Photo of the Week 2022-09-12

' log 'n stone '

 

Infrared capture using Kolari IRChrome filter on a dual-spectrum converted (visible & infrared) Canon EOS M camera.

 

I recognize that not everyone enjoys the many different looks of infrared imagery, I do though, very much. I enjoy experimenting with the variety of processing options,, learning more as I go along. It offers a change of pace and can help keep the creative juice flowing.

 

For this image, the filter-camera combination produced an 'aerochrome'-like image with red foliage, blue skies and otherwise normal colouring for the rest of the scene. Typically such an image would be processed to emphasize the red and blue. I arrived at a version that does exactly the opposite and decided I like it. Far from the actual lush green of leaves and grasses, there is enough 'reality' in this set against the lifeless brown to intrigue the viewer.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-01-31

 

Continuing with this year's creative foray into winter IR photography.

' wonder winterland '

 

The shapes sculpted by wind and snow are wondrous, and in infrared become otherworldly ...
 

Picking up on the conversation from last week, the challenge of lens performance in IR can make things quite interesting. For the image above, I used the Canon EF-M 18-55 standard zoom. The performance of this lens for infrared depends on shooting conditions given my experience. In harsh sunlight it can produce a 'hot spot' in the centre of the frame at medium to small apertures. My default aperture for most shooting is f/8 and for IR, this lens performs better at f/5.6 or lower, making depth of focus an issue for some shots. Taking the image above as an example, I was able to get reasonable focus sharpness at 18mm with f/5.6 for the foreground snow drift, which is the main subject. The background however is nowhere near sharp and this was acceptable as the birch tree and distant cottage chairs provide some context without challenging the main subject for the viewer's attention. No seen, is the hot spot that required some tweaking in post processing to remove a colour and brightness shift. Given the subject of the photo, this was not difficult however with different subject matter it could prove quite challenging.

 

The journey continues ...

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-01-24

 

Always working to keep the creative juices flowing, I recently combined my desire to get out and hike in the cold fresh air with an idea to try some infrared (IR) photography ... with a manual focus 8mm fish-eye lens.

 

Working in IR offers both significant challenges and broad creative opportunities. The challenges come when switching from 'normal' photography, capturing visible light in a more "what you see is what you get" process to capturing infrared light in a more "what will I be able to create from this" process. The later is more akin to B&W photography in my opinion as we don't see in IR just as we don't see in B&W. Greater familiarity with B&W photography makes that process more intuitive, while IR photography has a greater trial and error component for me at my current level of expertise.

 

 

limestone arch

downstream

down the tracks

 

 

The first challenge comes when selecting the gear that will be used for IR photography. Digital camera sensors, unless modified, are made to see only light in the visible wavelength spectrum. IR filters or a modified camera will be required to get started and there are a number of choices.Camera lenses are designed for optimum performance with visible light and may perform poorly when shooting IR images. There are plenty of online resources that offer information on these aspects of IR photography and Google is your friend if you want to get into it more detail. Alternately, you could send me a question via the comment section or by email and I'll see if I can offer some assistance.

 

Once the decisions related to camera, filter and lens have been made, it's on to the capture phase of working in IR. This is really just the process of collecting the raw materials that will be crafted into a final image. For the most part, infrared images straight out of camera (using filters or a converted camera) are not the end result in this genre. I say for the most part, because this is really a more abstract pursuit but that depends on the artist ...

... yes the "Artist", and like all art, it may or may not be for you whether photographer or viewer.

 

DJE