Jake's Backdoor Hippie-palooza, 2014 Edition

[Just-Clayton]

Nice shots Jake. I haven't seen it this cold in years . I'm on the line between NY and PA Right on the new 86 highway. The last time I carried mail in these conditions was 20 years ago. I try not to stay out and shoot in this weather, since I'm in it all day.

 

[RockyNH_RIP]

2014-024:

Got up and went downstairs to make coffee. I have a habit of not turning on lights until I get into the kitchen, just so I can see what the moon might look like out the back window. Today, I turned around, went upstairs, grabbed the D800 which thankfully was still mostly set up properly for long exposures, grabbed the tripod from the car, and went outside hoping to get a couple shots in before the Mrs. came downstairs and turned on the kitchen light. I was turning the door knob to come back inside just as she did.

Funny, but 3 degrees in pajamas, one coat, no gloves and no wind was a lot easier to handle than 17 degrees, fully layered up in a brisk wind and full sun yesterday. Only mistake is that I left it at ISO 100, which meant 30 seconds to get what I got. Thankful for that, though, as I managed to have 2 cars cooperate in the first shot to complete the red path up the hill. Shed in the second photo is lit by the street lamp across the street from our house.

Lightroom only edits.

The cold can be brutal... it was 4 degrees, my truck had not warmed up and around the corner, spotted the moon.. already had the 55-300 on so jumped out, unzipped winter coat and no gloves... Also, no tripod!! I was shivering up a storm and hand held... No clue how they came out.. look ok in the viewer but we will see when I blow them up!

Have a great weekend Jake!

Pat in NH

 

[wud]

2014-023:

And now one that I really, REALLY wanted to turn out, as the water and the ice on it were flowing very quickly. Alas, in the cold I never once thought to spring the eye piece cover on my D800 as I raised it to 7 feet on the tripod to see over the wall and I got some uncorrectable light leak. But in B&W, no such issues with overly magenta here, overly yellow there.

View attachment 68620


Lesson learned. It's going to be -7 on Tuesday. I think I'll stick to bubbles. LOL

Oh, btw, I broke every personal rule to shoot through this 10-stop ND, because there was no way I was taking the gloves off to take the filter off and meter. It's pot luck whether I would have been better or worse off doing it since it took me four minutes to get a decent exposure and focus without being able to see through the lens (snow blindness made it impossible to see even the monitor at full brightness).

Uhhh, Jake, thats spectacular, that B/W shot! Very nicely done!

 

[BackdoorArts]

2014-025:

It was one of those days when the shots you were presented with either weren't capture quite as well as you'd like (geese too far out of frame, stuff not just quite "right"). But, I froze and took pictures, which is the idea, right? Even with the office window open (note to self - close the office door to cut down on draft).

Digging For Bird Seed

Honey, It's Your Turn To Cook...

Even Canadian Geese Can't Stand New Jersey Winters....

Another Building I've Driven Past FAR Too Many Times Before...

 

[Scott Murray]

Great shots Jake.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Great collection of shots.

 

[BackdoorArts]

2014-026:

Some shots from my morning jaunt to grab the paper, and then feed the birds. Swung by the local train yard, which I'd known about but never realized the amount of activity that still goes on there. There used to be a great old station on the platform where passenger travel occurred, but not for some time. One of these days I'll need to return and see what's left under the snow.

(LR Only)

(LR Only)

(LR Only)

 

[BackdoorArts]

2014-027:

It's a very special person's birthday today, so I've been building up to it. These came in on Saturday and I really liked the way they looked today. So during a conference call I broke out the lights.

B&W Macro

Lightroom Only Edits

 

[BackdoorArts]

2014-028:

After staring at the B&W rose above for a while I started wondering what it would have looked like in Infrared. So today, without setting up lights, I gave it a shot. Note how all the roses are about the same shade of nothing (L-R across the top goes White, Red, Red).

 

[Lawrence]

Great collection of shots Jake.
i always enjoy your photos mate.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

2014-028:

After staring at the B&W rose above for a while I started wondering what it would have looked like in Infrared. So today, without setting up lights, I gave it a shot. Note how all the roses are about the same shade of nothing (L-R across the top goes White, Red, Red).

View attachment 69530

Not a big fan of B&W flowers normally. The roses above in color are beautiful and the person who got them was probably very happy. Now to the point. The Infrared shot here is outstanding. I really don't think you could ever get B&W to look this good.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I find that black and white is less about capturing something specific than it is about evoking a specific feeling or emotion. In my photographs at present, at least. For example, in the B&W from the 27th it was all about the look created by this flower unraveling that reminded me of the inside of a conch shell while looking and feeling like some carefully (or carelessly) rolled tissue paper extraction. It's less about the flower than it is the geometry, but I purposefully left the baby's breath in so it's still obvious what it is.

With the IR and things like flowers and plants, it's all about textures and how light plays with the subject, because you get very little color. The way I process you get subtle yellows and blues that can be brought out if I wanted. I originally had a lot more blue coming from the background, but one of the drawbacks of IR is that you often get hot spots with wide open apertures and it was not wall balanced. So the colors are there, but they're very subtle. I did a pure B&W rendering of the same photo that I like a lot, but it's more "Hallmark" looking than I normally like. I guess it might make for a nice stock photo? LOL

 

[hark]

I find that black and white is less about capturing something specific than it is about evoking a specific feeling or emotion. In my photographs at present, at least. For example, in the B&W from the 27th it was all about the look created by this flower unraveling that reminded me of the inside of a conch shell while looking and feeling like some carefully (or carelessly) rolled tissue paper extraction. It's less about the flower than it is the geometry, but I purposefully left the baby's breath in so it's still obvious what it is.

With the IR and things like flowers and plants, it's all about textures and how light plays with the subject, because you get very little color. The way I process you get subtle yellows and blues that can be brought out if I wanted. I originally had a lot more blue coming from the background, but one of the drawbacks of IR is that you often get hot spots with wide open apertures and it was not wall balanced. So the colors are there, but they're very subtle. I did a pure B&W rendering of the same photo that I like a lot, but it's more "Hallmark" looking than I normally like. I guess it might make for a nice stock photo? LOL

View attachment 69666

Here is Jake's IR for comparison between the two since the first one is now on a different page in this thread:

Originally posted by BackdoorHippie:

In comparison I prefer the IR because there are a little more tones and subtle shading than the BW. They are both awesome, but in comparison, I prefer the first one, Jake! However, there's no right or wrong to either image because they are both gorgeous, and it's a subjective opinion!

 

[BackdoorArts]

For the record, I prefer the "color" IR as well, which is why I posted it. I produced the B&W if only to see the differences myself. I like it, but like I said, it could be a Hallmark card or something - not what I was going for. LOL

And PS, if you click on any of my photos they should open up in a pop-up where you can use the right and left arrow keys to scroll back and forth between attached photos in different posts without having to move up and down. Not sure if it's easier, but depending on your screen size you'll at least get the full display size.

 

[Krs_2007]

Great flower shots Jake, the IR is really cool.

 

[Mike D90]

Just out of curiosity, whatever was the purpose for shooting IR for photos?

 

[BackdoorArts]

Just out of curiosity, whatever was the purpose for shooting IR for photos?

The purpose? It's a different light wavelength giving a different look because IR reacts differently with everyday objects, so you get a different look with different colors registered than normally. In general, organics reflect most/all light, so they appear almost white. Photography is about capturing light, so capturing IR was likely a neat idea back in film days, and it's been extended into the digital era.

Why do I do it? It's another way to express what I see. My brother loves shooting it, so when it came down to selling the D7000 at a loss or having it converted I opted for the latter to be able to shoot with him. Glad I did.

 

[BackdoorArts]

2014-029:

Went back to Easton to check on the Delaware today. It's still there. Here it is flowing to the Phillipsburg Free Bridge.

 

[Mike D90]

The purpose? It's a different light wavelength giving a different look because IR reacts differently with everyday objects, so you get a different look with different colors registered than normally. In general, organics reflect most/all light, so they appear almost white. Photography is about capturing light, so capturing IR was likely a neat idea back in film days, and it's been extended into the digital era.

Why do I do it? It's another way to express what I see. My brother loves shooting it, so when it came down to selling the D7000 at a loss or having it converted I opted for the latter to be able to shoot with him. Glad I did.

Then I assume one would need to know what that reaction is in order to get IR photos exposed correctly? Maybe I am totally lost. IR to me was something we had in the military to see at night. I don't understand its use in photography though but I do love those roses.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Then I assume one would need to know what that reaction is in order to get IR photos exposed correctly? Maybe I am totally lost. IR to me was something we had in the military to see at night. I don't understand its use in photography though but I do love those roses.

When a camera is converted for IR they remove the IR filter from the stack and insert a filter that removes visible light beyond a particular wavelength (720nm is the norm, but longer wavelength filters are available which will let in more of the visible light). The sensor now is exposed to IR light instead of visible and metering occurs normally, only using light in the IR spectrum.

You can also convert to "Dual Spectrum" which removes the IR filter but does not insert a visible light filter, essentially adding IR light to the light you get already. This can make for interesting effects in certain situations depending on the blend, but can be problematic for small apertures since focus calibration on each wavelength tends to be a little different and a narrow depth of field will possibly lead to one spectrum being slightly out of focus (depends on which band is used during the camera/lens calibration). With dual spectrum cameras folks will usually mount external filters on the lens (like your UV filter that you really don't need since there's one in the filter stack inside) removing the IR for normal use, or the visible spectrum for IR use. This is nice because you have a camera that can still be used normally, but also as an IR camera at varying wavelengths. In hindsight I wish I had done this conversion, and may convert my D90 this way in the future. And btw, you can also go "full spectrum" which removes the UV filter as well.

Lots of folks use Lifepixel for their conversion. I used Kolarivision and am very happy. Here's a link to their list of conversions. It might help you understand what's what. Infrared Filter Choices | Kolari Vision Infrared