Action library · Both kinds
Noir Mood
Hard shadow, wet neon and one action that walks out of it, which makes this the one style shelf with a moving door in it.
A single mood, taken seriously. Blind stripes across a smoky room, magenta and cyan on a wet street, a rain streaked diner counter at midnight, monochrome cut by a knife edge shadow, black and red drama. Almost all of it restyles, and a lone action walks a figure out of a fog bound alley instead, which behaves quite differently from everything around it.
People who want a portrait with weather in it. It is also, quietly, the most flattering shelf here for a photograph that was not very good, because hard shadow hides more than soft light does.
This shelf holds two different things
Motion actions
These move
A photograph goes in and a clip of about 5 seconds comes out. The movement is generated from the one frame you supply, so nothing here is filmed and nothing is recovered.
Photo styles
These restyle
A photograph goes in and a new still picture comes out. The frame is rebuilt in the style rather than having an effect laid over it, and nothing on this side of the shelf moves.
Everything on the Noir Mood shelf
The ones that move
The ones that restyle
01RestylesVenetian Noirstriped by hard blind shadow in a smoky roomSmoke and shadow are layered onto a face, so that face has to be visible before anything is added.Photo style
02RestylesNeon Rainsoaked in magenta and cyan on a wet night streetPhoto style
03RestylesBlind Shadowsstriped by hard light through venetian blindsPhoto style
04RestylesMidnight Dinerseated at a rain streaked midnight diner counterPhoto style
05RestylesMonochrome Hourstark black and white with a knife-edge shadowPhoto style
06RestylesRed NoirStark black and red high-drama noir portraitPhoto style
07RestylesMonochrome Wolf Face-OffA tight black and white profile beside a watchful wolf.Photo style
08RestylesStreetlamp Turn PortraitA hard-lit portrait turning to face camera under a single streetlamp.Photo style
09RestylesNeon Rain PortraitA front-lit portrait crossed by teal and magenta neonPhoto style
10RestylesDesk Lamp DetectiveOne warm lamp, a cluttered desk, deep shadowPhoto style
11RestylesMatchlight Close-UpOne warm flame-lit close-up in the darkPhoto style
What is invented on this shelf
The light, which on this shelf is the subject. A blind pattern falling across a face is a set of shapes the model places, and where they land decides whether the result is a portrait or a mask. Rain, fog and reflected neon are all constructed in full, and none of them existed in your picture.
The photograph this shelf wants
Hard shadow is added here rather than removed, so start from a face you can actually see. Head and shoulders or waist up, front on, evenly lit, gives the blinds and the neon a clean surface to fall across. A photograph already sitting in deep shadow leaves nothing left to darken, and the result reads as a murky picture rather than a moody one.
The four things that decide any result are the same here as everywhere else in the library, and they are set out in what makes a photo work. The limits that apply to every action on this site are in what none of these can do.
Where Noir Mood results vary most
Hard light and likeness are in tension. Half a face in darkness is half a face the viewer has to infer, and the model is making the same inference. That is what the shelf is buying, and it is also why a person can look convincingly like themselves in one run and slightly not in the next. Bring a photograph lit evenly from the front and let the style put the shadow where it wants it.
Where to go next
- Sunglasses, hats, and a face half covered: does it still animate?A dark lens takes more out of a face than people expect, and a hat is a different problem entirely. Which occlusions matter, and which actions barely notice them.
- Why your animated photo looks wrong, and which part to blameA clip comes back and something is off, but it is hard to say what. Four causes, in order of how often they are the real one, each with a symptom you can recognise in your own result.
This is one shelf of many. The whole catalogue, grouped the way the app groups it, is in the action library.
Common questions
- What is the Noir Mood shelf for?
- A single mood, taken seriously. Blind stripes across a smoky room, magenta and cyan on a wet street, a rain streaked diner counter at midnight, monochrome cut by a knife edge shadow, black and red drama. Almost all of it restyles, and a lone action walks a figure out of a fog bound alley instead, which behaves quite differently from everything around it.
- Does everything on the Noir Mood shelf move?
- No, and that is the first thing to check before picking one. This shelf holds both kinds: some of these are motion actions that hand back a short clip, and the rest are photo styles that hand back a new still picture. Both halves are named and linked separately on this page, and every card is labelled.
- What kind of photo works best for Noir Mood?
- Hard shadow is added here rather than removed, so start from a face you can actually see. Head and shoulders or waist up, front on, evenly lit, gives the blinds and the neon a clean surface to fall across. A photograph already sitting in deep shadow leaves nothing left to darken, and the result reads as a murky picture rather than a moody one.
- Do I need a subscription for the Noir Mood actions?
- Nothing on this shelf is marked as a subscription only action in the app's catalogue. Free to download on iPhone and iPad. Credits and subscriptions are bought inside the app.
The right action for the photograph beats the popular one
Every action on the Noir Mood shelf is written up the same way, so you can check whether the picture in your camera roll actually suits it before you spend a credit on finding out.
