Pic(k) of the week 39: The "Noir" side of Dubai

First of all, for those of you that might not be familiar with the term "Noir", more specifically "Film Noir"; it is a cinematic term to describe a very specific kind of Hollywood crime drama, going back to the 1940's and 50's. It is associated with a low key black and white style, which often uses darks street scenes.

Because Dubai is largely a very safe place compared to other major cities around the world, it is not always easy to find places that lend themselves to making "Noir" images... One such place is Alserkal avenue; a relatively new area which consist of old warehouses that exhibit and sell Art. It's also home to Gulf Photo Plus (GPP); my favourite place to buy photo gear, take a photography workshop of just talk photography! 

The Noir side of Dubai

After the latest GPP Photo-talk with Shahidul Alam and Neo Ntsoma last week, I wondered around the area a bit in search for a good place to shoot. When I saw a Bentley car, which had been painted in half a dozen different colours for some "Art" project, I had found my "Noir" photo subject! Yes, I know; some people have strange ideas when it comes to Art... The fact that the car was parked right under a street lamp made it all that much more interesting.

Image details:
  • Fujifilm X-T1 with the XF 10-24 f4 Fujinon lens
  • Tripod setup explained in my blogpost here
  • ISO 200, 18mm 27mm full frame equivalent), f8, 
  • 3 bracketed exposure shots between 1 and 4s
  • RAW development in Lightroom 5.6
  • 32 bit Tonemapping in Photoshop CC 2014
  • Nik Sliver Efex Pro 2 for Black and White conversion

Remember: "Nothing is Black and White except winning and loosing; maybe that is why people gravitate to it so much" - Steve Nash

BJORN

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