Taking better pictures

[20andhard]

Hey,

I posted this here, instead of in the picture forum, because this is the how to forum, and I think there are certain practices to phogoraphy that hold true no matter what your subject, be it the male body, or an ocean. I figure there has to be some amature, and professional photographers out there. So anyway...

I'm an exhibitionist by nature, so I've got a bit of an intrest in the picture forum here. I've take a few pics, and posted a few, but they havent really been well recived, really, recived at all(Theres alot of times a topic gets like 200 views, and like 1 reply, bad form I say, bad form). Now there are of course a whole lot of reasons for this, but one of them has got to be that I cant take a really nice erotic shot to save my life. And that certainly isnt helping anything I do grab attention

I'm REALLY good at framing a shot when it comes to film, as in live action film. I have an eye for it, but somehow, mentally that dosent translate well to stills(maybe its the nature of the different meduims? fluid movement not translating well to a captured moment in the brain?). I just I'm not really that good at it. I'm not bad, its just I lack skill in the area, and it shows.

Certainly, a very nice picture can make someone without the best body, or face or what have you look much much nicer, and certainly a very nice picture can highlight certain things, add tone, atmosphere, class, and sexiness.

What I'm looking for is suggestions, or tips on how to take a better picture, erotic and otherwise, and suggestions of what women would like to see in general. I highly doubt they wanted pages full of cock shots, because I'm sure like most men, the tease is as much fun as everything else, and everyone, EVERYONE, has things that they find, sexy beyond simply penises and vaginia's.

So, suggest away, if you wanted to help me out on a more personal, instead of just general level, I have a sony miniDV handycam, so its not the worlds best camera to begin with(absolutely amazing for home use when it was released, but the years have no been kind to its quality, still has an amazing zoom, and a very crisp video capture, but its stills are just pretty subpar, very pixilated and blocky.

So um...suggest away, and thanks.

 

[EJFan]

sorry to say i'm not a woman and i can't really speak to what they're looking for. HOWEVER, here's what popped into my head while reading your post (welcome to the HT forum too, btw)....

1. if you're talking about "erotic" photography... the artistic aspect of it... a lot of it comes down to two things. first, how are you using/capturing light? second, how well is the subject's attitude and personality captured. a lot of the 2nd one comes from experience.

2. people in the ampics forum here at lit can be kind of hesitant when it comes to new postings. this is particularly true of penis photos. i don't know this for a fact, but i'd bet that two-thirds of the ampics viewers are straight males... and you have to assume that very few will actually leave a response (sad but true)... and it may even be a lower percentage of women who leave responses (again, just a guess). i think if you keep posting you'll be more recognized and garner your own following in time. if you look at some of the more successful threads, you'll see that a lot of them were started years ago.

3. yes, still photos and motion pictures are entirely different. framing is a fairly small portion of what makes a photo out of a snapshot. the art of photography (fyi, i don't think the ampics people worry too much about artistic points) is mostly in the light and composition. you're probably right about not wanting to just do cock-shots. again, i can't speak for women, but i'd guess that they'd want to see the face, the body... and as i mentioned before... the personality/attitude.

good luck... hopefully someone can offer you somethign a little more substantial. i gave it my best shot.

 

[20andhard]

Hey, nearly any reply is better then no reply, and that one did a few a tips that seemed helpful. I'm not really sure what I can do about ligthing, especially since I'd be taking pics of myself, and I dont really have much equipment. Anytime I've made a movie, its been using equipment from school, so really all I have around are house lamps, my decent video camera, and a tri-pod.

Maybe it would be easier simply to set up the tripod, try and move some lamps and such around to get better lighting, and then just film for like 10 minutes, and take captures? My camera has no timer, or flash option or I'm kind of out of luck there.

 

[krazeekat]

I'm not a professional photographer but photography is my passion. For my pics I'm using both my webcam and my digicam (with self timer option). Taking self pics can be challenging but it can be done.

For taking artistic erotic pics, do play around with shadows (forget about the flash!). Instead use natural light, candles give such beautiful orangey glow so it is very flattering or table lamps. You have to get yourself in the mood, I find that if I feel crappy I tend to take crappy pics. You might want to remove clutter in the background, the focus of the picture is you ... not the distracting background.

Maybe it's the nature of my job (I'm an Arts Director), before I take photos I visualize it in my mind first .... from the setting, to the lighting, to the mood. If for some reason you don't feel comfortable, scrap the idea and start over. Try different angles, take different poses and different levels of nudity (think stripping). Personally I find that teasing pics are more erotic than in-your-face-cock pics ... but that's just me.

Have you look at some of the pics in the Am threads? Some of them take really good pics, one of my fav is this guy . He has cock pics but it was taken in such a way that it gives his viewers such pleasure to look at him.

I do manipulate my pics by using Photoshop (for eg blurring of background), so it is good if you can familiarize yourself with a photo editing software like PS or PSP.

 

[20andhard]

So heres 4 of the like 40+, I'm not kidding, pictures I just took, I tried to use more light, but it didnt really work. The fact that my apartment has wood walls probably isnt conductive to light anyway.

I tired using PSP to burn out the background, and then soften the actual focus, which in this case was me. I cheated, and just filmed for like 20 minutes, and then took captures of the video.

Is this more of what you mean? I'd really like to have someone who knows what they are doing to tell me what I'm doing wrong.

I'm happier with these then I was before, but I still dont think they look right.

 

[SweetErika]

This is a great topic, and I'm looking forward to seeing more answers!

I'm not knocking the AmPics group, but we posted some more erotic photos a while back looking for feedback/criticism on how to improve, and got just about nothing. Lots of compliments, but no real suggestions on what would work better, so you're not alone, 20.

One cheap (about $18 at Walmart or similar) solution we found for lighting is a 3-bulb, adjustable floor lamp. It's ugly, but works really well for indirect lighting. We also hang off-white sheets for a light- and eye-friendly background.

As for subject matter, I'm not a big fan of just cocks or cut-off heads. It doesn't really do anything for me because I always look at the total package and face first. I understand people do it for privacy reasons, but you might want to reconsider positioning since we know what your face looks like already. Play around...sit and lay on the bed or in a chair, look different angles, etc.

 

[Seduce]

In my opinion the main problem is that women in general are or to rare or not really looking at males photos........ and if the do look they dont comment that much.
I am not wakened up completely yet but hope you will get my meaning.

And women are not that keen on looking at strangers...... if you had sort of relationships with couple of girls here (posting and being funny and so on) they would probably look forward to see you on photos....... like this you are just one more anonymus guy..... what I want to say is that woman likes to attach not only face to a body but personality as well.
It is more a psychology matter than art of photography....... but nothing that time and practice would not solve.

 

[borisk]

I am a very amiture photographer, With the digital cameras make it easier for the average joe to get great shots. Now before I shoot my subject in doors, I take some shots of the area using different angles to get a good idea for the lighting setup. Out doors are the same but I tyr to use as much natural lighting I can.

A lot of times I have to take 50+ photos to get one great shot that captures the moment. like EJFan mentioned before, the pose may be great but the posture or attitude can ruine a shot.

I really liked the eyes photo. The body shots were good in B/W but I would like to have a back drop and may be more face or leg. I would have to take one of the shots in full view and then crop it a few different ways. Of course the feedback is always the best way.

Some food for thought,
Boris

 

[Slightly AsQ]

Better Pics

I too am an amateur photographer. I usually take landscapes and nature photography, but I think what I am about to say holds valid for erotic portraits as well.

How to take Better Pictures:

1) Know your equipment. Understand how it works and what it can and cannot do. In your case, you it might help to upgrade your equipment, especially your lighting. A lot of male nudes photography uses dramatic focused light which is hard to achieve with your set up.

2) Study the photography of others. When you see a picture that you think is erotic, analyse it. What do you like about it? How was the lighting achieved? How is the person posed? What was the camera in relation to the body, above, below, to the side? What is the camera angle? If you get a better camera, you can also look at things like depth of field and lens perspective/distortion.

3) Take lots of pictures. I mean tons of them. You said you got four pictures out of 40. I take hundres of pictures for one or two that I like. This is not unusual. And don't just toss the pictures you don't like. Anaylze them for what went right and what went wrong. Sometimes I learn more from my mistakes than from my (lucky) successes.

4) Don't get discouraged. Good photography is an artform. Don't expect to be taking pics like Maplethorpe right away.

Good Luck

Slightly AsQ

 

[naturallyexcited]

Photography is about light and storytelling

I haven't looked at any of your pics so none of this is meant as a personal ctitique or critisism. As with everything, take what works...

I have just started taking erotic photos of myself and wife. I spent many hours looking the photos in AMPhotolit that I thought were "good". It was a very HARD chore, but I managed it. I think I still have many more hours of looking to do!

I have then been trying to emulate what I saw. Not copy, but emulate the feeling. I have found that backlight has worked well for me. Try shaping the body in unusual ways. Try adding unusual light after the fact.

I have not submitted any, but I what I have noticed is that like everything else, if it is interesting, it will get comments. You'll notice that the personals that start, hey, wanna fuck don't get much response.

Maybe concentrate on a portion of the body, other than the crotch, to get some interest and showing that you are more than just a penis might help.

You're already one step better than me; you've taken a chance by submitting something.