Carrizo Plain National Monument in IR

[Bill De Jager]

Last fall I had a Panasonic G9 converted to IR by Lifepixel.  This was their 'deep BW' conversion which reaches 50% transmission at about 825nm.  This included the optional anti-reflective coating.

 

Last month I visited Carrizo Plain National Monument in central California, U.S.A. to see the spring wildflower show which was very good after an unusually wet winter.  National monuments in the U.S. are a strange name for what has become a somewhat nebulous concept.  The older ones are essentially national parks, with the same level of protection but usually smaller and much less developed for tourism.  Some of the newer ones are more like custom-designed semi-protected areas, with less protection than national parks but somewhat stricter protections than most other federal lands, and managed by other agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management.

 

Carrizo Plain National Monument occupies part of a semi-arid closed basin officially called Carrizo Plain (or Carissa Plain by local residents) and portions of two adjacent fault-block mountain ranges.  The national monument extends over approximately 80,000 ha and a distance of about 100 km.  The 1200-km San Andreas Fault cuts through the area from one end to the other, and this is probably the best place in California to see the effects of the fault on the landscape.  Vegetation includes alkali-adapted plants near Soda Lake, grassland over most of the area, and some drought-adapted semi-woody and woody vegetation in higher areas having a little more rainfall.

 

I took IR photos using the Panasonic G9 with the Olympus 12-45mm f/4 and 40-150mm f/4 lenses (as well as visible-light photos which I'll post elsewhere).  Due to fairly uniform topography and extremely flat lighting conditions for most of the day, as well as incessant heavy dust from the many vehicles driving on the unpaved roads, I did unexpectedly little photography.  Nearly all vegetation was green (other than flowers) and fairly uniform. That resulted in IR photos of little appeal, except towards the end of the day when I was in a different location with different vegetation, topography, and lighting. 

 

In the afternoon I drove up a steep, unpaved road (seen in the second photo) to the crest of the Temblor Range, where I spent some time before driving out of the monument and down to the arid San Joaquin Valley to the east.  It's this last period when I did almost all my photography. 

 

Elkhorn Plain and Temblor Range.  The San Andreas Fault runs through this valley from right to left.  Olympus 12-45mm f/4.

 

 

Hurricane-Crocker Springs Road in the Temblor Range.  Most of the shrubs are what as known as soft shrubs, semi-woody desert species.  Olympus 40-150mm f/4.

 

 

Ridges on the Temblor Range.  Olympus 40-150mm f/4.

 

 

Crest of the Temblor Range with the San Joaquin Valley in the distance.  The clouds in the distance are over the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which at the time of the photograph had up to 4 meters of snow on the ground in its higher areas.  Olympus 12-45 f/4 lens.

 

 

All images have been heavily processed, with greatly increased contrast and other adjustments.  Some cropping was done.

[colinbm]

Fantastic to see, especially in IR

[Nate]

Landscape looks great in IR, I bet it was a fun outing.

[dabateman]

These look great.

So the G9 doesn't have IR problems it seems and these lenses seem to work well for IR.

Interesting to call it a deep BW camera. As all the colors may have the same sensitivity at that wavelength,  you have a monochrome camera. 

[Bill De Jager]

Thank you all!  This visit was satisfying in the end despite some frustration over crowds and severe dust during most of the visit.  The G9 worked well; this was my first time using it in the field. 

 

When I have a camera converted to IR I choose the 800nm+ conversions that LP calls "deep BW".  These yield images that are almost monochrome, which I then desaturate to get pure monochrome. I've never liked digital IR false color.

[VideoJohn]

Love the fence one.

[Andrea B.]

Bill, I'm just now getting around to these. The first and the last are is quite striking with that black sky and really shows the range we have out here in the wild west.

 

The last one has a cool composition - diagonal fence meets end of curved road.

[Bill De Jager]

Thank you!

 

I think the area (including a lot of landscape I didn't photograph) would look better in IR when the grass is brown.  It also should look rather striking in visible B&W with a red filter when the sun is low in the sky.   I considered waiting for sunset but that was still hours away and I decided not to wait.