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UltravioletPhotography

IR photos


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Bill De Jager

Last June I went on a stroll in Redwood Regional Park near Oakland, California. Along the way I made a few shots in IR with my Panasonic GX1 (μ4/3 format), which had the deep B&W IR (820nm) filter installed by Lifepixel.

 

The first is with the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens:

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411734614.jpg

 

The other is with the Panasonic 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens:

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411734615.jpg

 

Bill

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Bill De Jager
Thanks, Andrea. That was just before I got a severe relapse of repetitive strain injuries in my arms from the previous months of long computer hours in the office. I'm now mostly recovered (fingers crossed). The past 20 months have not been good to me for a variety of reasons, but things are looking up for now. I'm going back to photos taken previously to post a few, and I'm looking forward to doing some new work shortly.
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Bill De Jager

One more from that day, again on the GX1 with the 8/3.5 fisheye:

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411744205.jpg

 

And one from last year. This was taken along Mines Road in southeastern Alameda County, California.

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411744206.jpg

 

This was taken on a D7000 with the same IR conversion, using the Nikkor 80-400 AFS VR set at 270mm, ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/640 sec., on a tripod.

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Bill De Jager

From two years ago, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Calaveras County, California. The big dead fire-blackened tree in the first photo is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) named the Mother of the Forest. It was killed in 1854 when the bark was stripped from the tree to go on a tour around the country to impress crowds. The bark exhibition was denounced as a fraud before being destroyed in a fire. The area did not become a state park until 1931. There are still a large number of mature sequoias in the park in two groves, but none of the trees in the first photo, and only a couple in the second, are sequoias. The photos were taken with a broadband Nikon D5100, Nikkor 16-85mm VR, and a Hoya IR-pass filter, at 16mm and 22mm respectively.

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411748537.jpg http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411748538.jpg

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I am a little troubled by the quite low contrast seen in these images. This makes the appearance dull. Perhaps they should be reprocessed?

 

And yes, I am very familiar with the fact that digital IR straight off the camera has inherently low contrast, contrary to expectations gained from film-based IR (and the highly unrealistic and contrasty HIE), but there is no need to present the outcome likewise.

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That was just before I got a severe relapse of repetitive strain injuries in my arms from the previous months of long computer hours in the office. I'm now mostly recovered (fingers crossed).

 

Been there. No fun!! Happy to hear it has improved.

Stay off the keyboard and go shoot instead. :lol: Much better for the health.

 

The bright areas are already at the right edge of the histogram. Not sure how contrast could be bumped without going out of control. The first 3 fotos have a wide tonal range. It is the 4th that seems 'off'. The last is a little under also. Lift the midtones with Curve? Or if Photo Ninja, push the Illumination slider. Both those tools would not bump the already bright areas.

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Bill De Jager

Bjørn and Andrea, I appreciate your taking time to evaluate my photos, and thank you for your feedback.

 

All these photos were reprocessed, some quite a bit. I played around with exposure, contrast, highlights, and shadows to put try to put contrast as high as I could [without overdoing it], and without blowing out highlights or blocking up shadows, though I really should look at that last photo again where I likely didn't optimize things. The shot with the dead tree had blown-out highlights before reprocessing.

 

I was using Photoshop Elements out of habit [correction: I was making adjustments in Adobe Camera RAW]. I'll try Photo Ninja (which I have but tend to forget about) and see what I can do with what are probably better tools. I'll push contrast harder while seeing if I can mitigate any excesses at the ends of the histogram.

 

Ideally I'd get real-time training in optimizing photographs. However, work has really been too busy and unpredictable for me to commit to photo classes of any sort (including evening or weekend classes) for years now. At any time I might need to work late or on a Saturday or Sunday with little or no notice. I really need to sit down with tutorials to see if I can improve my methods, or just go ahead and arrange for a class (real-time feedback!) and take a loss if I need to work instead.

 

[edits in brackets]

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Bill De Jager

I tried Photo Ninja and worked to increase contrast while avoiding clipping. This program seems to do a better job of this. I adjusted exposure as needed. The goal was a more dramatic effect, something I was somewhat shying away from last time for fear of overdoing it. Thoughts?

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411751464.jpg

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411751585.jpg

 

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL437/1642984/24174024/411751586.jpg

 

[Further photo revisions uploaded to replace two previous ones during last update]

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Bill De Jager

Nice Bill, the reprocessed looks good. I also like the fisheye shot.

 

Thanks! I find the photo of the oaks on the hills somehow looks to my eye like a miniature scene, though I certainly didn't use a tilt-shift lens for that one.

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Yes, I like what you have done. "-)

Of course, we only see reduced versions of photographs and that always makes it harder to get the real feel of a photo. I wish we could see all photos at 4000px wide !!

 

Funny you should mention "a minature scene" about the oaks on the hill because I thought the same thing. I don't know why it looks that way but it does.

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