Most of my fine art nude photography projects are minimalist by design. They are bold, keeping the artist in the majority of the frame and composing with very little props that would visually or psychologically support the artist’s personality or mood.
Nude photography is tough and having to increase the complexity with composition seems to be an avoidable mistake to me. The 2 key compositional elements I depend upon in creating minimalist fine arts nude portraits are the use of positive & negative spaces in conjunction with the use of shadows.
Creating powerful minimalist nude compositions
If you are new to fine art nude photography, it might surprise you that most viewers often stick to the eyes of the model, most frequently not moving below the eye or chin, which happens to create the first, and often the last impression. The rest of the image is just a visually peripheral balance in the mind of the viewer.
The most important thing for creating powerful yet minimalist nude compositions is who to sit in and what personality of the artist evokes the essence of your project the most. If it is not the eyes, you may want to keep looking into the next model.
Choosing the right model artist makes all the difference
The final fine art is a co-creation, partly owned by the photographer but mostly owned by the model artist. From the tweaking of the broad project ideas through designing the frame, finalizing the location & deciding the composition, my artist is an undeniable help to me throughout.
The only thing that I decide is the time, which for the most part is easy, since I usually shoot before sun-up or just about sun-down! The final image is usually black & white or in muted colors, my model artist has a very good control over the mood & settle into the mind of the project comfortably before we start shooting.
Preparing your artist for the project
Typically, i take over 6 months before I settle on an artist, and I stick to the model. I know I have made the right choice and now its transferring all the ideas & images in my head into the model’s mind. This is almost like baking. You sit & wait.
I usually give it 4 – 6 weeks for my artist to come back to me with their ideas & when that happens I know that we are making progress. So far what was mine, is now co-owned. I have been often taken aback by the sort of changes my artist wanted to make! And we implement as much of those as possible.
Giving the artist the time to perfect
Fine arts & especially fine arts nude photography projects cannot compete with time. I apologize to my colleagues who time their personal projects & go on clicking the shutter hoping to get something. One of the secrets to creating a compelling nude composition is to give time to the artist to mature & roll into the essence of the project.
Many times it requires weeks of shooting & reviewing the images together, putting in the tweaks necessary, mostly in terms of framing the shot. I have to admit, in my experience, my companion artists always excelled over my shutter clicking skills! I have been fortunate to have my models display that sort of patience and as much nurturing as I have done to my projects.
Final thoughts on composition
It all comes down to have the confidence to experiment. What may have appeared appealing in my head often turn out to be below average in composition or lighting. I have always experimented. But most importantly, I have always allowed my artist to experiment. It is through these minor experiments that we have created very powerful portraits & moody images.