Infrared World

[blackcloudbrew]

Did some shooting with my infrared converted K100ds this weekend. Thought I'd share a few here.

Blue hour or sunset?

IMGP3910-Edit by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Saucer Landing

IMGP3902-Edit by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Industrial Palm

IMGP3898-Edit by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Industrial IR Light and Magic

IMGP3892-Edit by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

[tcom]

Very nice series, I especially like the first one.

[blackcloudbrew]

Thanks - here are a few more from the same shoot at the old Mare Island Naval Base near Vallejo, California.

Flange detail

IMGP3896-Edit by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Detail

IMGP3905-Edit by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Spirit Ship - a sculpture dedicated to ships built there and now gone

IMGP3907-Edit by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

[davidhampshire]

are these post processed much bcb ?    or with the infrared converted camera ,   are they straight out of camera ?    dave

[blackcloudbrew]

These are from a Pentax K100ds converted to IR. The images right out of the camera will look very red. You have to go through a multi step process to convert the color channels and adjust the levels. You can read about how it's done here:

http://www.spencerscamera.com/tips.cfm

My camera was set up at the 665nm (nano-meters) IR cut point which allows a bit more visible light than the normal 720nm IR camera.

It's always a little weird to get the white balance and color looking right.

[davidhampshire]

i guess this goes back,  infrared,   there are some lenses i have,  older ones that have aperture settings for infrared,   that must have been for filters? or maybe for converted cameras too.      interesting stuff ,  bcb.   dave

[blackcloudbrew]

It's my understanding that before digital sensors you had IR film. You used filters like a #72 red filter. The marks on the old lenses were so that you could focus in visible light, then shift the focus by that amount in on the lens to account for the fact that the focus is different in IR light. One of the things that was done on the conversion was to do some focus adjustments to the camera to account for this. It's all very interesting. I couldn't shoot IR all the time but I do like to work it into my shooting when I can for another creative angle. Human skin has a softness in IR light that you can't get in visible light.

While not quite at the same time. Here is a HDR image version of the very first shot in the series shot with my K5 and an old Pentax M120mm lens. All the IR shots are with the DA 18-55 WR kit lens by the way.


_IGP6897_898_899_900_901 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

[Pacerr]

If you think of IR (or UV) as being at the extreme end of the colored light spectrum, and the difficulty we have in getting all colors of the visible spectrum to focus at a single point on the sensor plane (CA/CF), it's not surprising that achieving sharp focus with IR is difficult. To me, IR images always seem to have spherical aberration characteristics.

Since the AF device and one's eyes are attuned to other than the IR spectrum  making a simplistic mechanical focus adjustment (using the red IR mark on the focus scale) and EV compensation for the metering system is the only solution available short of using equipment actually designed (not adapted) to the IR wave length.

Sort of like tryin' to focus an xray machine using the color of visible green light as an extreme example.

Filtration was to keep the visible light out of the intended IR image to the extent desired and possible. The IR frequency being used was at the end of the color spectrum and the red filter blocked most of the visible color spectrum.

[Mike Pearson]

Very nice series Earl, I too favour the first image 

Mike

[Ron Kruger]

Interesting.

[davidhampshire]

have you ,    or anyone here for that matter,   done any portraits with infrared,   bcb ?   

[blackcloudbrew]

I haven't done any formal ones. I've seen some though and it's quite interesting. No I don't have a link to it.

[JIMBO]

Not a IR fan Tim and I am not sure why as I have seen some interesting shots done.  Looks like a great place to set up to photograph though. JIM

[materialsguy]

I like the B&W/Industrial/Architectural shots.  The flange and building details in particular speak to me.  Thanks for posting these.

[blackcloudbrew]

Not a IR fan Tim and I am not sure why as I have seen some interesting shots done.  Looks like a great place to set up to photograph though. JIM

Somehow Jim, given your bent towards amazing landscapes in beautiful color, I wouldn't expect the distortions that show up in the IR world to speak to you (that's a compliment). I think IR's an acquired taste. I shoot in IR in spurts and it's not for every day. I do like to blend it into my shooting when I'm doing something like this to get another spin on the subject. Anyway, Mare Island in Vallejo, CA is really quite a rich subject and blend of old industrial, military, and natural subjects.