How to Take a Nude
There’s a real art to taking good nudes. Communicating how you feel (sexy, confident, possibly turned on) isn’t easy to do with a single image or even a camera roll full of them. And if you’re sending them to someone, the vulnerability and trust required absolutely skyrockets. Not to worry, though. With the help of experts and amateurs alike, we’re going to walk you through the process of taking the best nudes of your life as well as how to protect yourself when taking them.
Don’t underestimate the power of lighting.
Natural lighting is generally good, so if you have a room in your apartment that gets some sun in the afternoon, take advantage of it. If not, a well-placed desk lamp is very useful — as are ring lights. Brianne Daul, a boudoir photographer who runs her own New Jersey–based studio, Satin Dauls, cautions strongly against overhead lighting. “That tends to be very unflattering,” she says. If you’re using a lamp, she recommends putting it to one side of you so that you can play with shadow, creating a mysterious aura while getting sexy.
If your problem is a lack of windows and you really want that natural-light look, boudoir photographer and content creator Katelyn Guild of Katelyn Scott studio in Raleigh, N.C., says there’s a solution for that, too. “You can get daylight balanced bulbs and get a very, very similar feel to a natural-light window,” she explains.
One friend, Jane, suggests setting your light source up so it comes from a single angle; Annabelle, another friend, recommends two different light sources for further fine-tuning. Both lean toward using a warm (yellow) light — “it’s more flattering and less clinical-looking,” Jane explains. (If you only have cool white lighting, try draping a thin scarf or blouse over it to change the tone.)
Consider candles, which serve all of the above purposes and are useful if you missed peak daylight hours. I have a bunch of battery-powered fake candles, which sound tacky but are actually amazingly atmospheric and less dangerous than Diptyque!
And two words: string lights. They create an effect similar to candles, and you don’t have to roll around nude near an open flame.
Consider your background.
Avoid the following objects, which make for a bleak milieu: toilets, trash cans, large piles of laundry, dirty dishes, and litter boxes. “Just make sure that everything looks clean and neat, so it’s not cluttered,” says Daul. “You want to be the focal point. You don’t want to draw someone’s attention to your dirty underwear that’s on the floor.”
What to include instead: books, candles, plants, clean furniture, exposed brick, attractive lamps. Props, too, are useful — think fruits, flowers, rope, a baguette; in general, the idea is not to distract but to enhance.
That said, the nude is extremely subjective, and a lot depends on what you want to communicate, says Guild. “I think you need to understand what you want the image to emote,” she says. “If you want it to be a very crisp, clean photo, I want you to have a white wall with no clutter. If you want it to be plant heaven, find yourself a little greenhouse and sit your butt right in the middle.” For passion, try a bitten lip and lacy bra. For indifference, maybe leave that pile of laundry in the shot. Adjust accordingly.
No mirror? No problem.
So your only mirror is in your dingy little bathroom. It’s fine; mirrors are not necessary for an excellent nude. This is where the belly-flop nude comes in: You take it while lying on your stomach on your bed. It’s perfect if you’re a little bloated or sleepy.
Here’s what you do: Lie on your stomach and either bend your knees to push your butt up or place a pillow under your thighs. The idea is to highlight the curve of your back and butt.
Another simple, mirror-free approach: Sit on the side of your bed (or a couch) and take the photo from above. It highlights the chest and thighs and is an easy option in terms of setup and execution. Take it completely nude or with saucy undergarments.
There’s the bathtub nude. This can be of anything! Take a photo of your knees, feet, legs, whatever. The way the water captures the light is very pleasing, and you can use things like bubble bath to your creative advantage: Conceal and reveal to your heart’s content.
Mirrorless nudes are a good opportunity to take a more discreet photo. Don’t underestimate the power of suggestion; sending a nude is all about the sensual energy of sharing something intimate like a stolen kiss or a secret. For this, Jane suggests a “pouty-lip and exposed-shoulder combo.” Drape a robe, loose top, or bedsheet around your body, and shrug it off of one shoulder. Then take the selfie so that it cuts off right above your lips, exposing the shoulder, throat, and maybe a little bit of cleavage. The photo is ostensibly chaste, but the effect is very sexy and a bit boudoir.
Guild says that you also don’t necessarily need a mirror to take a mirror-style nude. “I have a wall of windows, and I position myself in a way that I can get my subject and the reflection of my subject to split a photo,” she says. “You literally just put your phone parallel to whatever that surface is and find your reflection. It’s a super-cool way to get that mirrored feel without it being in a mirror.”
And if you do have a mirror?
Congratulations! Your nudes can take on a completely different dimension.
If your mirror is movable, lean it against the wall. Tilt it at a 70-ish-degree angle: This will make you look longer and leaner. If you’re doing a full-body shot, Annabelle suggests placing one leg in front of the other to accentuate length. She suggested “pushing one hip out to highlight curves and sharpen your waist”; a half-turn “to show off the butt,” she says, is an easy, elegant pose and useful if you’re trying to camouflage a tummy rumbling with beans.
Features writer Brock Colyar maintains that the key to a good nude is “a floor-length or vanity mirror that is in need of a good Windexing. The grimy mirror doesn’t give too much away (including your identity) and leaves some stuff up to their imagination.” But Daul disagrees, saying that it’s important to make sure your mirror is clean. She’s personally not a fan of the standing selfie and tends to prefer sitting on the floor in front of the mirror for a variety of fun poses. “One go-to pose, which is one of my favorites, is being on my knees,” she says. “When I took this particular selfie that I have in mind, I didn’t have a floor-length mirror — I had one on top of my dresser — but I was up on my knees, and I slid forward to where my booty was popped up. You get a really cute booty shot from behind, but then in the way you’re lying, you’re still getting a nice cleavage shot.”
Guild agrees that a point-of-view perspective is a fun style for a nude. “Holding the phone as if you were with a partner and seeing their perspective, like straddling in front of a mirror and seeing what your partner would be seeing, is also very hot,” she says. You can do a lot with smaller mirrors, too. “If you only have a bathroom mirror, you can sit up on the sink if you have a bigger vanity,” says Daul. “Otherwise, you can turn around and hold your camera over your shoulder and tease somebody that way.”
In terms of angle, Daul likes to keep the camera either centered or shooting from above. Guild says angles can communicate something about the mood of the image. “If you’re shooting from above, it feels more like a submissive photo,” she says. “If you’re shooting from below, it feels like a more dominant photo. If you don’t want to bring any of that into it, just shoot from a very neutral, if-my-eye-was-seeing-it level.”
Try an in-the-moment nude.
While many people tend to default to staged nudes, there are merits to taking a more spontaneous approach. A friend of mine, Ava, a designer whose aesthetic taste I trust deeply, is a proponent of the in-the-moment nude, which involves sending one as (somewhat) of a surprise.
She maintains that the excitement of taking a photo at random, and the response from a delighted receiver, is the most titillating part of taking nudes: “There’s something thrilling about an ‘in-the-moment’ nude — a fresh pic rather than a stock nude on your phone,” she says, likening the latter to a photo on Getty Images. That said, she advises that there should, ideally, be a satisfying lead-up to the photo — “a dramatic arc” (e.g., saucy texts, flirting). This kind of exchange can help you ensure that the person actually wants to see the photo.
The spontaneous nude generally requires you to slip into a bathroom or unoccupied room; you can take the photo from an angle slightly above your head exposing cleavage. Or consider taking a straight-on shot of your boobs, which you can grasp in a sort of single-hand bra for volume.
Some tips on technique.
Both Daul and Guild gave two main recommendations when it comes to shooting technique on your phone. The first is to use a mug as a makeshift tripod; most of the time, mugs are short enough and phones are tall enough that your camera lens won’t be obstructed by the lip of the mug, and it’s the perfect size and shape to hold your phone firmly in place while allowing you to tilt the phone forward or back.
Second, both of our experts say that instead of taking individual photos and having to wait for the timer to go off, you should just take a video and then screenshot any poses you like the look of. This will save you time and allow you to try out lots of poses without having to stop or worry about holding still. “Try to get as much as you can from one angle, so you’re not running back to your camera, getting sweaty,” says Guild.
And unless you’re going for a sexy stare, Guild suggests closing your eyes. “We want to replicate what is actually supposed to be happening,” she explains. “You don’t make out with your eyes open!”
Some poses to try.
A favorite of Daul’s is one she has dubbed “Sex With a Ghost” — she enjoys giving her poses fun names. “This one is anytime you’re putting your hands in between your legs,” she says. “You could always have the camera in one hand, holding it above your chest. Say you’re sitting on your butt with your back to the bed or couch or whatever, and you’re leaning back. You can also take a side shot where it’s your chest and your lower half, basically. It’ll be a nice boob shot but also, ‘What’s your hand doing? What’s going on down there?’”
Another favorite is what Daul calls “All Up in That Booty.” In this pose, you’re on your knees — either on all fours or leaning across a couch — and you place the camera a tad higher than butt level, focused in on your backside. “It gets a nice round, mountainous booty shot,” she says.
Guild recommends keeping it simple at first — either in bed or standing against a wall.On a bed, she likes to set up the light on one corner and the camera parallel to it on the other corner. “If you think about your bed like a square, I put my camera or phone on a 45-degree angle back toward the bed,” she explains. “If my light source is coming from the left, I’m shooting from the right. I get that really beautiful cross-body light, which is what we’re looking for. And then just get creative. Think about elongating your body, arching your body from the back of your head rather than from just your sternum. I always say, just let your hands move over your body like they do in the shower. You don’t even think about it, right? If you have your phone set up, do something on your back and then flip over and do something on your belly.”
On a wall, the same advice of playing with poses applies, says Guild. “Anything on the wall is beautiful: putting your booty back onto the wall and arching your head up and rolling your face toward the camera, facing the wall, pulling up on your boobs, turning around, putting your back on the wall, arching your hands all the way up, pulling on your panties, grabbing boobs and leaning forward. Any of that is so simple.”
A few other notes.
Use your timer! If you don’t have a phone stand, there are plenty of DIY options (like binder clips or plastic credit cards or gift cards you no longer need). And if you’re not taking an on-the-fly nude, Ava suggests treating this process like a “photo shoot” and doing plenty of takes. She adds that “mindful cropping” is your friend.
On this note, it’s generally not advisable to include your face in your nudes if you plan to send them to someone. And whatever the case, remember to send and save all your photos securely: Password-protected photo apps are good for this, and if you’re sharing your pictures, consider doing so via private text rather than a DM on a third-party app. When it comes to private photos, safety comes first — make sure you trust the person you’re sending the photos regardless of whether your face is in the picture. It can be risky to send pictures to strangers or people you’ve just met.
Even if your face isn’t in the photo, Violet, another friend, suggests doing your hair and makeup; it’ll help you feel more confident. Jane, meanwhile, recommends putting on some body oil: “Your skin will look hydrated and catch that warm light better.” She suggests looking up inspiration from “people who have a similar body type to you. Practice and copy their angles.”
On that note, why don’t you get going? Perhaps you could take a cue from Harry Styles and throw on a pair of fishnets and loafers or simply drape yourself in a mess of string lights and throw on a beret. If you’re with a partner, ignore most of this advice and have them photograph you. I guarantee it’ll be much more fun than doing a puzzle.
Some names have been changed.
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