If you're like most photographers, there have been times you wondered how exactly to take nude photos which were artistic and beautiful instead of sleazy or dirty. Whenever you say you'd like to do something like that, other people jump straight to the wrong conclusion, and think you're trying to produce porn.

But historically, the nude has always been one of the purest and most beautiful of artistic expressions. The great masters painted them, sculpted them, and - yes - photographed them.

Perhaps it's a bit of an overstatement to call any photographer a "great master," but there are certainly some that will qualify in future generations. There's no shame in wanting to take nude photos; indeed, it's a form of art that is rapidly being pushed aside to make room for a glut of bland, meaningless photographs that say and express nothing.

Even when this is your bread and butter, and you photograph food or furniture for a living, there is always the artist inside that cries out for release. And for some, the drive to take nude photos is always there... we recall Michelangelo's work, and da Vinci's, and Botticelli's; and some few of us recall Bernhard, Brigman, and Weston.

The nude is, in a very real sense, a study in the beauty of humanity. A single individual can represent the whole of humanity - and clothing, or indeed any sort of decoration or scenery, merely detracts from the focus of the image.

The cultural sensitivity in America makes it difficult to pursue these noble goals. While some few among us do see the beauty in the nude figure, the art in its careful arrangement and capture, whenever the subject of how to take nude photos is broached - the perception is always that the photographer is doing something dirty or crude.

But now, there's an answer to that problem. Without raising eyebrows or inspiring whispers, you can learn to take nude photos artfully and tastefully from Ashley Karyl's book... and get real, professional advice from someone who knows the field and can tell you the techniques and secrets that bring your work from amateur to professional status.

Even the sample will raise your game. Once you see the kind of powerful tips you can get from just these selected excerpts, it's simply a no-brainer; if you want to take nude photos, you need this book.

From the selection of the right model, to the editing and post-processing of the image, to printing the image effectively... it's filled with information you can't get anywhere else, all directed at the specific aim of taking high-quality professional nude photos.

The artistic drive that leads you here, that deep-seated need to take nude photos that inspire with their elegance and beauty, can finally be fed. With this book, you can quickly go from dreaming about it to doing it... and produce real, solid images for your portfolio almost immediately.