DIMW - Digital ImageMaker World

Infrared photography to me is just more interesting than standard photography. It stands out, the color differences (when shooting color IR) and the bold white of trees and grass (when shooting black and white IR). It forces you to look at things in a different way. IR photography is like a breath of fresh air.
The camera I use for IR photography is a self modified HP 945 with Hoya 72 filter. When shooting panoramics I use the Nodal Ninja rotating panoramic tripod head.
Each Bellagio pano has between fifty and sixty photos stitched together utilizing the Photomerge feature in Photoshop, and was manually edited for alignment and blending. In order to manage the rather large size of these panos, I composed them in a left and right half, then manually edited the halves together. These photos were taken in June of 2007 in Las Vegas, NV.
The flooded street pano is only 8 photos, also stitched using Photoshop’s photomerge feature, plus manual editing. This street is one of many in St. Louis, MO affected during the recent flooding in the Midwest. These photos were taken on March 21, 2008.

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.

Photographer’s Statement

When I first viewed images made with IR film some 15 years or so ago I was not impressed and viewed them at klugey. When I met my now partner and love of my life I did a 180 degree turnaround. She was doing hand painted photography at the time using IR film as the initial imaging capture medium and the high contrast printing she used worked very well to print the images which she then painted. I began to shoot the Konica near-IR film and then moved onto Kodak HIE because I wanted more of the ethereal look that HIE presented.

Working in infrared b/w photography contrasted to the other bw work I was doing in the editorial and stock photography areas. Infrared photography gave me the artistic outlet and method I was looking for that was not present with other films. Now, I combine IR b/w, some color, and converted b/w imagery to my art photography displayed at the outdoor art shows we participate in. The subject matter is different for all three mediums and allow me to diversify my exhibiting portfolio.

All of these images were taken with an Olympus Wide-E 35mm Rangefinder using Kodak HIE and shot through an 87C IR filter to capture the most IR effect from the scene. I find a rangefinder camera to be ideal for capturing infrared photographs because there’s no need to view the scene through a SLR viewfinder. Experience working in this way taught me which exposure, as read on the primitive meter, was appropriate and bracketing in 3-5 exposures gave me what I had mentally previsualized.

Henry Heerschap
Artist’s Statement

I’m an amateur photographer located in the Seattle are of the US. I enjoyed photography in my younger years, but life got in the way and I drifted away from it aside from simple snapshots and the like. Digital imaging has rekindled that interest and I’ve made a conscious effort to develop my skills and personal vision. Part of that has been a keen interest in the alternate world of Infrared photography. I have several cameras that have been specifically converted for IR, including a couple of Canon Rebel models.

Photographer’s Statement
Stanley N. Schwartz
www.tallgrassimages.com
stan@tallgrassimages.com
snsokstan@yahoo.com

Beauty in nature is ephemeral. For the outdoors? photographer, light, weather and season periodically ?intersect to produce beauty unequalled by anything? manmade. There is wonderful splendor for those who? seek it actively by walking a little further, awakening?at an earlier hour and staying out until last light.?? ‘
The photographer—who never makes images but merely? captures them—must be prepared to spend hours doing? nothing other than listening to the sound of clouds colliding.

BIO: Hi. I live in Los Angeles, CA, a concrete jungle made up of intertwining, sprawling suburban neighborhoods. To me, it offers little photographic possibilities. I prefer places that offer the peace and solitude seldom found in and around LA. Currently, I have a Nikon D2X that I use as my workhorse camera, a Nikon D300 as a backup camera, and I converted the Canon POWERSHOT Pro 1 as my dedicated IR camera.

Photography has been my BIG hobby for most of my life, and my favorite photographic spots are in the American Southwest. The desert offers a plentitude of natural beauty everywhere you look, from wildflowers to monsoonal thunderstorms to candy-striped rock formations. Outside of my affection for wide scenic landscapes, wildlife, macro and aviation photography, I was looking for new pictorial ideas. My girlfriend suggested looking into infrared photography. At first, I used the Hoya R72 filter, making adjustments to the white balance to convert an image to IR. All of a sudden, this new world view opened up to me. Simply the way the grass blades and trees glow with that bright white yet soft light, the way lakes and ponds transform into stark black mirrors, and the way the sky becomes this sharp, dark counterpoint to a landscape is to appreciate Mother Nature’s grandeur on a higher level. The overall composition goes from just a good color image to a magical, ethereal one—an entirely new photograph altogether! That sealed it. I bought a Canon P&S based on recommendations and had it converted to a dedicated IR camera, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Eric Miner Artist’s Statement

I have been shooting since I was 12 years old. I first shot with Kodak High Speed Infrared 35mm film in 1967 and have always loved the look and feel of IR. Today I shoot IR using a Canon G3 converted by LifePixel.

In recent years I’ve been concentrating of landscape and general nature photo. Foe the last year I’ve been experimenting with IR HDR. The combination of the two has resulted in some very beautiful images.

The older I get the more my art means to me. I’ve found that I it has become easier to express myself with photography as time goes by.

I hope that all who see my images enjoy them as much as I enjoy producing and viewing them.

Thank You,

Eric Miner

Cary Enoch Reinstein aka Enoch’s Vision, Inc. started out as an artist but became sidetracked by the high-tech industry. There I spent many years writing reference works for software developers and engineers. I lived at different times in The Bronx where I grew up, the San Francisco Bay Area (various positions in the graphic arts industry), Portland, Oregon (Intel) and the Seattle, Washington area (Microsoft).
Most of my images were made entirely within the camera or enhanced afterwards in an optical slide copier of my own design. I processed Ektachrome film myself and frequently experimented with solarization, push-processing, and cross-processing. Photoshop is the primary tool that I use to reinterpret the natural colors and prepare images for archival printing. I also use Photoshop to suppress excessive grain and scanning artifacts. I do not use artificial image effects.
The signature line I have used for many years is the best statement I can make as an artist: “Behind all these manifestations is the one radiance, which shines through all things. The function of art is to reveal this radiance through the created object.” — Joseph Campbell
I’ve included a statement of my interests here because it tells what motivates my art and photography: Bahá’í studies, environmental concerns, animal welfare and care, cosmology, harmony of science and religion, health and diet issues. I am nonpartisan and apolitical.
Favorite Music: primarily mid- and late Renaissance (Vivaldi to Mozart), Beethoven, nearly all Jazz, Celtic, folk and pop-rock, Persian and Indian plus a highly eclectic variety of other music also. Among my favorites are the Moody Blues, Joni Mitchell, Enya, Van Morrison, Sarah MacLachlin, Stevie Nicks, Gloria Estefan, Loreena McKennitt, and many others. I do not enjoy any heavy metal, Rap, Broadway tunes, or “elevator music.”
Favorite Artists: El Greco, Pablo Picasso (earlier work rather than later), Vasilly Kandinsky (also earlier rather than later), Vincent Van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Claude Monet, Mark Tobey. Artists I really dislike: Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and Piet Mondrian.
Favorite Book: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh
Favorite types of movies: recent films with high quality CGI and little or no violence unless absolutely necessary for setting or character development. I never watch overtly violent or war-related movies or those with vulgar or buffoonish humor. I enjoy watching high-quality animation such as Disney/Pixar films. My current favorite TV shows are Doctor Who, Torchwood, Battlestar Galactica, The Dog Whisperer, Meerkat Manor, Monk, and Atlanta Braves broadcasts. I rarely watch News channels except for BBCA. I like the Sci-Fi, National Geographic, Science, History and Discovery channels.
I live now in rural Peach County, Georgia with my German Shepherd Dogs, Luna, Ghibor and Ahava.
“Worthwhile art requires something of us. It insists that we become participants, what J. R. R. Tolkien has called “sub-creators,” in the process of understanding the ideas and insights to which the artist has given sensually perceptible form. Art which does not require this creative effort on our part usually has little of importance to say to us. Art which has no subtlety, which does not stretch us beyond our present awareness, simply reminds us of what we already know.” – John Hatcher, The Divine Art if Revelation