Minnehaha Falls
Digital Infrared is certainly gaining attention. It's made what used to be a really tricky undertaking into a very controllable and fun experiment. If your particular digital camera has the ability to see some of the Infra Red spectrum...you'll need to attach a filter to eliminate all the normal, visible light. Now, with only the IR
light hitting the sensor, you'll be recording ONLY the infrared rays. Pretty easy.
The first thing I noticed was the native files were fairly flat and lacked contrast. So much in fact, that I was afraid the results wouldn't be acceptable. However, after a few simple Curves and Levels adjustments in Photoshop, the image takes shape, and the results are really dramatic. Much easier than the old IR film technique!
Here's an example of a file, right out of the camera taken at Minnehaha Falls...literally just a few minutes from the Minneapolis Airport.
Here's the final result.....about 2 minutes in Photoshop is all that was needed.
We had stopped in to scout this location the day prior to a Tamron seminar at National Camera last fall. On the way back to the car, we ran into these young men on a school field trip. They were intrigued with all our cool digital camera gear, and probably were looking for an excuse to get away from the botany lesson being given to the other students.
They were sitting on the stone wall shooting the breeze, and it looked like a great location for a casual portrait. However the light was a little contrasty, and coming from the back. The leaves looked great, but coming from this direction, it put their faces into the shade. All that was needed was a little off-camera flash fill to balance the contrast problem. The shutter speed and aperture were the same for both images...the flash is the only difference.
light hitting the sensor, you'll be recording ONLY the infrared rays. Pretty easy.
The first thing I noticed was the native files were fairly flat and lacked contrast. So much in fact, that I was afraid the results wouldn't be acceptable. However, after a few simple Curves and Levels adjustments in Photoshop, the image takes shape, and the results are really dramatic. Much easier than the old IR film technique!
Here's an example of a file, right out of the camera taken at Minnehaha Falls...literally just a few minutes from the Minneapolis Airport.
Here's the final result.....about 2 minutes in Photoshop is all that was needed.We had stopped in to scout this location the day prior to a Tamron seminar at National Camera last fall. On the way back to the car, we ran into these young men on a school field trip. They were intrigued with all our cool digital camera gear, and probably were looking for an excuse to get away from the botany lesson being given to the other students.
They were sitting on the stone wall shooting the breeze, and it looked like a great location for a casual portrait. However the light was a little contrasty, and coming from the back. The leaves looked great, but coming from this direction, it put their faces into the shade. All that was needed was a little off-camera flash fill to balance the contrast problem. The shutter speed and aperture were the same for both images...the flash is the only difference.
posted by Don Gale at
9:50 AM
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