Fine Art Nudes Lighting and Posing for Black & White Photography

by Trampe, Stan

• ISBN13: 9781608959013
• ISBN10: 1608959015
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-06-09
• Publisher: Amherst Media

Summary

In this book, veteran photographer Stan Trampe shows you how to produce outstanding black & white nude portraits using basic equipment and a simple lighting approach—both in the studio and on location. You’ll get great insight into what it takes to develop a trusting relationship with models that will facilitate an eagerness for them to embrace—and even improve upon—your creative concepts.

With more than 25 years’ experience photographing nudes, Trampe has developed an eye for what makes a portrait resonate with viewers. In the pages of this book, you’ll discover what makes his black & white fine-art nude images tick. You’ll get tips for choosing dramatic indoor and outdoor locations that will serve as the perfect backdrop and set the mood in the image. You will also learn how to create or find great natural light that shows texture and contours the model’s body for added appeal. Posing subjects to coax curves and highlight the subject’s physical aspects is of obvious import in this genre, and Trampe teaches you to help conceptualize a strategy that not only makes the subject look good but, in many cases, even plays off of another shape in the overall image. He also teaches you when and how adding fabric or props will further your image, and when less is more. Also included are pages on traditional compositional guidelines such as effective framing, leading lines, and the Rule of Thirds. Finally, Trampe ends with a look at basic retouching in postproduction to lighten or darken the image, remove blemishes, and creatively crop the image for added impact.

Whether you are new to photographing artful nudes or simply want to learn some new ideas to work into your repertoire, this book will enhance every aspect of your photography.

Author Biography

Stan Trampe lived most of his life in St. Louis, MO, moving to San Diego in 2012. In 1987, at the age of 56, he became inspired with serious black and white fine-art nude photography after a week-long workshop with Robert Farber in Northern California. He began working with digital imaging in 2000, and within a year, abandoned his darkroom and converted to all digital capture and production. He continues to photograph almost exclusively in black & white, including infrared. Stan is a self-taught photographer, and gained valuable insights during several workshops with artists Joyce Tennyson, Ken Marcus, Jerry Uelsmann, Michael Kenna and Sally Mann (all exceptional darkroom printers). Stan’s work is entirely fine-art nude and a few portraits.

His passion to create fine-art nude images continues to this day and at 83 years young, he hopes that it will continue for many more years. His models are his inspiration and he continues to photograph a minimum of two sessions per week. Stan’s preference is to photograph one model for more than one year; doing this builds a remarkable rapport that improves the work. The model and Stan are frequently co-creators; as a group he finds that models are very creative.

Stan admits to sometimes being overwhelmed by what he sees: a model at a stream in the early morning, fog lifting, her form touched by the first muted rays of sunlight, or in his studio with touching expressions of light. Stan quips that his models forgive the occasional tears that he sheds.