Mud
THINKING:
I set out to create some statues but along the way I discovered that I liked the effect of human eyes locked in the stone form so pursued that aspect further.
The stone is created by using several beauty mud packs. This is spread liberally over the model. When wet it has a very clay-like look. As it dries, it shifts between tones (as seen here) and when completely dry it forms lots of varied cracks and lines. It is a fascinating material to work with.
You should not use regular mud for this kind of shoot it can contain toxins. I have also been advised not to use regular clay for similar reasons. The prolonged all-over body contact increases the risk of toxin or bacterial transfers. Hence I use beauty mud packs.
SEEING:
As I explained above, I felt the human eyes in the stone were really strong. Using the one central arm to both hide one eye and draw attention to other is vital.
The bright central arm almost cleaves the image into two halves so the eye keeps getting drawn back to it and pulled up to the sole eye staring out.
The arm to the right hand side also brings the eye back from the edges of the frame and points back up the arm to the face again.
DOING:
Allow a good length of preparation time. It takes a lot longer to cover a whole body than you would think. Once applied your shooting time will be around 30 minutes before it dries completely and starts to flake away.
You can go longer by using a water mister to keep the mud from drying out completely.
You will need a shower for the model to remove the mud; you cannot shift it with baby wipes.
share:
This is an excerpt from "Art Nude Photography Explained" which shows you how to create nude images and how to read and evaluate art nude photographs
It is available on Amazon
or on
the store
