#4

I reckon this figure study is abstract enough to be considered more 'fine

art' than 'nude' (mind you, find art nudes is what I'm aiming for! :)

Hi Niki,

To begin with, I'm flattered you like this picture / the lighting so much that you posted a question about it on the forum (!)

Yes, you certainly can do it at home. As a matter of fact, this picture was taken in a somewhat cramped room serving as a totally improvised 'home studio'.

The most important thing you need is a model! :)

As for the lighting, it was a typical household floor standing lamp, the one with an arm you can position however you want, fitted with a fluorescent bulb as they generate more light for the same wattage (lamp's fittings were rated to 60W only, and that's very few lumens).

As for light modifiers, there were two:

1. a 'snoot' made of some rolled packaging paper fastened with a bit of cello tape (so 'hard'/directional rather than diffused); and

2. my hand held in front of the lens to block direct light thus preventing ghosting.

Finally, the lamp was positioned so that to create direct reflection, i.e., I was shooting against the light. To complete this nifty set-up, throw in some dark fabric for background; in this case it was a brown blanket.

Best shoot RAW, exposing for highlights. (Having said that, this was shot as JPEG with basically no post-processing.)

Bottom-line (no pun intended ;) very simple, as basic as it gets really.

Enjoy!

...and let me know how it went (?)