The first shots you will take will probably look quite bad and you will quickly realise that you are not prepared. So take a break and pull out a few photography magazines and books or look on the net to find some examples of some poses that you could aim for.

Once you have picked your pose maybe a “a shot of her standing with her back to the camera – the focus being her back – lit from the side to accentuate her curves”. This is a classic nude shot you will see in lots of different books and is a good place to start.

Knowing what you want to achieve in a shot is nine tenths of the battle. Taking nude shots is not as simple as grabbing a camera and getting your gear off.

2. Colour Is Not Always Best Try Black and White

Shooting in colour will be quite confronting to your model, even the most beautiful people have a few blemishes or blotches on our skin that can be quite eye catching in shots.

In changing to B+W you will notice that the shots completely change in their look and feel. They became less about the body in the shots and more about the shapes, the light, the shadows etc.

3. Warm the Room

So a practical tip and perhaps an obvious one. Make sure the heating is on! while you taking the photos will be dressed you might actually not notice the coolness of the room. It’s hard to pose and look relaxed when you’re shivering!

4. Use Longer Focal Lengths

This will vary from person to person but I found that things worked best when I shot with longer focal lengths. Perhaps it was partly that I wasn’t up real close and personal as I took my shots and this allowed my subject some personal space – but the shots when I used a longer lens were better than those when shooting with short ones. Something like a 70-200mm lens comes in handy when you need some shots that focus upon taking more close up shots of parts of the body – almost abstract type shots.

5. Anonymity Helps

Another thing that works is that the shots where the subjects faces are turned away from the camera work out somehow more photogenic than those in which she was looking at the camera. Not seeing the face adds a little mystery into the shots. I’m not quite sure how to describe it any other way but the images will become a little less confronting.

6. Keep The Mood Relaxed And Fun

Being naked in front of another person and being that other person can be quite confronting – although it can also be quite funny if you let it be. Take the ‘funny’ approach and spend a lot of the time giggling like school girls and it will help move beyond the initial awkward stage.

Keep a couple of sheets and blankets handy so that between shots the model is able to coverup and keep warm. They can be used them to keep covered when taking some of the close up shots later on where they couldn’t be seen.

7. A Home Studio Helps

My main advice here is to keep it simple when it comes to your set up. You don’t really want your model standing around while you adjust settings and get things set up – you want him or her to be relaxed and not put out by the experience.

8. Simple Poses For The Win

Start looking for shapes and considering how light was falling on the body almost more like a landscape that way you will get the best results. Have the model stand, sit and lay in comfortable positions and move around them more than having them move around you.

9. Cover Up Sometimes Less Skin Is More

Have your model cover themselves up in a number of ways – either by using hands and arms to cover the torso or where even an unbuttoned shirt, or Lingerie set.