Natural Beauties

This book is a nice collection. It consists of sets of outdoors pictures of professional models. Some of these pictures have also been published in some websites, and the rest are very similar to so many others.

The title mislead me a bit. I was expecting beauties a bit more "natural", I expected pictures that were less retouched, where the magic in the picture is the expertise of the photographer applied at the time of taking the picture, the beauty of the model, but not photoshop. These pics are visibly retouched.

Finally, as with most Goliath, the book is thick and small, so, much detail is lost, particularly on double paged pics, that seems the editor didn't realize they only work on centerfolds.

I found the quality of the photography ran the entire gamut from the very amature effort that almost anyone with a point-and-shoot camera could accomplish to some exceptionally professional work. Unfortunately, there was too little of the latter.

I was, however, pleasantly surprized to see tht there was little of an overtly soft-porn mode. It seems that too much of the new "nextdoor beauties" photography is just a thinly-veiled, soft-porn eroticism. Still, there was little that would be considered fine art. But, then again, as the author says, that's not the purpose of the book. Just nice pictures of pretty naked girls. It works.

As a glamour and nude photographer myself, I purchased this book for ideas and inspiration--I was not dissatisfied at all. I love the use of natural lighting, sometimes less means more and this book packs more than most if you're a connoisseur of natural beauty. I recommend anyone interested in this type of photography, buy it now!

As an author of Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple, and Rolando Gomez's Glamour Photography: Professional Techniques and Images I recommend this book should not only be on a collector's list, but for any student of photography--we're always learning no matter what level your photography. ---Rolando Gomez, contributing writer, Studio Photography magazine

I really enjoy this collection, for all the reasons the editor want me to like it for. The models are young, charming, and unaffected. Their poses are [generally] natural and comfortable. Their figures vary somewhat, as people do - some fuller of bust, some charmingly slender. Each one looks like someone I'd like to meet. The big artistic concept here is that there is no big artistic concept. I also like the multiple images and poses of each model, showing more of the variety there is in each unique woman.

Still, the models do tend towards a type: European in features and coloring, twentyish and young-looking even so, and the figures vary only within a limited range. The look is beautiful (or at least pretty), but just one of the many kinds of beauty in the world of women. If you don't have to spend too much, it will add a soft and warm touch to any collection of figure photography.

//wiredweird

It was refreshing to review a book of nude photographs of women where the photos were real, untouched & not posed in a way to exploit the models. I have always had an interest in nude photography & the beauty of the female form. Top marks to the photographers, models & editor.