From the mid to late 60s Arbus became more confident and enhanced her erotic image with dwarfs, intimate photos of couples in bed and orgies. She would befriend her models and sometimes seduce them to get a little more intimate image to capture the comfortability of the subject. Arbus was a complex person with depression, restless and sexually adventurous, and someone who craved intense experiences, which made her able to enter her subjects' minds and capture their own complexity and unknowably. This is what made her unique and creative with her techniques by creating a way for the world to see their complexities and embracing the imperfections of each individual's lives. This image from the last portfolio Arbus was creating before she died shows the way she enhanced her photography. The dwarf looks calm and comfortable modeling for her nude, with his arm relaxing on the nightstand and his foot up on the bed, and a towel covering himself. His shoulders are relaxed, and he’s got a slight smile on his face, which indicates she made him feel at ease. Arbus also captured the bags under his eyes, roll under his arm and the bigger belly showing he is tired and on the heavy side, but the highlights create a map starting with his shoulder down his body showing off lines that are there from some muscle, while the hat shows he’s a well-off working man. She is capturing all of him instead of trying to make him look flawless while showing him how to embrace his imperfections. Not long after this image was taken, Arbus had become incredibly depressed and took her own life on July 26, 1971, at the age of 48, just as she was becoming a legend for young up-and-coming photographers.

Estrin, James. "Diane Arbus: [Obituary (Obit); Biography]." New York Times, 11 Mar., 2018. ProQuest, https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/ne....

Mac Austin, Hillary . “Diane Arbus | Jewish Women’s Archive.” Jwa.org, 2010, jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/arbus-diane.

Smee, Sebastian. "Diane Arbus was accused of exploiting 'freaks.' We misunderstood her art." The Washington Post, 02 Oct., 2022. ProQuest, https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/ne....

“Diane Arbus.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arbus.

 Kaninsky, Martin. “Diane Arbus - One of America’s Best Known and Most Inspirational Photographer.” About Photography, about photography, 14 Mar. 2024, aboutphotography.blog/blog/2019/11/22/diane-arbus.