"My Hump, My Hump, My Lovely Lady Lumps"

If their catchy lyrics are any sort of indicator, the Black Eyed Peas know where its at: Lady Lumps! Breasts! Tits! Chest puppies! Whatever you call them, they're often the central point of focus and attention for many admirers and viewers of glamour and tease photography. Yet, many photographers seem to be so obsessed with lighting the model's face and hair, they sometimes overlook her lady lumps as being worthy of special attention... special lighting attention, that is. (Yeah, you knew what I meant.)

For me, when shooting a lady whose lumps (bare lumps or covered lumps) are prominently featured in the shot, my eyes first go to those lumps to see what's happening with them in terms of how the modeling lights or how sunlight is or isn't effecting them in a noticeable and flattering way. And I'll adjust the lights or the model's pose or both to insure her lumps are receiving appropriate attention from the lighting.

Details, details, details... It's all in the details. And lady lumps are a detail, make that details, that shouldn't be overlooked. It's not enough that a model may have, virtually, perfect lumps. They still need help: Lighting and composition help. If, that is, their beauty and near-perfection is going to be effectively showcased in the image.

It's no accident that Playboy's photographers generally use more than a few light sources, especially when shooting models in studios or at interior locations. And some of those lights are specifically focused on the lovely model's lumps-- highlighting them, drawing attention to them, edging them, rimming them, showcasing them, and flattering them.

As I peruse the glamour and nude-art sections of cool photographer forums like PhotoCamel and come across images featuring some lovely humps and lumps--I'm not talking about camel humps and lumps, although you might find some of them in the Nature and Wildlife section of that excellent forum--positive comments made by other photographers seem exponentially increased when more attention was paid to the model's lumps in terms of lighting and/or pose.

Sometimes that "attention" is merely some soft and diffused highlighting or lumplighting, other times it's edge or rimlighting. Sometimes it has more to do with pose or composition and framing and, ideally, for this photo genre, it includes all of the above.

Here's some sample direction you might hear me giving models if you're on one of my sets: "C'mon... Tits up! Belly in, shoulders back, tits up!" Sorry if that sounds a bit crude. You might be thinking, "Gee Jimmy, you sure have a way with words." But the direction is immediately understood and has never gotten me a negative reaction from a model. I guess it's all in the delivery.

Regardless of how you accomplish it, lumplighting and lump-framing will often go a long way towards taking your glamour, tease, and art-nude photography to new levels of viewer appreciation.

The lovely lady lumps featured in this post are owned and operated by Roxi, Jessi, and Monica.