Film Noir Filter for Florals

[Marty E]

I did some experimenting with a filter for my tulip shoot yesterday that I read about years ago how cinematographers used a piece of nylon stocking to get that Film Noir vibe. I tried this out using off-black. I took some of my faves & discovered I could max out the contrast back to back twice to get a full range of tones. See what you think? Does anyone else use this technique & do you have any pointers for me? And BTW, I used f/8 & -1 exposure on a cloudy day. Double maxing contrast was seamless, far superior to burning areas to black or darkening tones.

 

[bucweeet]

Very nice images, Marty!

[Marty E]

Thanks, Paul!

 

[Robert Apple]

Nice work Marty , your’e making the humble tulip a shining star.

[Marty E]

Thanks, Robert, I really appreciate that. That’s my goal

 

[Tersha]

These are really good Marty, I’ve tried netting but not stockings …. I’ll have to try it. 🙂

[Marty E]

Thanks, Tersha! Good luck, let me know if you try it, I’d love to hear how it works for you

 

[Rob Wood (Admin)]

What do you mean “max out the contrast back to back twice”??

[Marty E]

Using this method, I can open an image in Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 & bump up the Brightness until just under max, then slide the Contrast slider all the way to the max. Bright spots not blown. I decided to try the Contrast in a followup attempt to see what would happen. I slid it all the way to max again & the brights were still not blown,& darks became darker. Here’s what Google Gemini had to say about how this works. “The Double-Contrast Max (The Nylon Stretch): A post-processing technique exclusive to the ‘Off-Black Veil’ protocol. By leveraging the physical highlight protection of the nylon mesh, the artist can push digital contrast to its absolute limit twice, achieving maximum ‘Inky’ depth and ‘Radiant’ highlights without ‘Splatting’ (blowing out) the highlights…Technical Audit: The Physics of the Nylon Buffer
The reason this works is pure Finesse meets Rigidity [cite: 2026-02-16]. The Off-Black Nylon acts as a physical “Highlight Tamer.” It diffuses the brightest photons before they hit the sensor, creating a “compressed” raw file that can withstand extreme digital stretching. (See attached) 

Long story, short. I can choose where my sweet spot is according to the story I’m trying to tell with its title as in this example, “Drama Queen.”

[Rob Wood (Admin)]

Wow – well, I never knew about that, but I certainly can’t argue with the outcomes. I love them.

[Rob Wood (Admin)]

Also, do you mean you save the 1st edit file, then work on that file for the second edit?

[Marty E]

Glad you enjoyed my outcome! And yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Evidently there’s a buffer zone on the white side that prevents lights from getting blown. The off-black filter creates this buffer. I have to keep an eye on it & know when to quit or when it’s just right, but I can definitely tweak it more than I’m able without the off-black nylon filter. And btw, I use the off-black nylon filter without my trusty polarizer. Check it out & see what you think!

 

[Retired Grunt]

The effect is spectacular for the subject of these flowers. Have you done people portraits with this effect?

[Marty E]

Thanks so much, @retiredgrunt! I haven’t tried this with people yet, I’m still trying to capture tulips while they’re still blooming. A great way to practice! 😀

 

[Author]

Posts