amul Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 I'm taking an advanced techniques class, and one of our assignments is to try experimenting with infrared black & white film. Obviously, this needs a filter. The problem I'm having is that my preference is to photograph models using my 55mm macro lens, which has a different diameter for filters (62mm) than all my other lenses (52mm). Can someone show me what macro infrared photos of people looks like? What about tattoos? (PS the reason I used erotica in the subject line is because, without knowing what sort of effects I'll be getting, this seemed like a good starting point for the project) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_wisniewski Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Tattoos look a bit blurred, you get more of the deeper dermal layers in the shot. As far as the rest, IR macros of people would look boring. Pale, but you would get a look at subsurface features like veins. Your 55mm is fine for portraiture. You'll get a fairly unique look, hair tends to go pale, skin gets an etheriel look, eyes look dark (even the "whites" of the eyes). There's some IR figure work on my gallery, http://www.pbase.com/the_wiz but you'll quickly see what I mean. What makes the IR interesting is the contrast between the figure and the environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 What about the other end of the spectrum heheh? Carsten Tschach's <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=100051">Ultraviolet Nude Series</a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amul Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 Damn, man. Is that a film, or studio lighting? Either way, how do I get the stuff I need to do it? Note that this doesn't answer my original question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_wisniewski Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 For UV (blacklight) paint figure studies, the hardest part is finding a model who trusts you to body paint her. I am lucky, there are a several who trust me to do that, pile broken glass on them, etc. Having managed that, there are many blacklight paint "recipes". I use non-toxic poster paints with a little added glycerin to reduce cracking. Paint the most mobile parts last (also to reduce cracking). Light source, the minimum is a fixture that takes 2 tubes, four feet long, 40 watts each. T-12 type. You can get the bulbs (Phillips BL-B) at Home Depot for $14/bulb. (If you buy them at someplace like Spencers, they will gouge you $60/bulb). The fixture runs around $20. Get one with reflector "wings". With just one fixture, you'll need a reflector to get some light around all sides of your subject. A 4 or 6 foot cardboard square, covered with tinfoil, is a good start. The ballast that comes with the fixture will probably have a ballast factor of around 0.7, which means it "saves power" and drives your bulbs to 70% of full power. I use a technique called "overdriving". I replace the magnetic ballast (built to run 2 T-12 bulbs) with an electronic ballast built to run 4 T-8 bulbs. The the end result is instant starting and a ballast factor of around 1.4. This shortens the life of the bulbs a little, but since their rated life is around 10,000 hours, you'll never notice. And it gets a full stop more light. I have 4 fixtures, which is also a help. 440 solid watts of blacklight fun. Mine have little brackets so I can attach them to light stands. I must put more of them in my gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen hazelton Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Pick up a step-down filter, it might vignette, might not; if it does, a bit of cropping might fix it. Worth a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minh_thai Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Paris Hilton? j/k, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_oneill Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Look in my portfolio. Zoe, Red Lilly 1&2. Taylor and Micki all have examples. <p> They're all shot on Kodak HIE with a Red filter, no flash, metered and ISO200 through the filter and bracketed +/- 2 stops. Development is 10 mins in ID11 stock solution at 20C. They're all printed to 10x8 and scanned - often toned digitally, the hair colour in some of them is done simply by using PSPs "increase saturation" brush. What else ... IR doesn't focus at the same point as visible light so you want lots of Depth of focus - macro is making life very hard. Skin glows slightly, and the film is pretty grainy. Also blues tend to get darker so you can see vains sometimes which you wouldn't notice on normal film. Tattoos show up - if you look through a red filter you'll have a resonable idea how they render.<p> There is a site I like very much called <a href="http://www.infrarednudes.com"> Infra red nudes</a> It was what brought me back into photography and got me doing nudes in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_magnusson Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Check this out, infrared video porn http://www.strokemag.com/gallery/mag/mag1/back_strokes/moose/6-98/operation.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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