Trying some infrared photography…
Monday, November 5th, 2007A few weeks ago, I ordered an infrared filter over ebay, after having seen various pictures of scenes photographed in infrared. It’s very bizarre when you’re doing this with a digital SLR - the filter blocks out (almost) all visible light so it’s impossible to compose, and you need long exposures because DSLRs have a built in filter that cuts out most IR light.
I tried it out on the way to work shortly after I got the filter - it’s very difficult without a tripod because ’s impossible to compose with a blacked out viewfinder, and you need really steady hands to handle the shutter speed, which I don’t have.
The end result was this poorly composed shot. With a tripod, it’s easy to just compose and then put the filter on after but I didn’t have that luxury.
Click on it to see it full size without the browser messing the image up.
But infrared is still so cool in how it makes leaves and grass come out bright white. If I were to take this shot again, I’d have gone to the northern side of the gardens so that the city skyline could provide a contrasting backdrop and bring a tripod so I wouldn’t have to rely on guesswork for composition and maybe actually allow all the trees to fit in frame.
Technical stuff:
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Nikon AF-S VR 18-200mm
Time taken: 11 October 2007, 2:34:23pm
Exposure mode: Aperture priority
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 1000
Focal length: 18mm (27mm on 35mm film)
Image #14257
Post processing: Converted to grayscale, brightness and contrast adjustment, added colour tone, removed dust spot, border.
