Water Lilies, IR

Water lilies on a pond, shot in IR. Comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

VERY COOL. I don't know if cropping it would change much. The detail is superb with your new art machine. I have nagging envy now :(

Thanks, Kurt. I find that with IR I'm still focusing on the same subjects as with color -- elements of nature. I need to get out to the coast and try some long IR exposures. It's nice to have something to do on a cloudless summer day at noon.

 

BTW, I'm finding that levels adjustments are critical to IR. The detail here was evident only after moving the middle slider (to the right, I believe).

Simple and perfect composition. Beautiful photo. Regards.

It's cool that your camera properly exposes for IR now. An unaltered camera will not focus correctly, but I do not remember in what direction the focus is offset. IR has a longer wavelength, so the light focuses behind the lens differently than visible light. I mostly use larger f-stops which helps but even then it doesn't always work. I really like the strong contrasts, but in this case you see how very very absorbing water is compared to the plants. Did you compensate for the vast dark background to prevent overexposure of the leaves?

Kurt, this is where a histogram in invaluable. "Proper exposure" can vary by four stops, depending on the local conditions. I can see how doing this with film could be very frustrating (and costly). I shoot in RAW, and often I need to adjust the exposure again when converting.

This is great. Can you take IR photos without converting your camera? Thanks for sharing - Lex

Alexa, I think it's possible with some cameras, but I'm not sure which one(s). Most digital cameras have an IR filter over the sensor, and this has to be removed. Then a filter that blocks visible light but that transmits IR light has to be placed on the lens. But because the filter blocks all visible light, nothing can be seen through the viewfinder, so all composing and focusing has to be done before the filter is applied. Needless to say, having a dedicated IR camera where the visible light filter is placed over the sensor rather than the lens, thereby allowing light to pass through the lens and viewfinder when composing and focusing, is much more convenient. Also, IR light focuses at a different point than visible light, and companies that convert a camera to IR will also alter its plane of focus. I've omitted a few details, but that's the essence of it, at least to my knowledge.

 

I purchased a refurbished 30D from Adorama and had it converted by LifePixel. It's not cheap, but I enjoy the experimenting, I like the effect on an appropriate subject, and it gives me something to do during the time of day (e.g., noon) when the light is flat and uninteresting to a "normal" camera.

Thanks for the info, I really like the look of IR, but not sure if I want to make the move yet. Thanks again for the great info! - Lex