What is the difference between Erotica and Pornography? Well, it has been said: the difference is the lighting. That’s where I take my cue: My erotic photos are lit carefully and I employ advanced lighting- camera- and Photoshop-techniques to create Erotic Photoart. To me that's what nude photography is all about.
The line between erotica and porn is blurred ... anyway, what is pornography? One definition is: Whatever arouses us is porn ... be it written or pictorial material. By that definition my work - and this site - is pornographic.
But the most accepted, most common-place definition is: Pornography often is offensive, derogatory, demeaning, tacky, rude, vulgar, devoid of taste. Then my work - I believe - is not pornographic. But you'll have to make up your own mind.
However, more pertinently than the difference between porn & erotica, what is the difference between ‘Fine Art Nude Photography’ (mostly black & white) and my Erotic Photoart? For me it's this: The former often is staged, static and stationery.
In my photographs there is movement … by the model, my camera, the lights; when I shoot, I'm somewhat out of control. You see, I’ve been an ad shooter for 45 years. Always in control; always restrained. But now the chains are off. When I shoot my nudes, I’m free. I take chances. I allow for the unexpected to happen, the uncontrollable; and for 10 shots that I may consider, I will shoot 100 frames.
In the end I’ll use just 1; which I then will retouch, polish, enhance. I'll find a frame I like (but if I don't, doesn't matter; I'll move on to the next shot) and when I bring the raw shot alive in the editing, I turn it into Photoart, with love, care, dedication ... I like to think my best shots are mysterious, indeed art.
I love that process: not to have to worry about the shot while I shoot, but to feel the woman in front of me: her moves, her features and her personality … it's the sublime experience of photographer & model in non-physical union; where I endeavour to use my intuition - and my professional expertise - to enrich your life as I bring her beauty to you as well as an appreciation of art.
In "Life" this is how Keef puts into words that process of being creative & free:
“Oh yeah. That feeling is worth more than anything. There’s a certain moment when you realize that you have actually just left the planet for a bit and that nobody can touch you. You’re elevated because you’re with a bunch of guys (a model, in my case) that want to do the same thing as you. And when it works, baby, you’ve got wings. You know you’ve been some-where most people never get; you’ve been to a special place …”
I could not say it better myself … and I just play the Stones while I work. Ohhh … if only I could shoot like the Stones play.
Keep visiting my blog … there will always be interesting stuff, such as info about the models and links to new hot, erotic and often educational websites. You do realize I'm doing the hard work for you here, don't you? It takes a lot of commitment to trawl the often awful erotic content on the net!!@#$%^&*()_+
My Erotic Manifesto:
Why erotica? Why erotic art? Why EROTIC-PHOTOART?
For Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939), the Austrian neurologist and founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry, the life drive, the libido or eros, the desire for survival, propagation and sex was the most important motivating force in life.
And Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, former Gresham Professor of Divinity, says in his book Between the Monster and the Saint: “The fuck is as fundamental as the fight.” (o.k., he says it the other way around, in a different context; same thing, though.)
So, is sex important? You bet it is. What shall we do about it? Well, one of two things: We may ignore our sex drive and do nothing about it, we may even go so far as to sup- pressing it - many more people do than one would think; for many reasons, probably mostly religious - or we revel in it. I do the latter. I like sex; always have, always will.
I am a follower of tantra: Guiltless sex. Not sex for procreation, where women are relegated to being reproduction facilities, but sex for pleasure, sex as an expression of one’s self. This is sacred sex … sex without shame, embarrassment or regret (sacred as opposed to religious … with all its blame, disgrace and sinfulness), sex that is celebrated, talked about, written about, depicted … sex that is not taboo.
When I look at my work I am aware of its voyeuristic nature. Tantra acknowledges that we view the nude body with desire and thus gain satisfaction … and in the process indeed become voyeurs. This is an aspect of our nature Erotic Photoart caters for … unashamedly so. I adore eros … the god of sexual love and desire. Hence Erotic Photoart, explicitly on the quest for the celebration of beauty and our sex drive.
A how-to guide to shooting Erotic Photoart
a compendium to my Erotic Photoart Magazines
When shooting nudes different rules apply. You don’t want to be too clinical, literal or un-adventurous, because you’ll just be shooting pornography. It has been said the difference between porn and erotica is the light. That’s my cue. We’ve got to use innovative lighting for nudes.
The light gives our shots their life … this is a premier rule in photography, but especially for erotic photographs. The light for EROTIC PHOTOART is designed to be mysterious, enigmatic … and when I say different rules apply, I actually mean you are allowed to throw the rules out. The shots can be too dark (low key) or too bright (high key), too soft, too contrasty, even unsharp … as long as they’re evocative. Use one type of lighting in the shot? Why on earth! Mix it. Use flash, tungsten, LED lamps … all in the one picture; and - secondly - the lighting goes hand in hand with the camera work. We again throw out the rules.
Hold the camera still? Forget it. Don’t zoom while shooting? No way. So, how is my style of erotic pictures achieved? You’ll notice that I use a very simple set, just a canvas backdrop - in fact I have three - they’re about 6m by 7m. I have my lights set up before the model arrives (I only have the model for two hours) and I hardly ever move them … but I turn these lights off / on as I go along.
I have two main lights, from the left and right, as far back as possible … so these are rather strong backlights. They are 60cm by 60cm (24” x 24”) softboxes, on Visatec monolights. I place them as high as possible, and remember, very much as backlights. Below them I have another set of two Visatecs, with small reflectors, barn doors and honey-comb grids.
So on either side I have a softbox and a spot light … and I vary using them as flashes or just their modelling lamps as tungstens, which - in case of the spot lights - gives me those strange flares. To top the side lights off, I have little LED video lamps, four of them bunched together in two groups - sometimes in groups of 1 + 3, or I may use them evenly.
So these lamps are strong back and side lights. I don’t use a top light … my studio ceiling is too low. As a front light I use either another Visatec, with a square reflector, 40cm by 40cm (16” x 16”), also with a honeycomb grid, it’s always used as a flash … or a ring flash adaptor on my Canon Speedlite. Either one of these flashes (I don’t use them together) gives me the sharp part of the shot … but here’s the trick:
To begin with, I generally use a long exposure, probably ¼ second, or longer; the camera is on M, most likely around f/8. Then I turn the flashes, their modelling lights and the LEDs on / off at a whim. And now the fun starts: I may ask the model to move around, dance (the music is pumping) or jump around, whatever; just don’t stand still too much.
While all that is going on, the camera gets twisted and turned during the exposure … as does the zoom ring of my 24-70mm lens. And I’ll take many, many shots; lots of them are useless, too out of focus, over or under exposed, sometimes all of that in the one frame.
But we’re having a great time, while the results are un-expected and un-planned … with the exception of my black and white close-up pictures, my ‘body-scapes’. These sharp pictures are done with my 50mm f/1.2 wide open at 1/60th, using tungsten lighting. That’s the low-down; frankly … it’s trial and error. Lots of it. Obviously there is heaps of retouching going on in these pictures.
Most of the character of the styles comes from messing around in the RAW converter, there are many sliders that want to be used (abused?); my favourite is the Color Temperature … no wait, the Blacks together with Exposure; oh boy! Magic! So much fun; and Saturation, Tint and Vibrance. And then you can use Clarity (sharpening) all turned up in one export and all turned down in another, comp them together and paint the effect in on a mask.
Often a style - a series of shots - has two, three, four layers mixed together. Honestly, here in the RAW converter, I’m like a kid in the lolly shop. But we’re not done yet … we need to retouch heavily, smoothen the skin (the ring flash is really harsh, especially since I mostly under-expose my front light).
I do a lot of copying and pasting from different frames (always of the same series, though), lots of Stamp Tooling and Spot Healing. I may help the make up along … it’s too easy in Photoshop. So … that’s what is happening once there is a model in front of the camera.
And how did she get there? It was harder in the beginning then I had thought, until I found Model Mayhem and until I had the first few models on my site. But I pay my models well and treat them with respect … that goes a long way.
As you can see I have no secrets, I am happy to pass my knowledge on.
