The Naked and the Lens: A Guide to Nude Photography
Product Description
The Naked and the Lens is designed as both a technical guide and an artistic inspiration. Filled with beautiful images of the nude form, it also shows you how this can be technically achieved. The book covers key topics: concept, lighting, directing, post-production, and artisic re-interpretation and how to find models. Legal and photo release issues are covered as well.
The techniques are up-to-date, including Photoshop CS4, RAW capture and shooting with a gray card to capture accurate white balance information. The lighting section will also show how to get studio quality light from hot-shoe flashes by adapting them to umbrellas and soft boxes.
Regardless of whether you are shooting in a studio or in a field, this book will show you how to create works of art with nude bodies and it will also teach through advice in a unique interview section with leading nude photographers around the world through their words and their images. … More >>
The Naked and the Lens: A Guide to Nude Photography
Tagged with: Guide • Lens • Naked • Nude • Photography
Filed under: Nude Photography
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Lou Benjamin has crafted a book that should be useful to every photographer who works with people as their subject. Even experienced photographers will have much to learn from these pages. It’s comprehensive and diverse in the types of photography that it covers. Lighting is a special area of emphasis, and the subject is explained in a way that anyone can grasp the key concepts. But the book is also extremely lovely–the photographs sizzle, sparkle, and stun. Buy it as a textbook–keep it as a coffee table book. Also would make a great present for the photographer in your life.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is a book that everyone interested in expanding their knowledge about nude photography, and art in general, should buy. Do not think twice about buying it, you will be insipired and satisfied by the time you finish reading it, I assure you.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ll preface this reveiw by making your acquaintance with my motive for purchasing this book and also my bias. I’m a begining book taught photographer. My primary goal is to learn more about photography as I don’t have the ability now for formal classes. I’ve read many of the competing books.
Louis Benjamin, the author, has made an incredible book. He keeps his comentary neutral and he is very objective. Pg. 40, “In some circles, covered-up nudes are referred to as “implied” nudes. This relatively safe approach to making nudes can be beautiful, but it is also rife with cliche, and runs the risk of being read as timidity on the part of the photographer, the model, or both.” He puts forth a lot of good information which is usually philosophical and conceptual rather than specific with excetions in places. He does list several references, photographers, art types, lighting types, etc. The book is catalyst to new ways of thinking and provides you the oppertunity to gain more by researching his large amount of references made in book. The exploratory gains were highly benificial to me. With google this may be easy for you.
I’ll relate a couple of specific portions of the book I really enjoyed, but it doesn’t do justice overall to how much I enjoyed this book and the knowledge I gained.
-The images were amazing and the explanations inspired me to try new ideas.
-Mention of Szarkowski of the Museum of Modern Art. Explanation was given on this mans model for critiquing photography.
-Thoughts on working with a model. Pg. 129, “The words “model,” “subect,” and “sitter” are all somewhat problematic as a way of referring to the person who will be in front of the camera, because each term implies a certain power relationship and almost constrains the nature of the ways in which the person on either side of the camera will think about the collaboration.”
-Description of digital workflow.
This book gave me a fresh perspective on photography that I hadn’t received from other books I’ve read. I’m really glad I read this book.
Rating: 5 / 5