Katja 01

This is a very impressive shot. Light and shadow are both used to capture the model's form very well. It's very impressive to see how only part of her body is actually revealed, so that another part is left to the imagination of the viewer. This makes the photograph very strong - as someone else has already pointed out, the suggestion is much more erotic than a plain, well-lit view. The fact that the model's pose is actually quite modest reinforces that effect.

The pic might be even stronger, however, if the light was used less sparingly. Most of the piece is very dark, so that the model is dropped in black space on all sides. That much darkness almost overwhelms the parts which do get lighted. In that vein, there is not a strong focus. While the leg probably gets the largest lit surface, the limb is not something which serves well as the focal point of the piece.

As to composition, I wonder if the shot would be even stronger if the model was less in the center if things. I realize that the *lighted parts* are set off to the side, of course, so this is really more like idle speculation.

Of course, this is , in the end, a legitimate artistic decision - the way the light is set up, the body appears more like disjointed shapes, less as a complete body.