Peter Bean
July 2026 - Hazel Noir
Original
About the Image(s)
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"This is a portrait of my daughter, Hazel. I was looking for a kind of 40's Hollywood feel. The original (Hazel Original) was in colour and taken in front of a window in my house. The details were; 1/125s / f6.3 / ISO 100. Taken with a 100mm macro lens (which doubles as a nice portrait lens) on my EOS 7D body. Natural light only, no flash. I like the color portrait but decided that I was looking for more of a film noir look so I desaturated it, cropped it a little, and added the venetian blind shadows in photoshop (Hazel noir). By now, you know I like Black and White photos. Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.
5 comments posted
Peter, this image is very well done IMHO. The lighting looks natural and the blind shadows is effective, adding a bit of a mystery and film noir look.
I don't know how much you look at the images in other groups but there is a fabulous portrait photographer in Group 83 (monochrome) named Hanna Nevreva. She is also featured in the PID this month. I try to look at all the current images in all groups, and especially enjoy her work. The thing that stands out for me is that she is able to preserve natural skin texture in her editing. I have tried using frequency separation to do this with limited success.
I am not suggesting that you need to do anything.. this image is wonderful, and lucky you to have such a beautiful model in your household! Posted: 07/05/2026 22:00:37
I don't know how much you look at the images in other groups but there is a fabulous portrait photographer in Group 83 (monochrome) named Hanna Nevreva. She is also featured in the PID this month. I try to look at all the current images in all groups, and especially enjoy her work. The thing that stands out for me is that she is able to preserve natural skin texture in her editing. I have tried using frequency separation to do this with limited success.
I am not suggesting that you need to do anything.. this image is wonderful, and lucky you to have such a beautiful model in your household! Posted: 07/05/2026 22:00:37
Thank you Teresa. I have seen Hanna's work. very impressive. I particularly like the "behind those eyes" image in the showcase.
I don't know what techniques she uses to smooth skin while maintaining texture but the way I normally do it is to add a layer and then apply a gaussian blur filter to it. Hiding the layer with a layer mask, then I can use a large, soft brush at low opacity (around 20%) and paint over the bits I want. This allows the natural texture of the skin to remain but smooths out any minor imperfections. Posted: 07/06/2026 01:40:46
I don't know what techniques she uses to smooth skin while maintaining texture but the way I normally do it is to add a layer and then apply a gaussian blur filter to it. Hiding the layer with a layer mask, then I can use a large, soft brush at low opacity (around 20%) and paint over the bits I want. This allows the natural texture of the skin to remain but smooths out any minor imperfections. Posted: 07/06/2026 01:40:46
What a striking noir portrait with beautiful lighting, where the hat forms that diagonal line. I love the s and pearls! My only suggestion is maybe to show a catchlight in one eye? Posted: 07/07/2026 17:39:18
Thank you Kathleen. I would normally show eyes in any portrait, and I love catchlights, but in this case I wanted it to look a little enigmatic so I covered the eyes with the hat. Posted: 07/08/2026 15:06:02
Peter, what a beautiful image! I actually think that I like the color shot the best, although the black & white is obviously wonderful as well. The blue hat and red lipstick are striking, and the lighting very impactful. Nicely done! Posted: 07/10/2026 00:47:35