Color Infrared just after Sunrise near water with lots of clouds in the sky. The following too images are from the same shot. The only difference between them, is the second one with the blue sky had the red and blue channels swapped in photoshop, a common technique used on color IR images to produce a blue sky. I personally like both of these.

 

More IR Photography - This time in Old Historic Sacramento

 

 

First a comparison...This is the same image show with no post processing and then different processing.

 

 

 

This on shot in color but looked best in B&W or Sepia

 

A B&W Shot

Digital IR (InfraRed) Photography Demo

Copyright (c) Steve Batson

I created today's blog entry to compare regular photography to IR photography. For the purpose of this Demo and Comparison, I went to a local Park, setup my tripod and took a number of photos of the same scene with both my regular SLR camera and then the IR Camera at the same time of day with the same lighting conditions, etc. The main difference in photographing these images was the camera settings required to get proper exposure. I'll also show images how they looked out of the camera and after some processing to get the proper effect.

Regular Camera Image

First image is from my DSLR (Canon 5D Mark II). I exposed for the sky to give rich color in the sky and plants, trees and grass.

Here's the same image converted to Black and White. Make sure to pay attention to the over all tone and shades in the image. For example, the grass, trees, plants and sky.

Infrared Camera Images

Next are images from my Infrared Camera, a Panasonic Lumix DCM-ZS19 which has been converted to allow InfraRed Photography. Basically, the camera has been modified by having an internal filter removed that blocked IR and UV light from the camera sensor and replaced with a clear filter that allows all light to pass. They call this a Full Spectrum conversion which allows various IR photography effects through the use of specialized filters screwed on to the lens.

This first image was taken with no special filter attached to the lens allowing all light expose the image on the camera's sensor. This is All Visible and Infrared light that the camera can see. Notice that the sky is blue, however the colors are a bit add and what should be green is more purplish in tone.

This next image is using 590 nm Red IR filter for Color IR. This filter allows some visible light as well as IR light through giving interesting color tones to the image.

Because of unnatural look to the above image, it is possible to do what is called a Channel Swap. Each images has a Red, Green and Blue Color Channel. With photo editing software, a swapping the Red and Blue channels allows for turning the reds blue and the blues red. Swapping Red and Blue and adjusting the levels to brighten up the lighter colors gives the following. While the colors still look abnormal, they are closer to what one would expect while giving a more artistic looking image without appearing that the photo was taken on Mars.

The next filter is a 760nm IR filter. This one blocks all visible light and only passes IR light in it's designed range. This produces an image with a color tone, but its much different the the previous filter. This image is colder looking and as it appeared right from the camera with the exception of levels adjustment that makes the brighter tones more crisp.

The following is the same image as above but converted to black and white.

This next image was taken with an 850nm IR filter. This one is even darker than the 760nm filter used above and produces even darker more dramatic images.

Same image as above but converted to Black and White.

As can be seen by these comparisons, Color and Black and white images are quite different yielding some very interesting and artistic effects to images. Trees, plants and Grass all appear to have snow on them except for the color which just goes to an interesting looking yellow.

InfraRed (IR) Photography

For something Different, I've taken an interest in Infrared Photography. At first, you might think that is see in the dark photography, that isn't really the case. While you can see in the Dark with Infrared if there is an infrared light source, and there usually isn't much the camera can see, you can get some really interesting photos during the day when you have a camera setup to shoot infrared.

In the film world, you can buy special infrared sensitive film and then you buy a special filter to cover the lens of the camera that won't let visible light through. Then the only light exposing the film is infrared and you can get some really interesting landscape photos that look kind of dreamy or surreal. Trees, grass and plants go all white and this makes for very different photos. This is all monochrome or Black and White.

With Digital, you can have a camera modified that will let in the infrared light and then a filter blocks the visible light. The added benefit with Digital, is that you can get Color images from the IR light. These make for some very cool looking photos.

I will soon be posting some photos from a cheap home made IR camera that only does black and white and then some color photos from an IR camera that I will be getting soon.

First, here's a camera that I bought last year that is really intended to be a night vision camera. It has Infrared lights on it and a mode to capture infrared photos. So, essentially, you can see in the dark with it, but the lights don't light up very far and the images are pretty boring. It can do normal photos, but every camera I have is better quality for normal photos than what I can do with this thing. However, since it does photograph infrared, I figured I could some how convert it to be able to shoot infrared landscapes. With a little research, I found that you can use exposed, developed negative as a home made filter that will block normal visible light, but allow infrared light to pass. This is how infrared typically works when doing landscapes and such. Anyway, I found some old negatives and cut a few pieces out, and then taped them over the tiny lens on this camera. Here's a look at the camera in all it's glory! ;)

 

You can just imagine the looks I might get if people saw me using this to take photos of a beautiful landscape, especially mounted on a tripod. I have actually put it on a tripod. Anyway, the following is an example of what I have been able to produce with this camera.

Pretty amazing considering this camera only cost me a little over $80! This camera was mostly an experiment on my part to determine if I thought I'd like Infrared photography without spending a lot of money. I do like what I've been able to do with the camera, but it's a no frills camera and gives me no creative control over my images at all. Can't even focus it, everything is fixed, preset or done in the camera when you take the shot.

I did consider having an old DSLR converted to IR, but didn't want to commit an SLR to that just yet, so I'm taking this in steps. After doing more research, I decided to go with a pre-converted point & shoot camera and settled on the following:

 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS19 14.1 MP Infrared camera

There were several factors to my decision, the biggest at this point for me was cost. Since I don't know how deep into this I'll go, I don't want to spend a ton of money and have something just sitting on the shelf or some drawer somewhere collecting dust and not getting much use. I don't think that will be the case, but just trying to watch the dollars at this point. I did not however, settle for something that I don't think will do the job either. This camera has a lot of nice features and appears to have a nice design. The lens is a Glass Leica Lens, (Leica is a somewhat expensive and well respective camera brand) so I figured that would be a plus of using a Digital Point and Shoot camera for IR photography, is that you can see what you will be getting by looking at the camera display when setting up your picture. After looking at the specs of this camera, and some of the sample IR photos on the site that carries it preconverted for IR, I decided at 14mp, I would be able to get nice sized prints worth of hanging on the wall or selling if I choose to do that. 

The new camera should be arriving soon, so I'll be editing this post with some follow-up and new pics, both in IR Color and Monochrome.

If you are curious about the camera, IR photography or want to see what IR photos, both color and black and white look like, check out the site selling this camera at: http://www.kolarivision.com/index.html

For more pics and info and to read about my experience and see some new IR photos, check back soon!

One of early Color IR photos with the new camera...very happy so far!

Making the cage at the Zoo Disappear!

Most professional or advanced photographers probably know this trick already, but I thought it would be good to share the wealth with others that have a camera capable of this handy trick to get better zoo photos.

The trick is pretty simple, it uses the camera's ability to control the DOF (Depth of Field) by adjusting the aperture / f-stop settings. Many point and shoot cameras or smart phone cameras do not give enough control over these settings to make this trick work. An SLR camera with a lens that can open up to an f-stop setting of 5.6 or wider would be best.

Here's the trick. Set the camera for Aperture Priority Mode (see your camera's manual if you are not sure how to do that), open the lens up all the way (f5.6 in this example). Focus on the animal though the cage. The farther away the animal is the better, so a zoom lens is really helpful here. Since the wider the fStop setting (again, f5.6, f3.5 or wider) the depth of field becomes very narrow with things farther from the focus point going out of focus. If the animal was at the far end of the cage, when you focus on it, the bars or cage grill that you are shooting through should magically disappear because they are so out of focus you simply can't see them. 

Here's an example:

See the cage next to the Tiger? That's what I was shooting through a few feet in front of me at the far end of the cage. I was zoomed in all the way, so it looks like I'm actually inside the cage with the tiger!

Don't believe it? Here's another example:

Even though I can get some good shots with my iPhone camera, this is why I take my DSLR with me when I go anyplace that will have good photo opportunities!

Hope you find this useful.

3 Simple Steps to Improve your photography right now!

Here's something you can do right now with any camera to make your photos better! I learned this in the first lesson of my course several years ago and will never forget. They've helped me a lot!!!

Using these simple 3 guidelines, you can see results immediately in your photos. The more you use them, the better you photos will be on a consistent basis.

Step 1. Know your subject.
Step 2. Focus attention on your subject.
Step 3. Simplify.

Let me expand a little on each.

1 - Know your subject. In other words, what is it that makes you want to take the picture of and what do you hope the people that view this photo will see? If you can't answer that, you may not even want to take the photo. Usually, you know the answer and the next two steps help you to make sure the viewer knows what the subject is. The subject may be a person or object, or it may be an entire scene.

2 - Focus attention on your subject. There are many ways to do this. Moving to a different angle and/or zooming in closer. Using things to frame your subject in, throwing the background out of focus, lines leading the viewers eyes to the subject. Many things that can be done here.

3 - Simplify. Just like it sounds. If the scene or background is too busy, the viewer gets distracted and may not fully enjoy the subject of your picture. You can simplify by moving distracting things out of the scene. You might have to physically move something, or you might need to move the camera angle or zoom in to eliminate distractions. Could be any number of things in the scene that can be dealt with in many different ways.

A quick example of how photographers apply all 3 steps every day would be a studio portrait. Think about it. A background is used to give a nice setting that does not distract from the person. Lighting is controlled so it is flattering or enhances the person's appearance in some way, and the viewers attention is on the person. Go back and read each step and you will see how they are all met. The trick is, to find creative ways to use these steps when you are not shooting studio type portraits.

I learned these tips from The New York Institute of Photography: Their website has a ton of good stuff you can find for free too: http://www.nyip.com

Recover Lost or Accidentally Erased Photos from Your Camera's Memory Card

If you haven't already had this happen, you need to be ready for it and know what to do because it is going to happen at some point.

The question is, how do you recover images from your memory card if something unexpected happens before you've had a chance to back them up?

The first thing that you need to understand is, that there is NEVER a way to guarantee that you will always be able to recover images and files from your memory card if a catastrophe happens. Heck, the same applies to hard disks, cds, diskettes or any type of recordable media. The problem is that sometimes damage has occurred to the file, or the media and is causing data to be missing or corrupt.

Now for the good news! There is software available that may be able to help you in a number of situations. We'll get to that in a minute though. First we want to talk about what it can do and how to insure that you have the best chance at actually recovering your images.

For Digital Photographers, the situation is usually that either in the camera, suddenly the camera is not recognizing the images on it, or that the card just isn't working right. While it could be a memory card failure, it's more likely some type of glitch caused a problem. It could also be that an image or images were mistakenly deleted or the card formated. That can cause sheer panic when you realize what has occured regardless of the cause.

So what do you do? I recommend the following:

1) The very first thing to do would be take the card out of the camera and put it into a safe place until recovery at the computer can be attempted. The reason for this is that if the card simply appears to be empty, and if the camera can still write to it, each new attempt to save data on the card increases the chance that the images lost will not be recovered.

Here is a simple explanation. Let's say the card could store 100 images. You shoot 10 pictures and 90 more shots avilable. You suddenly notice that the 10 images you shot come up missing! If you just say the heck with it and decide to keep shooting and recover the missing later, you may have problems if the card has a problem or corruption is going on that could cause further image loss and risk. Also, even if that wasn't the case, when you try to put new images on the card, it may overwrite areas on the card that the 10 missing images that need recovering are stored in. This is because the camera isn't seeing them for whatever reason and may assume all the space on the card is free. So the point here is, don't tempt fate. Just pull the card out and use other cards until you can attempt your recovery.

To understand how the software works, you need to know a little bit about how files are stored. Don't worry, if you aren't a technical type person, it doesn't matter. This is quite simple.

when files are saved to the card by the camera, it creates the files and uses a file system to list file names and locations in a list called the directory. Often times, this directory which is just data stored on the card can get messed up. Or when you format the card in the camera or delete files, it simply alters the directory so that the files aren't listed any longer and the camera can now use the space that was reserved for that file. So all the image information can still be there even if you deleted them or formatted the card.

The moment you have been waiting for, the software! There are programs out that will scan your card, or even your hard drive for image files. If it can find information that is an image file, and if it can find all of it's data, it can recover the file and list it in the directory again or store in a new location for you to use again! The software I've seen does not usually recover the old name, it just recovers the file, usually with a numbering scheme such as image001.jpg, image002.jpg, etc. It can take a while for this software to run, but in my testing, I've been able to format a memory card and recover all of the images that the format appeared to delete.

The program I was very impressed with is RescuePro from SanDisk. It works great and the reason it's different than some recovery software, is that it understands image files and it analyzes the card or disk for images files. If all the data for the image is there, it seems to find them and recover. You still have to rename the files to something you recognize or can work with, but other wise the file is recovered.

RescuePro may come with some memory cards for free, but recent versions of this product require yearly subscriptions which I'm not particularly fond of. Here is a couple of links to software that may help.


http://www.cardrecovery.com

http://www.card-data-recovery.com

You can also do a Google Search for Image Recovery Software or Photo Recovery Software. There are plenty of options and some of them have free trials that you can download and see if it finds recoverable images. Then you only pay for it to be able to save the images it finds.

Hopefully, this will be of some help.