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One Light Nude Setups

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Editorial Nude, One-Light Photography Setup

Raven poses in a one-light setup in Atlanta.

One of my favorite methods of capturing the form of the nude body is using simple, one-light setups. These setups can involve any type of light source, artificial, ambient or natural light, as long as it’s just one-light, though my favorite, is using a simple studio flash monolight with a 7-inch conical reflector and either a 10-, 20-, or 30-degree metal grid placed directly on the front of the reflector.

Normally this type of lighting is harsh, but by simply walking around the subject and observing how the “angle of incidence to the angle of reflection” affects the subject, plus changing my camera angle as I move around the subject. I use this technique to my advantage to minimize any harsh lighting effect on the skin.  I also utilize the shadows provided from the chiaroscuro as the light skips across the nude body to help me capture the best possible image.

In this type of scenario, where the photographer walks around the subject, it takes a special subject to photograph, one that trusts in my observations are merely for capturing a great photo, not just to gawk at her body. It’s all about providing a respectful and dignified environment while photographically appreciating the human form.  This is one reason I reserve most of my editorial nude photography sessions for my longtime models, those that I’ve built substantial rapport with over long periods of time.  These veteran models know that I’m after a great image, not just another image of their naked body.
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Rolando Gomez Philosophy on Nude Photography
Editorial Nudes is not a website where you’ll find pornography, nor is this a website where models are underage, this is a website that showcases another genre of my art, though I want to clarify, nudity should never be a requirement for photography. Nudity is not for everyone, but for those that can appreciate the beauty of the human form and can handle it with maturity and common sense. I hope you’ll enjoy how I view nudity through my camera lens, often in a more editorial format. Read more about my philosophy on nude photography here.

Photographer Helmut Newton Had It Right On Nude Photography
While many famous photographers are known for other genres of photography, such as fashion, commercial, landscape and photojournalism photography, almost all have shot a nude photograph at some point in their careers. Whether it was fashion nude, editorial nude, Playboy nude, fine-art nude, implied nude, or some form of nude photography, some photographer captured a nude photo somewhere.

Then there were those like Helumut Newton, who were catapult into more fame for their nude photography than their commercial or fashion magazine photography. It’s been said that Simon de Pury, the head of the New York/London auction house Phillips de Pury & Company, while having a discussion with Helmut Newton about the then upcoming inaugural show for his Zurich gallery, asked Newton, “…What else do you have?” Newton replied, “My landscapes, but nobody wants to see those.”

Newton was correct and soon “Sex and Landscapes” was conceived for that inaugural show in 2001. While undoubtedly the late Newton has help put the “PC” in nude photography over the years, it’s not that nude photography is so bad in our private conscious, it’s the difficulty of the use of the word in our vocabulary and the use of nude images in our visual arts—like a fear, our own society is the guilty culprit and it’s time for us to “grow up” and accept the beauty nude photography brings, especially when captured correctly.

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