Nude

[threefoot]

Here are a few from this past weekends NE Ohio gathering hosted at John Powers place. All were collaborations with friends Dan & Silke Seybold.
Dallmeyer 13" f/3.5

Whole Plate, BGA


Whole Plate, BGA


8x10 inch, BGA

[threefoot]

Very beautiful. Sure nude might be nice but it adds to the shot and leaves something to the imagination. Very well done.

[Asher Kelman]

I know that it is risky to post nudes. Too many people look at them with a point of view from the seamier side. I enjoy photographing the nude, but not for the prurient interest that many viewers have. Sometimes, Ustas, we have to put up with the snide and jeering remarks.

Al,

That's shocking to me. It's such bad manners and so disappointing.

To me the undraped nude conveys a sense of grace and tranquility. There is a dichotomy of a woman's confidence to expose her vulnerability. Figure studies are an interesting adjunct to fine art photography. Light and shadow are used to emphasize the curves of the female form. Whether in color or black and white, shape and form must fit the environment.

Your so correct, it's an exercise in shaping and shading.

Photographing the nude, like snapping sunsets, can be done for romantic reasons, to prove one's "been there" or to repeat some sentimental image someone has done before. Still, these natural phenomena present a great challenge and unlike the sunset which is transient and is not cooperative, the nude can have poise, pose, expression and gestures as well as settings that work with a skilled photographer to challenge his/her artistic and technical abilities. The nude has a plasticity in beauty we can interact with. That, I think is part of the allure. The potential to compose and inspire a picture that is even beyond one's dreams. Yes, one can recognize the body as sensual, but I believe that's put aside in making our best work. So it's tragic when work that's so intelligently committed to and delivered should be dealt off color remarks or roughness that degrades the discussion.

Here is an older image that I don't believe I have posted before.

Al Olsen: Jane in the Asters

Kodak HSI with a Linhof IV and Schneider 135mm.

Al,

I really like this picture! I wonder what the shutter speed might have been? I was criticized today because I had taken a picture of a nude in the fetal position so those feminine curves at the hips were not well seen. How could you do this, as if this was an insult to the woman. Your picture, however, would pass with flying colors.

Asher

[Asher Kelman]

Criticism can be constructive in academic or workshop settings, but its always going to be problematic on a forum where people can make comments without any consequences. In a normal community people stay civil because they know they are going to run into a criticized person in other situations. There's accountability in those situations. Here, people can rip up someone's work and go on about their day without consequences. Personally, I really think its questionable to make a lot of comments without showing any work, period. I don't see how people can make thousands of posts and never let us see whether their words stand for anything.

Mandoman7,

You make great points. So how does one get this accountability? Kirk Gittings, al Olson or Frank Petrino can't be impossibly rude to anyone as they each use their real names. That's their way of dealing openly, so they are naturally accountable for maintaining their good name. In fact, I'd offer that using one's real name is likely a predictor of better behavior, although I cannot prove it. On my much smaller forum, where only real names are allowed, photographs are critiqued with utter openness. It's not always positive, I assure you. Still, we never ever have rudeness or flaming because it's not tolerated and we have our reputations on the line. It really works. Use of aliases and "handles" work fine for truck drivers on the road and seem to be fun and so popular. However, the downside is that the poster has nothing valuable at stake. When one uses one's real name, one's reputation is on the line. My motto is "be nice to the other folk in the tour bus". This starts be allowing folk to see who you really are. So giving up pseudonyms in this forum would go a long way towards solving any issue of discourtesy.

Asher

[threefoot]

Well, not completely nude, but ...



Horseman 45VF + Nikkor 180 mm
Ilford HP5+ / PMK

Very beautiful. Sure nude might be nice but it adds to the shot and leaves something to the imagination. Very well done.

[al olson]

. . .

I really like this picture! I wonder what the shutter speed might have been? I was criticized today because I had taken a picture of a nude in the fetal position so those feminine curves at the hips were not well seen. How could you do this, as if this was an insult to the woman. Your picture, however, would pass with flying colors.

Asher

Thank you, Asher. I guess I concealed the hips a bit on my photo as well.

As to shutter speed, this photo was made in 2003 so I have to reconstruct my exposure. Kodak recommended an EI range of 50 to 200. Some people even use and EI of 320. On the modern infrared films, Kodak never specified an ISO, although as I recall decades ago they then gave the film an ASA rating that I have long forgotten.

Anyway, as you can tell, my depth of field is narrow so the aperture was likely set at f/8, certainly no more than f/11. I usually use a filter factor (for an 87 filter or equivalent) of 4 EV. (Kodak recommended between 3 and 5 EV.) So a film EI of 200 divided by 4 EV, puts the filtered EI at 50. Using the Sunny 16 Rule, a setting at f/16 would be a shutter speed of 1/50. But at f/8 the shutter speed would be around 1/200.

Just for contrast, the nude does not have to emphasize shading and shadows. Sometimes I prefer to see lines and angles. (Same camera and lens as before, Portra 160VC.)

I might add about the image below, Rafael was in graduate school as a foreign student at the time of this photo. Upon graduation, she was a member of the faculty for several years.



Rafael in the Window

[bigguy88]

Here are a few from this past weekends NE Ohio gathering hosted at John Powers place. All were collaborations with friends Dan & Silke Seybold.
Dallmeyer 13" f/3.5

Whole Plate, BGA

loves this one. have to click to see it in bigger size.

[stradibarrius]

For me it all depends on the mood that the photo conveys. If it appears to flow and feel natural then it can be partial or full nude. If the pose looks/feels contrived then it doesn't work for me.

[SergeiR]

Oh well.. Why not.

Chamonix45n2, Symmar 210mm, Ilford 400, studio.

[Leigh]

Great shot, Sergei. It looks like she's floating in mid air. Very nice.

- Leigh