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Sex sells, right?
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Not always. We receive many adult-themed images, and they aren’t always suitable for our customer base. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you shoot this type of content.
- Consider who might be shopping for what you’re shooting. Would your images be suitable for skin care or beauty-product ads? Do they illustrate an issue or theme that could be used in an editorial context?
- Are they too suggestive for commercial use? Most of our customers are in North America, where more modest and understated themes are used. The rules concerning what’s suitable for public consumption are stricter, which dictates how people shop for stock.
- Because images of graphic nudity or sexuality have such a limited and specific audience, we generally can’t accept them. We look for more subtle and understated versions, which will have greater commercial uses.
- If you’re not sure where that line is, try some informal market research. How do beauty companies use nudity or skin-revealing shots to promote their products? What generally qualifies as “sexy” in the marketplace? Where can you find more risque or suggestive images, and how are they executed? Observing and interpreting will help you create work that sells.
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Shoot tips
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What’s next? Since we don’t want to stamp a giant “censored” bar over all adult-themed content, here are a few ideas to produce images that will appeal to a wider, commercial audience:
Remember to keep poses tasteful and avoid overly suggestive concepts. Couples can embrace, but make it a closer shot, focusing on a sense of intimacy instead of sexuality.
Carefully compose your images. While art buyers are interested in skin-revealing shots for beauty uses, they can’t use graphic nudity. For example, they’re more likely to prefer a well-composed image of a bare shoulder or back. Even nude shots that conceal or crop out the more suggestive areas are welcome.
Understated is usually better. Try to leave a little something to the imagination where wardrobe is concerned. Substitute too-revealing clothing for more modest pieces. Plain, simple undergarments will allow you to style the portrait for a broader use.
Avoid over-styling your subject. Let the model’s genuine beauty shine through by keeping makeup, hair, and nails as natural-looking as possible. That’s the key to successful beauty photography.
Keep the focus on the model. Art buyers usually steer away from costumes and novelty props because those kinds of images offer few practical uses.
Use a light touch in post-production. Retouching should enhance, not obscure, the appearance of the skin. Removing blemishes and improving skin tones are always welcome adjustments, but avoid heavy blurring, too much contrast, and an excess of post-production artifacts and gimmickry. The more natural, the better.
Get an idea of what we’re looking for.
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Keywording tips
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“Sexy” is one of the most commonly submitted keyword terms, despite having a narrow application. Art buyers aren’t expecting a search for this term to produce a head shot of a businessperson any more than they would expect the term “business” to produce an artfully posed nude. We suggest customers add “not sexy” and “not nude” to their search terms if they don’t want images of a sexual nature to appear in their results. It’s also for this reason that “sexy” and “nude” should be applied only when clearly appropriate. Another important distinction to remember: the keywords “girls” and "boys" are age specific and apply to younger children. They should never be applied to sexual images or images containing nudity.
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Beauty can be skin deep. Check out some great examples of skin and beauty images here.
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Merch Sale |
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You know what makes a great gift? Merch. Sale on now! |
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API Partner |
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Visual Photos is the latest partner to join our reseller network. |
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