When it comes to photography, it is always first and foremost an art form (at least when it comes to serious photography buffs). So when looking at photography as an art form, why wouldn’t you include a genre of art that has been around since the ancient years? Of course, I am talking about nudity. Having been around for centuries and been the subject of many painters and sculptors, nudity has somewhat evolved over the years and become taboo for much the world. However, if you are serious about photography, you need to seriously considering adding nudity as part of your repertoire.

Note that when I say nudity, I don’t want you to think about nude selfies that are a hot button issue online in this Social Media age. What I am really talking about are third person nude photos, where you are taking photos of a nude subject that isn’t yourself. And that doesn’t mean that they have to be fully nude either. Sometimes, your subject can be just partially nude (such as a woman bearing no top but wearing shorts or some other bottom wear).

And even if the man or woman in question is in fact fully nude, that doesn’t mean that your photo needs to explicitly show off any sensitive regions of their body at all. For example, you can take a nude woman and wrap her in a sheet, or have her lay down on a bed with bedsheets covering up her breasts and her private areas. That way, the viewer can obviously tell that she is nude, but the photograph is much less explicit. In fact, this is a great technique to use when you want to stir up the imagination of your viewers, or if you just feel like you want the overall atmosphere that comes with nudity, but without the explicit use of it.

When talking about other techniques, there are plenty of other ways to use nudity in a creative way. One thing that I like to do is to have my subject partake in everyday activities while being completely nude, and pretending as if nothing is out of the ordinary. For example, having someone reading a book, cooking, or even doing yoga while nude can all be great subjects for such a photo. As much as possible though, you want to keep such photographs in a private setting, rather than out in public. Unless you want to get funny looks from onlookers, have your subject potentially get hit on, or worst of all get arrested for your public nudity.

Another really elegant, although highly explicit style of nude photos involves the use of sex toys. Not only are they objects that add some color and vibrancy to your photos, but they also help to enhance the sexual nature of your subject. For these types of photos, note that the sex toys themselves don’t necessarily need to be the focus of your shot, and can work just as well as a complementary piece. In fact, using them as complements is ideal in order to keep the main focus on the nude subject. For example, you can simply have your subject hold a vibrator along their leg, angled toward and/or directing attention to her vagina. Or your subject can position the vibrator towards their face and have them subtly lick the sex toy with their tongue.

One particularly beautiful nude scene that I personally love involves the use of a special sex toy called a “butt plug”. Now, for those of you who don’t know what butt plugs are (as I’ve found is often the case), Blissful Cherry has a fantastic guide on butt plugs and what they are from a sexual standpoint. But when it comes to a photogenic standpoint which is what we want to use them for in this case, the ideal butt plug will typically be made out of stainless steel, with a colorful jewel at the end, both attributes helping to convey a certain level of elegance and beauty. When the butt plug is fully inserted into the anus, there will be a small but noticeable touch of color right between the subject’s butt cheeks, along with some small flashes of the stainless steel exterior as well. This subtle touch of color and light reflections, when combined with the rest of the woman’s naked body can really result in some amazingly beautiful nude photographs!

Overall, although nudity is often depicted as sexual, if you are creative with your shots, you can make a scene that incorporates nudity as more of a beautiful shot rather than a sexual one. And being able to successfully pull off this sort of feat is a great signal that you really know what you are doing when it comes to photography from a creative point of view. So go out there and find some nude subjects to put yourself to the ultimate test!