Infra Red

Well it has been a while since I added a new post, mainly due to work and other commitments. As I have mentioned I have kept up my Project 52 pages and the most recent mentioned my recently purchased Infra Red camera.

The advantage of a converted camera over filters is that it can be used as a normal camera, no need for long exposures. Of course there may be times when a long exposure is beneficial, silky water, blurry people etc so, as with most things, it's not a case of one is better than the other, rather the opportunity to try something different.

As with all photography it takes a while to get your eye in, to 'see' in IR. It is true of all images that a badly composed, out of focus picture will always be a badly composed, out of focus picture, turning to mono, adding a filter or converting to IR will not rescue it. Having said that it seems that some pictures work better in IR, the learning curve seems to be to do with recognising which is which.

This is one of my first attempts. This is Pitstone windmill, a site I have visited regularly since starting to take my photography seriously, I still have to take a good picture of the windmill.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-pitstonewindmill

Of course I wanted to try something different so I swapped the red and blue channels in Photoshop to create an image with, what is known as, false colour.I tried using lead in lines and framing it with foliage from a conveniently placed tree. I suppose its OK but a friend would probably describe this as a 'so what' picture with nothing to distinguish it or make it stand out from the many hundreds which have probably been taken of this windmill.

Message to self - don't be so predictable, return to the windmill and look for something unusual, or at least take a brilliant pic of the 'normal'!!!

I then moved onto College Lake near Tring in Bucks. An old quarry which is now converted into a lovely wildlife area.
http://www.bbowt.org.uk/content.asp?did=23523

I do struggle with landscape and nature photography and find that this is a good place to experiment. I must admit when I first converted this I rather liked it, however I uploaded it to a forum I frequent and it was pointed out that the two blocks of dark colour are distracting and the viewer would not know if they were water or shadow...fair point.

Sometimes it is difficult to be objective about your own work.

So having tried some colour versions I then went for the more familiar mono conversion, again this is an image taken at College Lake. This I am happier with, I like the composition, reflections and the ripples in the water.

It has been commented that the ripples look rather strange, on this occasion I have to say that I don't agree. No prize winner but, for me, a decent landscape.

This is another from the lake, interesting in that unless you had been told you probably wouldn't know that this was an IR photograph.  I find it a pleasing photograph, but again nothing to write home about!

Now this one I am pleased with - it may well find its way into a club competition sometime.

Once I had finished at College Lake I moved onto Whipsnade Tree Cathedral http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-whipsnadetreecathedral, only to find it was swarming with young children on an Easter egg hunt. I took a couple of pics but you always have to be a little cautious of taking photographs of young children.

This all I could manage without feeling awkward. With hindsight I should have made more use of the reflections in the dew pond.



This is another of the same area, showing all of the dew pond, which is in the process of being constructed. I enjoy this because of the drama of the black sky, which in non IR was bright blue, with not a cloud in sight, and the glow on the trees.









Today I had an hour after work and travelled into Luton to visit Wardown Park http://www.luton.gov.uk/internet/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_recreation/parks%20and%20open%20spaces/wardown%20park. This time I took, not only my IR camera,  but also a fish eye lens with the intention of finding out what I could do with that combination.

Advice from my photography advisor and friend is always to take the obvious first, which I did, the fountain, museum building, lake etc. Then I looked around to find something which would take advantage of the fish eye effect.

This one is called "When is it my turn?"  Not only is it IR and fish eye but I have also added a touch of Fractalius to give it a bit of a painterly effect.

This one is called "Just one bottle between us". This is deliberately cropped to give the feeling of space but I am unsure if there is just too much emptiness.

Finally the one I am most pleased with, probably because I am back in my comfort zone. Called "Wait for us" (or at least it is until I can come up with something more imaginative.)

Well that's enough for tonight. This is clearly going to be steep learning curve, but it seems as though the possibilities are endless. One good thing from my point of view is that I have seen very few IR prints, this means that I am not limited by what I have seen before or by what others tell me is or is not possible. Thinking outside the box usually produces much more creative images. Thanks for reading and looking.