The curves and planes of a woman’s figure offer a beautiful geometry to be found nowhere else on Earth. Depicting imagery of women is as old as mankind’s ability to create such images, and for almost as long, artists of all types have sought to portray the female nude in many aspects. In the United States, where Puritan standards of decency run deep, full nude imagery has long been viewed as distasteful and debauched. In response,creative takes on nude imagery have sprung up over the years, especially as photography has gained popularity as a medium of artistic expression. One of the most desirable and publicly acceptable types of nude photography is the “implied nude”. “Implied nude imagery” is as simply defined as the terms state. The model is either topless or fully nude, but through a wide array of “strategies”, the elements of the female form which are considered to be indecent to show in visual media are hidden by the angle of the pose, props or shadowing. However, creating sophisticated elegance in an implied nude image is not as easy as pointing a camera at a naked girl and clicking the shutter. Such is likely to create an image that looks cheap and tawdry. The happy end result should be an image where the model is an icon of Beauty Unattainable surrounded by an atmosphere of mystery and sensuality and lit in such a way to make her glamorous and refined. Achieving the desired result requires some understanding of lighting, pose, facial expressions and post production. From there, you should arrive at an image that makes you proud, leaves the model with a bright smile on her face and leave aficionados of your work wanting MORE!
