Keepin' Cool: This cool fellow was found relaxing on a bench in front of a house just down the street and around the corner. He had melted down some when I took the photo and a couple...

dar_clicks Loc: Utah

This cool fellow was found relaxing on a bench in front of a house just down the street and around the corner. He had melted down some when I took the photo and a couple of days later he needed a knee replacement, but we are expecting materials for that to be shipped in by air tonight and tomorrow ...

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Ourspolair

"Slip-sliding away"... The D90 has been converted to IR? What wavelength please...

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Your comments are as funny as the photo.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

dar_clicks Loc: Utah

Ourspolair wrote:

"Slip-sliding away"... The D90 has been converted to IR? What wavelength please...

I'd found a Nikon D90 body and had it converted to 720 nanometer infrared which is a very straightforward and basic wavelength. There are a lot of other conversion options available, either deeper into IR or ways of having color, e.g., blue skies, etc., in the results. I wanted to use it strictly for black and white. Some IR photo results can be very close to a "normal" B&W, and of course others can be very obviously IR because of things like green foliage depicted as white, etc.

720 nm conversion seems to include a very slight amount of the visible spectrum, at least it does on my setup. I find that very handy in the IR to B&W conversion process. Appearance of some of the photo's features can be varied by applying yellow and/or red software filters, e.g., during Photoshop's B&W filtering. Although I was told ahead of time that using a yellow filter on the camera would have no affect as it did with film, I tried it anyway. Sure enough, the fellow was right! There was no effect from doing that, just as the man said.

Some lenses are better than others for IR. One has to be careful with light entering the front of the lens in order to prevent haze or streaking across the photo. Some lenses also produce a hot spot or center exposures lighter than surrounding areas.

I don't have exposures totally figured out for the D90's IR yet either and have better luck with some subjects than others. More often than not its seems to work well to expose a little lighter than the meter requires and I'm not sure how much to trust the histogram and whether it is responding to the correct kind of light for IR. With experience I've been able to gain more consistency with those subjects that have an abundance of IR in the light source. The "Keepin' Cool" photo is one with more tricky lighting and so was a little harder to work with. In general it didn't need much more than a little dodging and burning as one would normally do in B&W printing. Some Curves adjustment was required to optimize various tone ranges. I've found that the range between black and white seems to be more compressed in an IR exposure than a color one, especially when the lighting is a bit tricky.

IR is very enjoyable to work with. I'm still on the learning curve and like seeing what it can do. Recommended to anyone with an interest in trying it. (p.s. a converted camera is a lot easier to use for IR than one of those "almost can't see through it" filters on a normal camera! Yep, I've tried that too ... works, but takes dedication!)

p.s. I found out that the D90 was a lot better camera than I'd thought it would be

dar_clicks Loc: Utah

NMGal wrote:

Your comments are as funny as the photo.

Thanks! It's good when photography can be a bit 'o fun ... and nice to be able to pass along the enjoyment!

dar_clicks Loc: Utah

jaymatt wrote:

Thanks! I grew up as a farmer myself and I'm also "retired and just tired" now after a couple of occupation turns in the fields of engineering & IT, so I have an extra measure of respect for your thumbs up! I appreciate it.

Ourspolair

dar_clicks wrote:

I'd found a Nikon D90 body and had it converted to 720 nanometer infrared which is a very straightforward and basic wavelength. There are a lot of other conversion options available, either deeper into IR or ways of having color, e.g., blue skies, etc., in the results. I wanted to use it strictly for black and white. Some IR photo results can be very close to a "normal" B&W, and of course others can be very obviously IR because of things like green foliage depicted as white, etc.

720 nm conversion seems to include a very slight amount of the visible spectrum, at least it does on my setup. I find that very handy in the IR to B&W conversion process. Appearance of some of the photo's features can be varied by applying yellow and/or red software filters, e.g., during Photoshop's B&W filtering. Although I was told ahead of time that using a yellow filter on the camera would have no affect as it did with film, I tried it anyway. Sure enough, the fellow was right! There was no effect from doing that, just as the man said.

Some lenses are better than others for IR. One has to be careful with light entering the front of the lens in order to prevent haze or streaking across the photo. Some lenses also produce a hot spot or center exposures lighter than surrounding areas.

I don't have exposures totally figured out for the D90's IR yet either and have better luck with some subjects than others. More often than not its seems to work well to expose a little lighter than the meter requires and I'm not sure how much to trust the histogram and whether it is responding to the correct kind of light for IR. With experience I've been able to gain more consistency with those subjects that have an abundance of IR in the light source. The "Keepin' Cool" photo is one with more tricky lighting and so was a little harder to work with. In general it didn't need much more than a little dodging and burning as one would normally do in B&W printing. Some Curves adjustment was required to optimize various tone ranges. I've found that the range between black and white seems to be more compressed in an IR exposure than a color one, especially when the lighting is a bit tricky.

IR is very enjoyable to work with. I'm still on the learning curve and like seeing what it can do. Recommended to anyone with an interest in trying it. (p.s. a converted camera is a lot easier to use for IR than one of those "almost can't see through it" filters on a normal camera! Yep, I've tried that too ... works, but takes dedication!)

p.s. I found out that the D90 was a lot better camera than I'd thought it would be

I'd found a Nikon D90 body and had it converted to... (show quote)

Thanks for the info. I am interested because I have a D90 and am playing with either a monochrome or an IR conversion when I have some spare cash...

dar_clicks Loc: Utah

Ourspolair wrote:

Thanks for the info. I am interested because I have a D90 and am playing with either a monochrome or an IR conversion when I have some spare cash...

You can search the web and find the places for IR conversion and the different options available. If I remember correctly there might be an option that lets you select from more than one type of IR result as you use it.

dar_clicks Loc: Utah

NMGal wrote:

Your comments are as funny as the photo.

Thanks! I figure that photography should be a bit 'o fun whenever possible and it is good to be able to pass the enjoyment around when possible.