork can be seen at: http://www.peterkemp.nl/" target="new">www.peterkemp.nl
peterkempfotografie@gmail.com">peterkempfotografie@gmail.com

Peter Kemp

Posted 5 months ago

somebody asked me what is a mood board: ... well a mood board is a written document send to all participants of my photoshoot before the actual shoot takes places It is a written story line by me with example photos and / or drawings so everybody knows exactly what is expected on the day of shooting

cheers Peter

FourT6and2

Posted 4 months ago

What was the size and position of each light source? It looks like your key light was fairly large given the even lighting across the entire shot. But you say it was close to the man? His back is in shadow. Yet the shadow of his arm and brush show the light source was behind and in front of him, and slightly above his head. But how was the rest of the scene lit if the only other light is the umbrella for the highlight on your "photographer's" hair?

Great shot!

JaneyKay

Posted 4 months ago

Thanks for taking the time to tell your tale here. Clearly the photo is born of your own inspiration ... the story was the most important thing and then inspiring your models to join your tale. All the details are meticulous and it was interesting to hear how you thought it all out. Bedankt!

Daniel Hashemi

Posted 3 months ago

Excellent! Thank you for sharing!

Any chance of sharing an old mood board that you've used along with the final outcome picture?

Maybe I'm asking much, but you never know until you ask! :)

I'm always intrigued to see the development of a concept by different artists and to learn from how you share your ideas.

Thanks!

Dan

	Compose a reply You must sign in if you want to post a reply.