following my last shoot up the drakes trail it was starting to get dark, today i decided to go back their to reshoot, using a IR750 hoya red filter and tripod – an alternative option for this shoot could have been analog black and white film, or converting my camera into a infra camera by taking out the high density light filter by sending off to a company.
out of 139 raw files taken over the course of an hour while walking. after returning home i refined these down to 26 photos in Bridge, and saved them as jpeg files so i could post them here by using the raw editor
from here i would edit these 12 red filter images down to 10 in photoshop, then i would add a black and white layer so i could control the intensity of my tonal values
here i’ve demonstrating my use of bracketing, exposing my images at a 15secs and 20secs, the reason for these long exposures is because of the density of the filter being used, restricting a lot of the light that enters the camera. i like the first one more at 15secs because it shows a more dramatic lighting, where as the one at 20secs appears softer without these strong contrasts conveying a different atmosphere.
wanting to look at landscapes, i pointed my camera at the horizon of the hill to get a nicely composed photo and separating the mid ground from the background. by exposing my photo for 6seconds it seemed to provide good results since there was a lot of natural over head light provided by the sun.
from the bridge i stood, i was elevated over my landscape allowing for a better vantage point to view my subject. I’ve also pointed my camera towards the right of my preservative to give a more dynamic view of the landscape as it cuts across the horizon in a more visually appealing way, rather than the one above which is pointed straight forward.
i also really love the tonal values of these images as they present present a unique way of analysing our environment, these images juxtapose my pink IR images allowing us to focus more of the form and composition of the surroundings. i also notice there is a slight lens flare in this image or dust on my lens (however i made sure to clean all my lenses before heading out) i half dislike this for my black and white images as it doesn’t denote the same atmosphere, it looks like a smudge or a mistake that hasnt been made.
in this photo i wanted to showcase the crowded foliage of the twisting branches as they compete for sunlight above, the canapes from the trees collect the most amount of light and what filters down to the weeds below, let them coat the ground in sharp stinging nettles. there is this harmonious struggle for what lives here, this is a fight for all walks of life from small to big salvaging what resources they can use to provide life for their offspring.
even to the tiny undergrowth this struggle exists. for this one the lighting illuminates the strong allowing them to survive, while those in the shade are faded out and forgotten
i like this photo but i think i messed up the curve layer for the background as it appears very faint, i probably need to tweak this before releasing it to the public
these photos show the tunnel from both perspectives, the first one is entering the tunnel where you can feel this cool breeze that’s locked to this area, as it travels up your spine, while making the hairs on your arm stand on edge. this photo is maybe slightly too over exposed as well since the foliage as turned a bleach white, maybe i should have worked more with bracketing
the second photo is shot from inside the tunnel looking outwards, this was meant to be the prospective of entering this alternative world, and if i wanted to convey this idea properly i should have captured this photo in IR using digital means rather than the black and white because it deosnt fit the idea narrative i want
it bugs me that neither of the photos are lined up properly, maybe if i had spent more time with each photo or if i were less concussion of cyclists, i could have made this more aligned to the centre of the image to giving a more composed look, i might have liked this more .
i really like this image because it seems unconventional, why would you take a dense filter into a dark area. the small lights lead in a bend showing this distance in the tunnel since you cant see the other side, the darkness engulfs them, we cant see any surfaces the light is reflecting off of, just these lights to guide us
wanting to look more closely at these lights i isolated one and was able to get some really nice details. these images show the parallels between the IR filter and my editing style.
these are the other 12 images i’ve selected from my day out, here i have removed the IR filter as i wanted to capture a few more images from this location with strong ambient lighting. im at a point in my project where i now feel i have most of the photos i will need for my booklet and feel i can start putting the pieces together for it, and anything more is probably excess
during one of my photos i accidentally under exposed the photo, however look at it while editing i thought it conveyed a good concept for night time as a lot of the light doesnt reach the camera, only areas with strong highlighting reflect back to the camera, i like this idea but it’ll be interesting to see how they relate to my other images
after this shoot i realised i probably should have taking multiple photos of each image, since i used the tripod for this, i should have taken a standard RGB color photo, and then set on my IR filter so show a b&w and color comparison
i liked this method for producing b&w IR images as it allows me to take my time with each image because of the long exposures, i felt i needed to set up my shot properly in terms of composition and lighting before pressing my shutter button, where as without the dense filter it is quick and easy to point and shoot a shot
Alex's Photos & Thoughts 