Customer Reviews

Creative Techniques for Nude Photography in Black & White

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It's rare to find a photo book with "creative" in its title living up to the promise, but this is an exception. Christopher Grey explains in detail how he created the innovative, sometimes abstract, black-and-white figure studies that are the focus of this book. He includes descriptions of the lighting setups, poses, backgrounds, props, etc., but also adds extra information often lacking in this kind of book: He tells us the advantages of working with pregnant models ("transient beauty [resulting] from physical changes"); outlines the perils, legal and otherwise, of shooting nudes outdoors, and the steps he takes to avoid problems; discusses the nuances of compostion; talks about his and his models' attitudes toward the shots; and generally lets the reader look over his shoulder while he makes his photographs.

This isn't a glamour guide, like many nude how-to books, but an introduction to shooting the figure from a fine-art perspective. I think it's a great introduction to the genre for both beginner and more experienced photographers, and a valuable addition to any photo library.

I purchased this book on the basis of a reader's review and the fact that it has an introduction by Lucien Clergue whom I respect as a photographer of the nude female form. It turns out the introduction is a very brief paragraph at the beginning of the book. The photographs range from mediocre to downright bad, most of them having been made with one studio light or outdoors under natural lighting. The poses are unispired and uninteresting save for the fact that they are of (sometimes) beautiful nude women. The printing is very contrasty with most of the highlights blown out. Whether that is the fault of the photographer's printing skills or the printing of the book, I can't say. I was deeply disappointed in this book overall.

I purchased this book on the basis of a reader's review and the fact that it has an introduction by Lucien Clergue whom I respect as a photographer of the nude female form. It turns out the introduction is a very brief paragraph at the beginning of the book. The photographs range from mediocre to downright bad, most of them having been made with one studio light or outdoors under natural lighting. The poses are unispired and uninteresting save for the fact that they are of (sometimes) beautiful nude women. The printing is very contrasty with most of the highlights blown out. Whether that is the fault of the photographer's printing skills or the printing of the book, I can't say. I was deeply disappointed in this book overall.