Generally speaking, light is the photographers' friend and should be considered carefully when photographing female art nudes, whether it's the studio or outside on location. Capturing the human form can be a very fickle and demanding subject, as the body is subtle in its textures and has a delicate form. Also we are all familiar with it, that to lose some relevant details due to either careless or the lack of lighting can make the final image appear strange and possibly for the model, it maybe an uncomfortable process due to the pose. So it's worth noting that, for the naked body, not all lighting is good lighting. But with care and experience you can use a wide range of lighting effects.
The key to good lighting for the erotic female nude is correct metering of the exposure, and to know beforehand what you are trying to achieve. Fortunately with digital cameras today, it's possible to test and re-check the exposure and the shadow depths prior to the main shoot, as often as you like. By altering your exposure (plus or minus 1/3 to a full stop) you can produce darker contrasting images with deep shadows or brighter images ones that bring out the detail in the shadows.
Although bright sunshine can be too harsh for most nude photography, as it shows up pimples, stretch marks etc, these can sometimes be a positive contribution for your art images of sensual bodyscapes. One successful method in bright sun is to use poses which stretch the skin. Expect high contrasts, so to ensure details are visible in both the shadows, maybe consider a fill in light (a flash gun, a reflector or a piece of white card). Also consider using the main sunlight as a backlight, as this will provide an excellent line that enhances the curves of your naked female model.
The Reflector should be an essential item in your camera bag. Positioned correctly and out of site of the camera it will bounce light into the shadow areas. This lightens the shadows and reduces the contrast between the shadows and the bright areas. Occasionally you may feel you need another pair of hands to achieve this, how ever in several shoots, I've managed to have the model hold the reflector without it being in the shot.
Colour Balance, the natural light and its many forms of indirect light will affect the colour balance, for example, light bouncing off a coloured wall will pick up some of the wall's colour, and likewise, shooting in a forest will pick up a green tint. So it's best to use your digital camera's automatic white balance as a starting point, and then try out other settings which maybe more suitable if you are shooting the nude in colour.
Shooting on the black and white setting. Many people do still photograph the erotic female nude in black and white as the photograph has the perceived feeling of a timeless classic. Therefore it's better to use this setting as it will give you a better feel for the image. However, you can shoot in a colour mode, and then alter the images in post editing (by de-saturating the image and altering its contrasts), but this will certainly be more work for you to do.
The sepia setting. I prefer to add this is post editing, as the camera setting's colour tone is too general. In post editing, you can try out several colours to achieve the right density of colours. But do try to be economic with the tints of colour to avoid repetition and over use.
If you thought bright sunshine was impractical, then its time to try creating some sensual erotic nude art photos. And you might be surprised with the results.