The Abstract Nude

Abstract Photography is its own animal, and this article deals with how to create abstract photography where the subject happens to be a nude model.

Abstract is the opposite of concrete, which means that the focus is on a conceptual view as opposed to a literal representation. The abstract photograph uses the parts of the model photographed to present a visual idea or draw an emotional or intellectual reaction from the viewer.

In an abstract nude, the concrete perception of the human body is secondary to the primary perception of the idea. Usually, this is done by disguising the concrete subject matter in a way that makes the viewer see the play of light and shadow in the photograph first, and then recognize that a human body (or some part of one) is being used to create the shot.

There is no failure except a failure to get across the idea you intended. An abstract photo where the nudity is seen as a primary, instead of a contributing, component is, by definition, a figure study.

• The trick to an abstract photograph of a nude is to walk the thin line between a shot where the concrete (the nudity) dominates and the photo is so abstracted as to make the concrete subject completely disappear. The body parts cannot be the first subject, but some effort by the viewer must allow them to see the body, eventually.

• Abstractions can be created in a variety of ways. The easiest is to use a longer lens to move in on some part of the model’s body and make a picture out of their lines and shapes, only showing just enough of the form to allow the viewer to identify it.

• Application of Photoshop filters is another great way to take an existing “picture of a naked person” and turn it into an Abstract Nude.

• Have an idea what you want the abstraction to portray, whether it be an emotion or political message, or just a simple optical illusion. Better to fail at your idea than to succeed at taking shots with no direction. As Ansel Adams once said, “There is nothing worse than a tack-sharp image of a fuzzy idea.”

All members of the forum are invited to submit links to their own Abstract Nude work to this section. Why learn how only one person does this? Example 1 by LaoTzu An example of moving in close.
Example 2 by LaoTzu The reflection of the model in moving mylar.
Example 1 by Mussakka Light, camera position, and pose.
Example 2 by Mussakka Holga-esque vignette effect
Example 3 by Mussakka Sometimes you abstract the model, sometimes...
Example 1 by Cathie T. The thin line between abstract and concrete.