Digital Infrared

For the past few months I've been experimenting with a revolutionary new DSLR....it's designed to capture specifically the Infra Red and Ultra Violet spectrums. And, man is it easy! Fujifilm has converted an off the shelf version of their S-3 and it's solely designed for this purpose. The LCD is actually a live, interactive viewing screen. So, you can see a live, real-time preview of exactly how the image is being recorded. And, there's a magnified close-up view available to confirm focus accuracy....which has always been a big problem in IR.

Most of the typical problems usually encountered with IR capture have been addressed and remedied. The nicest feature is the extremely short exposures. Normally, because of reduced sensitivity to this wavelength, the shutter speeds, even in direct sunlight were unacceptibly long. Several seconds. Which was a big problem with tree branches and leaves being recorded as blurs....and even slow moving clouds were always soft and stretched.

Some of the landscape images that we've taken have been remarkable in quality, and very easy to print, using the newer inkjets.

If you're not familiar with IR shooting, it's a great way to fill in the part of the day that normally doesn't produce many decent images. Midday! Since this type of shooting relies on heat for recording the images, the middle of the day works great. Some of the most popular subjects are foliage of any type, and blue skies with big clouds. The results can be stunning.

A couple of these shots were taken in Sedona in mid day direct sun....the leaves really appear to glow, and the sky goes almost black.

The 2 photos above were taken while the wind was gusting at over 30 mph....pretty tough subject matter for traditional IR shooting. But, not with the super sensitive IRUV model.

I was able to shoot at fairly small apertures, like 11 and 16, with shutter speeds at 1/125th

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On our way home from the NANPA Summit in Palm Springs a couple days ago, my wife Sue, and I stopped to take a couple shots of her and the giant dinosaurs right off the freeway. Nothing special, just Black and White IR snapshots....but when I looked at them closely....she wasn't wearing her sunglasses. Or, at least it looked that way. They're actually black, thick rims with super dark lenses. But, here they are totally transparent...and notice how the skin tone near her eyes is exactly the same value as the area of her face that was fully lit! Unreal.