Stefan Soell
Fine Art | Last Updated: November 16, 2025
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Hello everyone, my name is Stefan Soell, I am a photo artist from Friedrichshafen at Lake of Constance in southern Germany. I have long been fascinated by nude photography as a passion, art form, and profession. I live in a very original, rural, varied region.
The big lake, the pre-alpine river landscapes, and the Alps are right on my doorstep. I grew up here, and here, I am at home. I am very close to nature and feel most comfortable in the twilight, the narrow area, the short time between light and shadow.
So my favorite genres and traits quickly grew together. With my interest in mythologies, scenes are created in which my models and the landscape are in an imaginative context.
Self-designed props interact with the model and the surroundings. One of my best-known properties is the sensitive use of light. It takes a lot of patience and observation to create the perfect light in photography.
I visit my photo locations many times at different times of the year and day to recognize the optimal light for the shot which often lasts no longer than 10 minutes.
For example, one of my most famous books “Alpenglühn” represents a large number of my unique, irretrievable photographs from my homeland.
On my long-term trips abroad, I visit fascinating landscapes for many years. Books such as “Volcanic Girls” on the Canary Islands or “Atlantic Sirens” in the southwest of Portugal.
To bridge the long and cold winter months, I realize subtle photo sequences in a historic barrack area in my photo studio.
The illustrated books “Elysium Girls” and “Celestial Girls” represent these nude photographs, which are very strongly focused on shapes and bodies.
I have been working with Canon equipment since the beginning of digital photography. The Canon EOS-1DX Mark II is currently my main camera.
The sheer limitless dynamic range and sensitivity to light of this camera hardly set any creative limits for me.
I use a Canon EOS-1DX Mark II as a backup housing and as a studio camera. It already has more than 250,000 triggers and continues to work reliably.
In the photo studio, I mainly shoot with the Canon 85mm f/1.2 lens which leaves nothing to be desired in terms of image sharpness and freedom from distortion.
When it comes to outdoor photography, I don’t burden myself with a lot of equipment because my camera bag is stuffed with model equipment.
Also, too much equipment would take away the spontaneity and lightness of my photography.
So, it is only my two Canon zoom lenses Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 which I have with me. With this focal length range, I am very flexible and can, therefore, cover all shooting situations.
Both lenses are very reliable, robust, and precise in focus and sharpness. The image stabilizer of the telephoto zoom lens helps me a lot in low light conditions.
Actually, I don’t need to take a spare battery with me because the Canon batteries are very durable, but it’s a bit of a superstition if I take one with me.
www.stefansoell.de | @stefansoell
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Hi Stefan,
I own a blog dedicated to a model you photographed some years ago now called Eufrat Mai. I’m currently in the process of trying to re-date all her pictures and moves so that I can arrange them in correct chronological order throughout her career. I’m particularly interested in one specific period at the moment which I call Eufrat’s “fuller period”. It was a time in her career when she gained just a little weight that perfectly complimented her shape, particularly on her breasts. As far as I’ve been able to assess, this period lasted only a few months around the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 before she returned to her regular (slim) appearance. You were lucky enough to photograph her during this time and your picture set which appeared on the FemJoy website entitled “Juicy” showed off her stunning beauty to perfection. I think it was set on one of the Canary Islands judging by the volcanic rock that appears in yours and others work who pictured her there. What I would like to ask is do you have any record of the actual date you photographed Eufrat? I have no positively confirmed dates for any of her picture shoots during her “fuller period” which is most frustrating as I’m currently having to estimate these dates via other reliable picture sets taken before and after these. Also, do you have any recollection of any of the other shoots you did with Eufrat as you photographed her on many other occasions, dates, locations etc? What were your impressions of her both as a person as obviously as a model? Of course, I wouldn’t request any personal information, only details that you can freely share. All the best, and thank you.
Hi James,
I just have read your comment. The photos of the picture series “Juicy” were taken by me on October 26th 2007 on Lanzarote, to be very precise from 3:23 pm to 3:57 pm ;-)
You surely understand that I am not reporting on my models here, here I present my equipment with which my photographs are created. Many thanks and best regards Stefan
Hi Stefan,
You, my good man, are a STAR!
Thank you for confirming that date, that puts Eufrat right in the October – December 2007 period that I suspected and greatly helps me to re-date her sets. If you can share any more dates that she worked with you I’d be eternally grateful, but even on the one you just provided you made my day!
Thanks again. James.
Dear Stefan,
Hi! I’m a big fan of your work and would like to know if you can give us some tips about retouching or if there’s something you recommend us to learn retouching the way that you do… Your entire work is amazing and a model of the style that I want to develop!!!
Greetings,
Charles
Stefan,
I’m a fan of both Femjoy and MetArt, but one thing I don’t like is your very obvious photoshopping of the breasts of the models you shoot. This is especially obvious with models like Alisa and others whose breasts all look the same in your shoots, while they look different when shot by other photographers. These women are beautiful: They don’t need you to photoshop them to your standards of beauty. Femjoy and MetArt subscribers clearly prefer natural women, since that is the MO of both sites, and photoshopped breasts might as well be fake breasts as far as still images are concerned.
Thank you for your constructive criticism, much appreciated. I read your arguments from many people and I understand them very well. As the term model already expresses, my photo models are a template for my own vision of nude photography. My imagery is not about documenting the girl exactly as it exists, but putting them in an imaginative context, far away from reality.
If we look back into the contemporary representation of the nude, we always see an interpretation by the artist who painted a model or created a sculpture of a model. Would you tell a painter how to draw his pictures? I think we live in a fantastic world which accepts all forms of expression in the visual arts and luckily there are many other photographers who shoot the models as a person as they are ;-)
Very glad to know about your gears. Your works are really amazing anf unique like crafted in paradise. More to learn from you! Lots of love !
Your work is amazing. I’d love to know what software you use to process images?
it’s just the good old Photoshop C5 version from the good old Adobe times, pay only one time and use it for ever ;-)
Lovely work. You seem to have found every beautiful woman in existence.
Dear Stefan,
your pictures look great, no discussion about that.
This said, I would have expected more details about your equipment (e.g. what devices you use in your studio) and less self promotion. All in all, this is a website about photographic gear.
Best regards
Hello Buzar,
I am happy if you like my pictures. Thank you so much!
In addition to the 85mm lens mentioned, I use a more than 40-year-old studio flash system from Multiblitz with all the attachments and reflectors available at the time.
I did not mention this equipment because it has not been possible to buy for a long time and we cannot offer any product links here.
In my book “Elysium Girls” you will find a large panorama of my studio which clearly explains my setup (ups, a little bit of self-promotion again ;-)
Best regards Stefan
Hi Stefan,
thank you for your answer, I definitely appreciate the irony of it! ;-)
Keep up the good work,
Buzar