Andreas H. Bitesnich is one of the world's most renowned fine art nude photographers, with work published and exhibited internationally for the last 25 years. His images carry a signature style and a simple aesthetic that combines beauty and form. Recently, Bitesnich created a photography tutorial that delves into how he achieves his incredible looks. That wealth of knowledge is now available to the Fstoppers community.
I had a chance to watch The Art of Nude Photography and was first struck by the high production quality of the whole project. Besides the fantastic information that's provided, Bitesnich and his team provide a beautiful viewing experience with finely executed video shots and clever edits that add to the learning experience.
Format
The tutorial is taught by walking the viewer through nine different shoots, all done in a studio. Lessons are formatted without any particular order, giving you a good excuse to hop around and re-watch them for tips and tricks you may have missed the first time. Each shoot is done with a different set, lighting setup, and model (both male and female), giving a wide variety of lessons to learn from. Although the tutorial is only an hour and fifteen minutes in total runtime, each moment is packed with useful information that gives you insight into how Bitesnich works. Every lesson references his set choice and styling, where he places his lights, his camera settings, and choice in focal length. It's also easy to pick up on some of the subtler points of his work, such as his interaction and posing suggestions with the model.
Lessons
Much of the value in this tutorial comes from the diversity of sets and lighting setups that you'll discover in each of the lessons. The lessons cover:
- Replicating sunlight in the studio
- Overhead light with a softbox
- Combining different color light sources
- Creating a light box
- Projection shooting
- Single-light sets
- Creating strong light
- Creating an in-studio water set
- Creating a pure white set
Post-Processing
Although Bitesnich doesn't give you a full walkthrough of his entire post-processing workflow, he does show the basic raw adjustment process for each shoot. He uses Capture One and to create a uniform look for every series of images from each set. All of his final images with additional polishing are delivered with the DVD.
Digital Download
Although this product was originally sold as a hard copy DVD, it is now available as a digital download for the first time in the Fstoppers store. The tutorial is priced at $199. For more information or to purchase it, check out the store page.
