single photos Crude attempt at noir

I'd like to add this look - when polished - to my offerings. I posted

another that had only the single, sharper shadow, but being only an

occasional user of this forum, can't find it. Nor do I see any comment

on the other version.

If you know anyone who can critique for me, please advise. Feel free

to contact me at my e-mail address to: spectrumphotography@photocurt.com

I think the texture works (as an answer to your question on my other comment) a plain background with no structure would be "boring" with this light setup. I would like to test a tighter crop on this one to remove some of the space over his head.

If you want more feedback try to find someone that take pictures in the style you aiming for and drop some comments or send them a mail. the most people on this side is very nice and sometimes is better to take the command your self :)

Best regards Tore

Curt, from looking at the photographs you have in your gallery I would say that you do have fairly polished photographic skills; in other words not a basic newby. So what follows is strictly personal opinion.

I am making an assumption that by "noir" you are referring to film noir. It seems to me that you are taking a single element from film noir and ignoring the remainder of the package. You are concentrating on lighting, which is not in itself a problem, that is something that needs to be done. But as I mention it is only a single element toward achieving the film noir look. You have handled the lighting here very well, the side of the face shadowed, the "mysterious" shadow on the background, these are both well handled film noir elements. The thing I see as a short coming is the lack of carry through to the background and the expression on the boy's face. Rather than appearing mysterious, he mostly looks bored. Add a little play acting, costuming, a little more thought to background and combining that with post processing to really nail the darkness of film noir and you will reach your goal. One additional thought. Film noir suggests light sources from street lights, automobile lights, light coming through windows--lights that throw interesting shapes and shadows. All of these appear less controlled than the usual studio lights--although they are highly controlled, just very different in appearance. The closer you can emulate these light sources, maybe with the positioning of the lights or even using gobos or cucoloris to throw patterned shadows the closer you will come to the film noir effect. Post processing can also play a big factor in the style.