The Artistry of Erotic Photography at Home

If you haven't already noticed, I am in love with high-quality erotic photography, particularly female nudes. There's something about the graceful curve of a woman's breast, hip, or even shoulder that creamily blends together the carnal act of sex itself with the deeper, more profound emotions of making love. Being able to capture this delicious mixture on film (or in today's world in pixels!) is to me one of the best uses for photography.

But my love of erotic photography doesn't stop at mere admiration. I also enjoy producing it, in private and at home. One of the things I enjoy most is showing my husband the results of my little adventures into the lens. Watching him admire the pictures makes me feel sexy and desired. Instead of surfing the web to see "hot" pictures of meaningless, random women, all he has to do is open a file on our computer with the knowledge that those pictures were made just for him.

So, why am I telling you all this? Because I want to open you up to the possibility of doing the same for your lover. With a little creativity anyone can make beautiful photos at home. And while it's an incredibly rewarding experience to have your lover be the photographer, it is possible to do it all by yourself. All you need is;

• a camera (preferably digital)
• a full-length mirror
• some editing software. I use Google's Picasa because it's free and has some neat features to play around with during editing.

First, I decide which body part I want to focus on capturing. Then I imagine what the end result might look like (it never comes out exactly as I imagined, but I can get it pretty close). Next, I put on (or take off as the case may be) whatever I need to enhance the picture. Sometimes it's dark makeup or a particular piece of lingerie. Once I look the part, I set myself in front of the mirror and play around with the angles.

What looks good? What enhances and what detracts? How is the lighting, is it all behind or in front? Where are the shadows? If the lighting doesn't work well in one spot I take the mirror and move to another part of the house. When I am happy with that, I make sure the background is not too cluttered. I try to position myself against a blank wall if possible...but remember as you get more creative you might want to have certain props or textures behind you. This can get as complicated as you like!

Here is the really tricky part. After positioning myself in the mirror exactly as I desire, I face the camera towards me so that I can see the preview screen on the back of the camera reflected in the mirror. Most digital cameras have a preview screen. This way I can see just what the camera will be taking a picture of. It eliminates most of the guess work. Once I am content with what I see in the preview screen, I take the picture. Rarely does the first picture come out as I expected...so I make any necessary adjustments and try again, and again, and again. Eventually I get a series of pictures that I think will work once I put them through the editing process.

Now for some fun, editing! This is my favorite part of the process because I can take a good picture and make it great. Using the editing software, I play around with lighting, tinting, color, focus, cropping, and such until I end up with a high-quality (looking!) photo that I am proud of.

Viola, I now have my own erotic pictures that I can use to surprise the pants off my lover! If I enjoy this process so much, I'm sure that making your own collection will be just as rewarding.

...And yes, the picture above really is me...