Whenever I start working with someone for the first time, I begin with what I call “survey.”  I simply have them stand facing the camera and shoot them full length, then have them rotate clockwise and shoot at various intervals until they complete the circle.

I like to do this because it helps me understand what aspects of their anatomy might be good material for me to focus on.  And in this case, what I was drawn to where the strong features of this woman’s face.  Looking at it head on, there was an interesting shape to the jawline.  More exciting to me, though, was her nose which I thought added great personality.

I decided to do a portrait of her that would show the beauty of her profile, and came up with this pose.

We worked here for a little while , changing the space between her nose and her forearm, changing the space between her thigh and breast.  Mostly, I focused on having her round her back so there would be all soft lines leading to the hard edges of her  nose and forearm.
 
That done, I decided I wanted to make an image that made her look more vulnerable and soft.  From the survey, I knew shooting her more head-on would help the angularity of her nose.  But in addition, I asked her to hold her hair in a very loose bun to reduce the oval quality of her face.  The final touch was to have her move her right thigh closer to her torso so the shape of the breast was no longer silhouetted.  For me, that insured that the viewer’s eye would be drawn to her face.

To see what we ended up with, head over to the blog at NudePhotoWorkshops.com. In addition to seeing more work, you can also sign up for a free newsletter with photography tips for photographing fine art nudes.

And while you are there, check out the fine art nude photography workshops. Our next one is the Joshua Tree Fine Art Nude Workshop, April 23rd-27th. Just one spot still open!