I don't usually make many infrared pictures in the winter because there's so little greenery in the winter. But tonight, for the hell of it, I made a picture, lit only by the moon, of my snow-covered back yard. While the result isn't perfection, I thought it was interesting enough to post. Fuji X-E2, 590nm infrared, 14mm f2.8 Fujinon, 4 seconds at f2.8. (Channel swapped in GIMP.)

It's about six inches, wingtip to wingtip.

Very nice indeed!

I have several Fuji X cameras. The one I use most is an X-Pro1, on which I have the 10-24, as good a combination as exists. I have, have had, and do not much like the X-Ts. The only one I still have is an X-T1, which I keep solely because it wouldn't bring much if I sold it. The image quality is fine, but the focus on all the X-T cameras in my experience is slow and clunky. If you happen to catch the decisive moment with one, it is luck.

A little more than 6 inches wingtip-to-wingtip. It brought me good luck -- the picture is in focus!

Here's a Polyphemus moth I happened upon before church as I strolled along in front of the Court Diner in Athens, Ohio. Shot in 590nm, because that's the body I had with me, and with the 14mm Fujinon, because that's the lens I had with me. My feet.

That is one *tremendous* photograph!

Part of it is white balance, part of it is the filter used, and part of it is hue adjustment in post. It's a lot easier to manipulate pictures than one might suppose. I've been fixing up various infrared pictures for a number of years now, and I'll let you know the next time I use a layer -- which will be the first time I use a layer.

Here's an instructive video on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYFdA7c48Yc
(by the way, you'll notice that the guy's lens has an unpleasant hot spot -- most lenses do, to some extent)

Bombard! Bombard! By all means. We're all learning from each other, except those who know everything already. I have neither likelihood nor plan of ever joining that group.


Part of it is that people don't really know what they're looking at. Part of it is that digital photography is so easily manipulated that people figure it's just a stunt, which is part of why I don't like the garish colors, because you can do that kind of thing to just about any picture.

I have an ancient (well, 2005, so ancient by digital camera standards) Canon SD-400. It's a nice little pocket camera. One of its peculiar "features" is the ability to swap one color for another. This means that in somer respects swapping green for yellow will produce something resembling 590nm infrared. No idea why Canon thought this was worth doing, and I never used it, even to try it out. But with that kind of stuff being placed in consumer cameras, a certain amount of yawning will come from all but our most dramatic IR images, I think. (And even then they'll suppose it was trick manipulation in post.)

So we're left to learn and experiment and enjoy, and let those who'll listen in on the secret.

I don't get to the city much nowadays, but I lived there for a lot of years. It has changed in ways I don't much like, alas. Good to know some good things remain.

Lovely -- I don't remember the AMNH having such vast grounds. Is the Museum Cafe still nearby? Great restaurant, and their death by chocolate is unsurpassed.

As you've discovered, you can do all kinds of things in post with IR, though I make a point of not getting carried away with it: AWB, channel swap, minor adjustments, that's it for me. Your mileage may vary.

The GIMP. Nothing else comes close. And entirely free.

They're interesting -- I think you'd be pleased by channel swapping the second one. Might give it a try.

Auto white balance in the Gimp, followed by channel swap. And of course some cropping.

Mastering the post-process is critical to our having any control, though I suspect that many of us are just enjoying the surprises we're finding. Here's a picture I made a few minutes ago on the way to the mailbox. It's 590nm and was made with a 14mm Fujinon on a converted X-E2, 1/125 f5.6 ISO 200.