Daylight Nude Photography
Nothing beats daylight nude photography when done properly. It has a soft warmth and natural delicacy that is very hard if not impossible to match with flash or other light sources. There are several reasons why professional photographers might choose to fly half way across the world to photograph a series of images but high up on that list will be the quality of available daylight.
Whether you are shooting glamour, fine art nudes or beauty photography the quality of light is a key element in making your images successful and very often getting the right natural light will give your image a major boost.
These days you can work wonders in Photoshop but I still believe that starting out with a beautiful model photographed in the best possible light is the greatest contribution you can make towards producing a stunning final image. It’s the basic foundation for your image and all the rest is just tinkering at the edges.
The black & white photograph above relies on nothing more than daylight coming through a single window with net curtains and using the bed sheet to offer some soft reflection on the body. It was shot at F4 using a 50mm lens on my 1DsII.
In the past there have been beauty campaigns I have shot in daylight studios using no flash or other sources of light and the images definitely have a natural quality that I very much like. Better still it was also appreciated by the client.
Renting a daylight studio can be expensive but they are in great demand because of the ultimate flexibility they offer and it may be worth looking at your own property to see if there are areas that can be used in a similar way. All it might take are some inexpensive changes such as a fresh coat of paint in a warm natural colour and some net curtains to transform a space into a very workable area for daylight nude photography just like I have done in the picture below.
Whether shooting indoors or outdoors try giving some serious consideration to how you make best use of daylight for your photography.