A couple of B/W photos with the 520nm IR Filter

Mixing Channels - The Making of a B/W Picture

A brilliant Sunlight day with lots of bright blue sky and plenty of clouds, just right for a bit of infra red photography. Pity the wind was so bally cold.  A good job I'm not related to any brass monkeys. I was trying out a new IR filter on the 'full spectrum' 1200D. This one is infinitely adjustable from 530nm  to 720nm.

This photo was taken with it set to 530nm and the camera white balance set to the green grass.

Result as seen and taken by the camera:



The RAW file was adjusted for contrast and black level in Affinity Photo. Then the channel mixer was used to adjust each Red, Green & Blue level independantly on each R G & B channel:



Finally that was changed to B/W (greyscale) with a tad more tweaking:

Closer by Tube

No, not underground photography but using extension tubes to take macro shots.

A short while ago I spotted a set of extension tubes for sale on eBay. Lightweight alloy by the feel of them. Full electrical contacts are fitted so auto focus works as normal. This set is designed for Canon DSLR cameras and consists of three tubes of different lengths so you can choose which to use depending how close you want to get.



These hand held photos (uncropped) were taken with the 'full spectrum' 1200D set for B/W, 21mm tube with 24-105mm zoom lens. Live view was used on the camera:

A small cactus: (1/100  f8  67mm) middle branch is bout 6mm across


A miniature daffodil: (1/160  f8  92mm)


I was pleased the outdoor daffodil worked as there was a breeze wafting the flowers about.

The advantage of using tubes is no extra optics so no added distortion. The disadvantage is the longer the tube used the more light is lost = slower shutter speeds and / or wider apertures for the same exposure. The 21mm is about 2 f stops slower compared with no tube.

This set seems to be a snip at just under £15 with free p&p.

Wordless Wednesday

Fuji IS-1 (Part 4) Final Batch

Up and down the lane:





The old ......



and the new:



View across the fields to the coast:



Finally one of the boss:

Fuji IS-1 (Part 3)

This time a walk down an old lane which gives views across to the Lincolnshire Wolds:



A wide angle view across the fields towards Louth:



This telephoto view I have taken many times in colour.
Rising above the valley the 295 ft (90m) spire of Louth's St. James' Church can be seen.
It usually gets lost among the distant foliage but with IR the stone shows in good contrast with the tree leaves:



The main problem with the old Fuji IS-1 is the rate it eats batteries. It uses standard AA cells but the indicator was already showing red after just two short outings. No use using rechargeable ones as they have a lower voltage to start with. I have ordered a modified Canon 350D which should be here in about a week as it is coming from Romania.  With the modified cameras the IR filter is fitted inside the camera, replacing the manufacturer's normal filter which stops IR.

Final batch from this infra red series tomorrow.

Fuji IS-1 (part 2) + News of Adrian

Wrought iron gates:





When I've tried photographing this gate in colour it seemed impossible to get it to stand out from the background. IR did the job just fine by making the background vegetation a light colour.

I received an email from Richard of Owls + Other Birds who managed to trace where Adrian has been staying. He spoke to the farmer's wife who told him that Adrian is absolutely fine.
Internet problems are keeping him away from blogging at the moment.

Fuji IS-1 (part 1)

It seems a long while since I took the IR Fuji out for a session.
For infra red b/w it's best when Sunny with some decent cloud formations
Over the next few posts I will put up some of the results taken using an R72 IR filter.
This one was is from the end of my lane: