Shootin’ nekkid girls.

Q: SOMEONE HAS ASKED ME TO SHOOT HER IN THE NUDE. I HAVEN’T DONE THIS BEFORE, AND I DON’T PLAN ON DOING THIS A LOT. I THINK YOU SHOULD TRY EVERYTHING AT LEAST ONCE AND LEARN SOMETHING FROM IT. WOULD YOU DO THIS AND, IF SO, HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN IT TO YOUR BETTER HALF?

A: Ahhhh. The better half. I call my wife, Meg, the better 7/8ths.

I made a pact with a fellow photographer back in art school that he and I would never shoot a nude. It wasn’t some sort of religious visual chastity thing. It was just a buck against the art world and all their damn nudes. That said, and years now having passed, I’ve often thought that I should shoot at least one nude in my life.

This is between you and your spouse, and that’s it. If they aren’t cool with it, don’t do it. Plain and simple. Plenty of other things to spend time photographing.

Case in point. I shot some portraits recently of an older gentleman. They are some of my favorite portraits I’ve shot in I don’t know how long. They’re the most honest portraits I’ve captured in a long time. He was an amazing subject that just opened up to my camera. They’re the simplest portraits, nothing special about the lighting or anything. But damn it all, I’m proud of a few of these frames.

I’ve never shot nudes. Like you, part of me thinks I need to give it a try for the sake of trying something different. If I ever do shoot a nude, then Meg has to be on board with it. For my European readers—I know. I know. In some cultures, though, this can be quite a touchy subject.

At the end of the day, give me a nude female that can possibly cause strife in my marriage, or give me an older male that will give me truly honest and beautiful portraits, and it’s pretty easy to see what actually excites me more.

Rene Silvin photographed for Men’s Book magazine. :: Phase One IQ140 / 80mm / f4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 50 / The background is an Impact 5-in-1 72″ reflector being lit by an Einstein strobe that was lying on the floor behind Mr. Silvin. Mr. Silvin was lit with an Einstein strobe firing into a halfway closed-down 60″ reflective umbrella. Closing a 60″ umbrella halfway down looks a lot like the light made by a 28″ Westcott Apollo softbox.

Here is the setup for the image on the previous page. Here you see the 60″ umbrella half closed as the main light. Note that I’m using the short reflector on that light. That reflector is made to be used with PCB’s parabolic umbrellas. I use it for normal umbrellas, as well. You don’t have to have it, though. A standard reflector works just fine. The background light is on the floor being propped up by a few A-clamps, and it’s pointing toward the 5-in-1 background that is A-clamped to a light stand.