Reggie M. Linsao

www.boomslice.com
reggie@boomslice.com

As much as I try to predict what will happen when I take an infrared photograph, there’s a certain level of mystery that still surrounds the whole process. “OK. That grass will go white. Those shadows look interesting, so that should be good. Plus, the color of the sky should add some drama and offset the white. Ready to fire, Captain.”

So I guess it’s no surprise that I don’t fully understand the science of light waves and color temperature behind infrared photography. That’s not why I like it. I like the experimentation, the surprise. I like not knowing what’s going to happen. I like finding new locations and wondering, “What would this place look like in IR?”

When I started shooting infrared photos with my Canon G3 and Hoya R72 filter, I thought I was trapped behind red tinted glasses. Yeech! As a nature photographer, I’m always looking for vibrant color, and a black and white conversion just didn’t cut it. Yes, black and white can be fantastic, but this was a digital medium. So I knew that if I started to tweak the white balance, I could influence the final picture and get something more. So one day in 2004, I took real control of my camera and set a custom white balance based on some random element in my photo. From that day forward, I’ve been hooked on infrared.