Leigh :) Stark » infrared

Totally addicted to grapes.

Leigh :) Stark — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:14:17 +0000

Your grapevine is chewing up my mind.

Grapey grapey…

I’m totally addicted to grapes.

Ok. So that was mostly a way of putting pictures of grapes on the screen while I made a parody of the old Josh Abrahams song “Addicted To Bass”. But I bet you didn’t know that it was also a test for the Talkr plugin I’ve currently got installed on this blog that lets you listen to the blog.

Go on, click the bit that says “Listen to this post” to hear the crazy computerised voice of Silicon Sarah* (not her real name) sing “Totally Addicted To Grapes”.

Or say it, anyway.

Here’s an infrared photo of a vineyard in the Hunter just in case you’re still annoyed at the lack of parody lyrics I’ve provided.

Seriously, I’m digging grapes at the moment.

Dirty & Gritty

Leigh :) Stark — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:48:02 +0000

While out on a photographic walk a couple of weeks ago, I decided to slap on my new infrared filter and get some shots (it’s new because my old one fit a different ring size and this one is larger).

This turned out to be a good idea as it let me flex my old infrared-enjoyment muscle. I think it’s called my “brain” or something.

Got no idea, really. But it was fun.

Plus, I love the grainy look I’ve always been able to pull out of the way I post-process things. The IR and the high-ISO that these images have only helps me think that this looks a hell of a lot better & more classic.

Of course, I could be wrong. Wait, no I can’t… it’s my opinion!

More images after the jump…

These images were shot on a part of a walk called “The Great North Walk” which actually starts in Sydney and ends in Newcastle.

Obviously, I haven’t walked the entire stretch.

However, these images come from the part of the walk we did do that day: from Woolwich to Drummoyne. In total, we walked around 12 kilometres.

These images have been processed using black & white settings designed to take advantage of infrared photography.

The rest of the pictures are below in an order that feels like a series…

Experiments In Sensitivity

Leigh :) Stark — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:35:00 +0000

Here are a few images where I'm experimenting with the manipulation of photographic sensitivities. You see, prior to around the early 1800's, all you could do was use the blue sensitivities in photography. This has changed as most people don't stick to only blue sensitive images or orthochromatic imagery (green & blue sensitive).

But being someone who likes to experiment with the science of things — especially the science of monochromatic imagery — I'm trying to find a way to blend the blue sensitive imagery with my regular contrasty style. Since I shoot in digital colour anyway, I still have a lot of control, but one thing I'm trying to do is to force the hand of the filtration methods I use to get the images out.

Case in point… UV light seems to do a pretty good job. I've experimented with it previously and now thanks to a new stronger UV light from Glen (thanks Glen!), I'm trying it again.

Chris Russell in "It Came From The AW"…

Normally, most skin turns into darkness when run through these filters as seen below. But by using a UV light to bring a different wavelength into the image, we can modify the depth of where the tone changes as seen above. The top left of Chris' forehead has that typical dark tonality to it but the rest of his face was where the UV light was shining onto and that's more typical of a regular contrasty black & white.

Wendell blows smoke in the crisp air…

As above, Wendell's blowing smoke into the line of the UV light. This — as far as I can tell — allows the smoke to be affected by the wavelength and turn it into the white light that you see.

As far as a scientific explanation, I probably have no idea what to accurately describe this as. But it seems to work for the moment, I guess.