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This guide is for everyone who loves black & white photography and all who loved the look of my noir Instagrams. Here's how to create the look.
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If you follow this guide till the end, you will be able to apply my signature 'Ianographic Noir' effect to your photos, which is made of HDR, B&W, Focused Vignetting and focus blur.
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Launch Snapseed on your device...
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Load the photo of your choice. I'll use this one.
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You can crop, align and straighten your photo if it needs to be. Use 'Crop' and 'Straighten' for all this.
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Prepare your photo, helps create great shades. I like using the 'Automatic' filter. You can fix color correction & contrast, and tap the right arrow to apply. Let's move on to another filter.
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Use the 'Drama' filter to add an HDR effect, it helps bringing out detail & well, more drama. Use the Style menu within it by tapping the Star to choose a desired style. I'll choose 'Bright 1'.
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Note: within the 'Drama' filter are several sub filters accessed through the Star. Drama 1 is ideal if you don't want an obvious HDR effect. Then tap the right arrow as usual to apply.
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After applying an HDR filter, we'll now apply the 'Black & White' filter. For this one I used the new 'Dark' sub filter.
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Note: Whatever sub filter you use here, make sure Grain is reduced to 0%, unless it's your preference.
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You can change Contrast & Brightness for better shades. Don't go too hard on here as you may still do that later on the 'Tune Image' of 'Selective Adjust' menus.
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Tap the arrow to move on. NOTE: make sure you're satisfied with the look you created so far, because if you undo changes after applying your effects, your photo will be reverted back to the original.
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Now apply the 'Center Focus' filter. For this effect, I'll use the 'Old Lens' sub filter, ideal for Noir photos.
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Tip: Make sure you reduce 'Blur Strength to 0%' - you can still use the Tiltshift menu for that later to avoid unexpected results.
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The magic happens here. Highlight 'Outer Brightness' and swipe left to reduce it.
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Also I'll suggest reducing it -100 when working with bright images like mine for more effect.
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Use your fingers to pinch/spread to adjust the brightness/vignette intensity to your preference.
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You can as well adjust the Inner Brightness to create a classic noir look. Often increase or decrease the percentage to your liking.
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I'll fix mine a bit. Tip: this is the best place to focus your lighting. Tap and move the blue dot anywhere on the photo you want the lighting focused.
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Next, Tilt-shift. You can skip this if you don't want the effect on your photo. But I normally use it on my signature effect.
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Now add 'Tilt-Shift'. It adds some perspective. Tap the star to choose the type of tilt-shift you want. Use your fingers to shape the Elliptical blur perfectly.
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Control blur strength, with the help of Transition to create a more realistic or just cool blur effect. Then apply.
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And here we are!. For now, you can save your image in you phone & share. Hungry for more? Here's dessert!.....continue for some extras!
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Extras: You can furthermore edit your photo, but don't overdo it though.
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TIP: You can also crop your image into the size you want after editing it. Though I suggest cropping BEFORE as guided. This is effective for full vignetting for noir photos.
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Create a full blown Noir effect using the 'Selective Adjust' filter and add adjustments by tapping the + then tapping areas you want darkened or lightened by reducing/increasing brightness.
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Congratulations! Now you know!. You can share with me what you have made, new tips you've learned or made something unique out of this. Ill be happy!!. Post it at ianography.tumblr.com/submit.
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So far, you now can create amazing & powerful Noir photos on your iDevice. Remember some great photos get ruined if you overdo :) I'm @ianography on Instagram. Happy Snapseeding!