Duotone and Neo-Noir

Eirebear

(Bump)

Someone on here (i think it may have been Sinead) gave me a wee lesson on Duotone a year or so ago, but i never really used it anywhere.

Seeing as it seemed to be a topic of some debate and conversation i decided to give it a shot again, the best candidate was a shot from a recent wedding, one which didnt make the cut as i had unfortunately exposed it poorly (the effects of me trying to recover it can be seen in the pipers face) but here it is anyways...

Anouilh

Paul Butzi (butzi.net) has a very beautiful site with instructions on how to make duotones glow.

superflyninja

Ive been playing with that kind of style for a while...Ive not used duotones though but I will check out that link now. butzi)

Anouilh

Eirebear wrote: »

(Bump)

Someone on here (i think it may have been Sinead) gave me a wee lesson on Duotone a year or so ago, but i never really used it anywhere.

Seeing as it seemed to be a topic of some debate and conversation i decided to give it a shot again, the best candidate was a shot from a recent wedding, one which didnt make the cut as i had unfortunately exposed it poorly (the effects of me trying to recover it can be seen in the pipers face) but here it is anyways...

Your photo is magical. The veil floating across the flower girl's face gives such a sense of movement and mystery.

I came across this link to Atget's work that might be helpful in the context of the thread:

http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/eugene.htm

It's worth noting that he worked as an actor as a young man, and the dramatic sense in his work is always very appealing. His photos are often like stage sets, ready for the performers to appear.

Anouilh

Teal seems to work well.

Anouilh

The Photo Challenge currently running here has not got as many entries as are possible. The theme is "Perspective" and duotone effects seem to suit this very well. Many colours can often distract from the structure of a photo.

http://www.mobile.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=62156750#post62156750

Perhaps more posters would like to upload their entries there?

Also, this is a useful tutorial on how to use duotone to rescue a poor scan:

http://www.retouchpro.com/tutorials/blended_duotone.html


The freeware graphics editor, Photofiltre, is useful for the Photomasque.

It allows images to be superimposed on top of one another, with a wide selection of colour toning.

Anouilh

smelltheglove wrote: »

Anouilh wrote: »

QUOTE]

Anoulih getting back to the original post for a moment too here, it was a lovely picture and a great idea to start a thread for toned images, I am delighted that your image became a book cover, it does remind me of something but I cannot put my finger on it right now. Professional or ametuer or any type of photographer, none of us are better than the next, there is always more to learn, and we will never ever shoot everything, there is always somebody beside us that has done something we havent!

If you are not too busy, STG, I would really appreciate your sharing some more of your duotonal work here. The style is not fully appreciated by many people and the long tradtion of its usage is only now being fully used by designers.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055664855

Your wedding photo would be ideal for the cover of a top class wedding album.

Anouilh

This thread might be helpful for SineadW, who is about to use film for a noir style shoot.

http://wwww.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055712966

Learning how to use lighting and strong textures is so very noirish...



http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue09/reviews/noirstyle/

elven

lol. how old is this thread?

smelltheglove

Anouilh wrote: »

smelltheglove wrote: »

If you are not too busy, STG, I would really appreciate your sharing some more of your duotonal work here. The style is not fully appreciated by many people and the long tradtion of its usage is only now being fully used by designers.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055664855

Your wedding photo would be ideal for the cover of a top class wedding album.

I'm sorry I missed that, I have been playing with a few styles lately but will be looking back towards that again, That wedding shot is one of my favourite shots of this year and I am so glad that it was taken for friends, whom i constantly hear appreciation from, book, I'm not sure, although it is taken and edited in the same style as a some band shots that may be part of an upcoming album sleeve, although without the colourtreatment.

Fionn

is this duotone?



if it is - i've been doing it for ages and ages without realising it

sineadw

Hey Anouilh Sorry - only saw this now. Hmmm.. not sure its what I'm really after tbh. Unless you mean I should use the split toning technique in PP? I don't really know anything about split toning (its not something I've looked into as yet) but I'm not really understanding why there's a reference to noir. Is it the depth of shadow? I love high contrast stuff (its why I got it into my head to explore noir in the first place) but there's a lot more to it than just heavy shadows. Like the one of veronica lake I posted below. Its lit from above - hooding her eyes in shadow - making her more sinister and cold and detached.. You see a lot of bars and venetian blinds in shadow - symbolising the prison of predetermined fate and futility. The shadows are not just there and strong - they're purposeful and thoughtful and almost characters in themselves.

Or the framing of shots (not the ones I shared per se) - tight and uncomfortable, where weird angles and looming ceilings give a sense of enclosure and entrapment and schizophrenia. You often see characters framed within a window or a door to heighten that. I love it so much! The use of psychology and imagery so closely linked. All the architypes.. swoon! My shoot on Tuesday is an exploration of only the first of these - the femme fatale. I hope to do the rest too . Is been a great excuse to watch all the films again

I've just finished reading (and avidly studying) Film Noir -The Dark Side of the Screen by Foster Hirsch. If you're interested in this I'd thoroughly recommend it. It was fascinating for me (as someone who's never studied art) for the links drawn between Noir and German Expressionism. Reading up on that in turn myself I learned about Rembrandt's influence on the germans, and in turn on Carravagio and the birth of Tenebrism. If you could have seen me when I first stood in front of 'The Taking of Christ' (the first time I can honestly say I've genuinely been moved by a painting) you'd know how much that all comes full circle for me! It was like something just clicked into place in my head.

Anyway, thanks for thinking of me, and reading my rant (if you did )

Anouilh

I'm glad the post was of some use, SineadW. I grew up with the classic noir films, which were always in black and white:

http://www99.epinions.com/content_1038721156

The advances in technology from the 1970's onwards brought colour into the films made in that tradition and although not everybody likes the term "neo-noir" it seems to have become with this newer style.

Your thoughts are really helpful for this thread and it would be great if you could post some of your work, as it would fit the topic very well. I started it because the photo I had taken, which was originally a very sharp and clear image of a statue in front of a building site, with an old garden wall and some well trimmed shrubs and trees became a very different experience once the duotone effect was tried. The shadows and sombre effects that the noir style use have their roots in urban photography from the 19th century, and, as you have explained so well, go very far back into the history of painting.

It is often stated that "Noir" is not fully a genre, but rather a style, though this could be debated at length.

When it comes to portraiture, the style is incredibly effective and the use of contrast and shadows offer much room for psychological exploration. It's a pity that the traditional noir films have such a misogynistic bias, however dramatic the end results are.

http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/Film%20Noir.html

The reclining figure of the "femme fatale" is very interesting to study. Contemporary photographers seem to see things differently.

Thank you for the book reference. If you do a Google Book search, there are several other books by Hirsch:

http://books.google.ie/books?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&um=1&q=Film+Noir++Foster+Hirsch&btnG=Search+Books

Anouilh

smelltheglove wrote: »

Anouilh wrote: »

... it is taken and edited in the same style as a some band shots that may be part of an upcoming album sleeve, although without the colour treatment.

It would be very impressive as an album sleeve.
Would it be in black and white?

smelltheglove

Anouilh wrote: »

smelltheglove wrote: »

It would be very impressive as an album sleeve.
Would it be in black and white?

No its actually a colour version, I am waiting still to see which shots will be used, there is an internationally acknowledged artist who has designed the cover so my shots will make up some of the detail within the sleeve and also in promotional press release and such.

sineadw

Anouilh wrote: »

It's a pity that the traditional noir films have such a misogynistic bias, however dramatic the end results are.

I'd disagree- I love the reversal of roles. Up till WW2 I think women were portrayed as weak and in need of male guidance. With men disappearing from the home front, I guess women started to realise their power again after Victorian restraints? Even if it was usually just realised in sexual power. I see the femme fatale as empowering rather than misogynistic.

I also see the seeming bias towards the male protagonist (and usually a father figure in the films) as very homosexual. Indeed, some of the key moments in Noir films are of love between male characters..

Or maybe that's just me

And yep - been a fan of Hirsch for a while now ... he makes for a good, uncomplicated read!

Anouilh

The question of the gaze and art is central to what you are discussing, I think. I like photographing statues as they seem somehow timeless within a moving context of time. It would be difficult to recreate the conditions that led to the cinematic art of the 1940's. The apparent strength of the "femme fatale" is often destructive, even sinister, which is not how women are portrayed in much contemporary cinema, apart from the horror genre, I think

You may find this useful:

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html

Creating an iconography of gender is always very subtle and photographers working at the moment are very conscious of how their work will be received.

The claustrophobic sense of space in "Noir" is worth exploring. I have just found an exceptional book that many photographers may find useful:

"Film noir and the spaces of modernity"
By Edward Dimendberg

With the World's population increasingly living in cities, the documenting of these often constrained spaces, both in the streets and in cramped apartments is increasingly popular. I often make tabletop photos in Winter that are somehow an expression of the way I live. Landscapes, on the other hand, are part of the wilderness in my mind.

Anouilh

Most of the tutorials on the Internet give tips for using Photoshop.

However, the freeware program, Photofiltre, gives a very quick duotonal effect and, with some work, it can be quite nuanced.

This is a very rough example:



A lot is being written on other threads at the moment about encouraging lurkers to post.
If they also participate in the design threads on Boards.ie, they might enjoy sharing how they changed photos to be interesting for printing?

Anouilh

Anouilh

The Faber edition of "Winterland" is already being reviewed in the press.

The cover has a very atmospheric, retro look:

http://www.faber.co.uk/work/winterland/9780571250035/

This may be of interest to anyone here who also works in publishing.

Brndn

An attempt at duotone.

Anouilh

Italian cinema might have helpful ideas for STG and Sineadw.

http://tweetmeme.com/story/240742697/fellinis-rome-latimescom

The brooding atmosphere in many works by Fellini are beautiful and the lighting extraordinary.

Anouilh

Finding a pleasing tone of blue takes some effort...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/anouilh/4082158951/

Anouilh

Are their any well known contemporary photographers who use duotone?

The advantages are enormous, I think.

Many colours can distract from the impact of a subject. Greyscale can be sombre.

Duotone lifts the image while giving it clear impact.

This photo is very grainy, I know, but somehow the hint of blue among the sepia is just enough, I think...

Fajitas!

I think this thread has passed it's 'Sell By' date tbh.

Valentia

Fajitas! wrote: »

I think this thread has passed it's 'Sell By' date tbh.

No. No. No. I don't know how I missed it but I've only read it now and have a few things to say...............



...............maybe I'd better not.

Fajitas!

Go on Danny

Anouilh

Valentia wrote: »

No. No. No. I don't know how I missed it but I've only read it now and have a few things to say...............



...............maybe I'd better not.

Perhaps the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words might inspire some photos in duotone, to be uploaded here?

There's a wonderful exhibition at the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar:

http://www.galleryofphotography.ie/exhibitions/burch.html

Simon Burch has a very clear eye and his mastery of tone is very beautiful.

Anouilh

Fajitas! wrote: »

I think this thread has passed it's 'Sell By' date tbh.

It would be interesting to know why you think this, Fajitas.

Some rumblings took place in the middle of the "Bokeh Babes" thread and then it got into a gentle jog-trot and continued to surface regularly.

I have linked this thread to other Arts Forum sites on Boards.ie.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=62985447#post62985447

Duotone is used by many artists, notably architects and draughtsmen, as the elements in an image are not overwhelmed by colour. If you look at the photo of the duotone ceiling closely, the outline of a ladder can be just discerned. It is invisible in the original colour version, overwhelmed by all the visual information contained in this typically Baroque piece.

I am only getting started with Duotone, encouraged by the current fashion for Noir themes in art and literature.

Next is to start printing...

humberklog

Anouilh wrote: »

It would be interesting to know why you think this, Fajitas.

quote]


It's because there's no more fighting!!:pac: Fight! Fight! Fight!

I never took much notice of experimenting in duotone until this thread. I haven't posted on here as I thought I'd be too amateurish. So by looking at what people were doing on this thread and how good usage of it can influence or inhance a previously bland image I've saved a few photos from the bin, where they would have ended up, as I either didn't like the content in colour nor in B+W or sepia. I'd never have thought about a duotone convertion before and to add...it has been a growing influence by this thread accasionally popping up.
Fajitas:P.

Here's one I put on the Random thread and it even got TOTD on Pix.ie (went down a bomb in Gunn's today too when getting it printed up, surprisingly good in the flesh btw)and this image would've hit the dustbin with a thud before this thread....