Erotic photography is an artistic style of images of an erotic, often provocative or sexually suggestive nature. Prior to the 1960s erotic photos was more commonly described as “glamour” photography. And less frequently was referred to as erotic photography. Erotic photographs generally creates a posed image of a nude subject in a still standing position. More recent erotic photography creates a staged, lit environment with a focus on sexuality or eroticism.

Many early 20th century images of erotic photos were postcards. Which are small sized photo cards that were printed directly onto thick card stock paper. These early postcards featured normal, everyday poses of people, usually found in magazines. Over time the evolution of erotic photography experienced a shift in style, as photography became more focused on the subjects personal needs and desires.

This movement away from the “regular” poses and toward more intimate poses eventually created postcard images that were erotic in nature. The use of these postcards ranged from simply to advertise a product to creating a sort of advertising campaign for individuals. Some of these postcards were designed as small hand delivered mailers.

Photography typically involves a model being fully nude (sometimes topless), participating in some sort of physical action that involves sexual innuendo or suggestive physical contact with another person. This photography was not limited to depicting nude photographs. But also included situations where the model was partially nude. Such as when a model appeared half-naked in advertisements or fashion magazines. Today, sex photography has a new focus.