Tag Archives: herts wedding photographs

The term film noir is French for “black film”, it was first applied to Hollywood films in the 1940′s

With the absence of colour ‘Noir Photography’ is Classic, Timeless and Simply Beautiful. This type of low-key photography speaks about emotion, depth and absolute simplicity.

When you are looking for a striking timeless piece of fine art then the Photo Noir portrait session is for you.

Smiles are not necessarily what we are looking for, serious looks will work wonders for this classic style of black and white portraiture no matter if its children, teens or adults of all ages.

That said as you can see by the two examples on this page, smiles and serious faces work well depending on the client.

How to make a Noir Photograph

To photograph noir, obviously we use a black background set back far enough not to reflect any light, 2 ft is usually plenty depending on the background material.

The subject will need to wear very dark or black clothing and is posed to suit.

We use a single light source generally placed at 45% / 45% from the subject’s nose and frame for the head and shoulders or full face.

It is important that the picture is not overexposed as this will distract the viewer from the mystery.

If we want to make the picture more moody, we can move the studio flash position to for example, 65% / 45% or use a beauty dish to give a harsher light.

We then import the photograph into Lightroom and add a little dodge and burn to enhance the overall look.