black and white infrared Black and white infrared

comments welcome

Wonderful, wonderful wonderful! I love this medium. It is good to see another photographer that still shoots B&W IR film. I enjoy it immencly.

I just took a look at your portfolio and you B&W IR is very good. We should exchange notes. Have you every tried it with an opaque red #87 filter? What speed? How much bracketing? Have you read any of Joe Padua;s work? Great portfolio.

Hi Duane,

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

All pictures were taken with a Nikon 24mm lens, a red filter and the camera on a tripod. It's been several years since I last used IR film, but I tend to use it at the manufacturer's recommended setting and then bracket one stop either way. That is, aperture at f/11 and a shutter speed of 1/125th second in bright conditions (sunshine) and an additional two exposures at 1/60th and 1/250th second. That ensures at least one good exposure, as you will know this film is a bit tricky to use.

 

I haven't used the 87 opaque filter yet, it would be interesting to shoot the same scene with a red 25 and an opaque 87 filter.

 

Focusing using the hyperfocal marks on a fixed wide-angle lens or standard 50mm ensures plenty depth-of-field. I haven't tried it with a telephoto, where focusing would be more critical.

 

I'm not familiar with Joe Padua's work, please tell me more about him.

 

regards

Jan

Jan,

A lot of my IR work is done with an opaque 87 filter on a 50 mm lens. The filter is pretty expensive and when I purchased it years ago, the only one I could afford was the 55mm. My other lenses would require a 72mm objective and that was close to 200 dollars so I opted for the smaller filter at slightly less that 100. Additionally, using only a 50mm lens served to be a good form of dicipline by forcing me to take more time in mu compositions.

 

When I use this, I will set the camera in apeture priority and take my exposure reading without the filter in place; typically I will set at f16 or higher. After focusing and determining exposure and recording it, I will install the filter and then backet exposutes 1 stop in both directions. I have been very pleased with the results; I also will use a polarizer and a lens hood.

 

When using my telephotos I employ a 25 or 27 red and will meter through the filter and follow the same proceedure. I normally set my film speed at ISO 100, and I nearly always use a tripod.

 

The authur I mentioned, Joe Padua has written several books on IR photography. I once sent him samples of my work and he was kind enough to comment on them.

Samples with 87 opaqye

another

another

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Hi Duane,

 

Great pictures, I love your work.

 

All the lenses I have are fixed Nikkors with 52mm filter thread, so I guess I'm lucky I only have to buy one filter. Next time I use black and white IR I will give the 87 filter a try.

 

regards

Jan

Que tal Jan,

Para nada soy un experto en IR, como Duane y tu, pero tienes un folder de IR alucinante!!! Enorabuena amigo, es excelente. Había visto ejemplos de sus posibilidades, pero me han gustado mucho mas los tuyos... por vuestros comentarios deben de llevar su tiempo y ser dificiles, no?

 

Saludos