Warm Skin Tones In Nude Photography
The warm skin tones you see in the above image were greatly helped by the use of a folding gold Lastolite reflector, which was used to bounce the bright sunlight back onto the model. Having used reflectors like these for over 20 years I find they are very useful to help achieve the kind of warm skin tones I generally like in glamour and nude photography.
The key advantage of these reflectors is that the are light and very portable plus they seem to be reasonably resistent to regular use, so they should last you for years with careful use. You can also use them with flash lighting of course to give a soft warm fill if you find the ambient levels need a boost.
The biggest disadvantage I find is that they can be tricky to keep steady if there is any kind of wind present, so you either need an assistant or some kind of suitable support. To remain steady the support will often need to be weighted down which loses the initial advantage, so on balance I generally find them best adapted for indoor use, where you just need a lift in brightness and warmth, while making use of the available light. For outdoor use there are more heavy duty alternatives with rigid frames that are probably a better choice.
Although a gold reflector will help to create warm skin tones it can still look a bit strange if you have a particularly pale model, so there is a lot to be said for choosing a subject with at least a base tan. Remember also that the reason we often want to see warm skin tones is because it makes the model look healthy and relaxed.
Something else I have found is that the actual reflectors can vary dramatically in the way that they reflect light and some of them produce a very brash gold reflection that is too obvious so I prefer to use ones that have a softer almost matt finish, which produces a gentler more natural reflection. N.B Be careful about choosing a reflector online because it’s really difficult to judge what they are like, so this is one of those cases where I would advise a trip to the camera shop.
Another point to be wary of is when you light your model with a gold reflector but then find the background looks very cold in comparison, so a degree of care is needed here and if necessary you will have to make some changes. It’s much easier of course with digital cameras and post production retouching to correct small imbalances.
In the past reflectors tended be either white or gold for example but nowadays you can find all sorts of combinations and they all have their uses. I have one for example, which is basically a diffuser but it comes complete with a zip on cover that is black or white on one side, however if you turn it inside out you then have the option of gold or silver, so it’s remarkably versatile and really easy to pack for a shoot.
When using reflectors with daylight the effect you see on the subject is what you get so it’s extremely reliable to manage but you also need to look carefully at your subject to make sure the balance is attractive and subtlety is the key. Also remember that these reflectors can make it uncomfortable for a model to see, so you need to be careful and make sure you don’t end up with strained looks.
In the image above I used a hand held incident light meter and started off by taking a reading of the white curtains and then taking it from there to get the balance right. It wouldn’t have looked right if the curtains looked dull and grey but the model was brightly lit…
There are of course other techniques and tricks for achieving warm skin tones including some in post production using Photoshop. Nothing beats a natural glowing tan but even then a little lift of some golden light can work wonders.
Try the reflectors from Lastolite or California SunBounce for warm skin tones.