Hey kids! New book!

With all the Chicken Ranch stuff going on, it appears that I have completely forgotten to let everyone know about another publication of mine that recently came out. Some of you may know that photography's a sort-of hobby of mine, and that I assist The Wife with her photo studio, Lisa On Location. Some of you may also know that I've long had a fascination with infrared photography, and have experimented with that form quite a bit over the years.

Well, all that experimentation seems to have attracted some attention my way. Four of my infrared images (one of which may be seen below) were selected by Karen Dorame for inclusion in her new book from Amherst Media, Mastering Infrared Photography: Capture Invisible Light with a Digital Camera. Now, I like to think that my work's pretty good--nobody else has combined levitation with infrared to push the surreal up to eleven, after all--but there are some images by Ikan Hui Pegel Pegel, an Indonesian photography who does some amazing work with false-color infrared. Seriously, Ikan's work is fantastic. One of the things I love about the interwebz--and being included in this book--is that it exposes me and brings me into contact with incredibly talented artists that I'd never know existed otherwise. That's quite inspiring, and, if one want to get all metaphorical, very much like infrared photography, as it also brings the unseen into view.

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Full Moon, infrared

So I set up the telescope this evening to try and experiment some with astrophotography. My intent was to test out my Canon 7D on deep sky objects using the Astronomic CLS clip filter to block out light pollution. Unfortunately, I hadn't realized tonight was a full moon night--the moon is so bright it washes out all the deep sky objects I'd want to photograph. Disappointed, I tried using the 7D to shoot the moon, but "seeing" was fairly crummy--there was so much turbulence in the upper atmosphere the moon appeared to be boiling, and all my shots turned out blurry.

On the verge of packing up, I got the notion to try a few shots with my Canon 50D we'd converted to infrared. I'd not tried any astrophotography with it before, but I'd heard IR can cut through bad atmosphere. Guess what? It did! Using prime focus with my telescope as the lens, the 50D got this fairly sharp image of the moon--and quite a few more like it--easily. Emboldened, I thought I'd attempt some eyepiece projection shots, in which an eyepiece is inserted in the image train to get significantly more magnification. Alas, I discovered several things when I attempted this. 1) My 50D's image sensor is covered with dust and crap that showed up really, really badly on these high-magnification images, 2) highest magnifications make the image too dim for my camera to register, and the ISO of 3200 isn't high enough to compensate, and 3) my GSO plossl eyepieces produce a fairly intense infrared hot spot right in the center of the image, yuck. But still, this is an interesting shot for a session that was, more or less, a bust.

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Infrared camera for sale

SOLD! The time has come to sell my workhorse Canon Rebel XTi camera body. It has been infrared modified by Lifepixel, the 720nm option, so that the images it takes can either be processed as false-color or high-contrast black and white. I've found it pretty flexible in that regard. The autofocus system is calibrated to the EF 50mm 1.8 lens, and works flawlessly with that. I've also found AF works well with the EF-S 10-22mm lens if aperture is stopped down to at least f/8 when shooting.

I bought this camera--my first ever DSLR--in March of 2008, new. I'm the only owner. We had it converted to full-time infrared two years ago, for use in my wife's wedding photography business. We had a Canon 50D converted about six months back, also by Lifepixel, so the XTi has sat unused since then. The camera still functions well. I'm estimating it's got approximately 55,000 shutter actuations on it, but that's just a guess since it's darn near impossible to get an accurate number with these Digic II bodies. There is some obvious wear on the grip from use (see image). The pop-up flash no longer pops up. I'm not sure when this happened, because I never use pop-up flashes. The hot shoe works just fine. In addition to the body, I'm including the vertical battery grip, three batteries, battery charger and the Canon software that came with it new.

I'm asking $350, shipped. Paypal is fine. Considering the fact that a conversion is going to cost nearly that much, I think that's a fair price. It's a nice little camera, we just don't need it anymore.

I'm posting this in multiple places, so anyone interested should email me.

Here are some images I've taken with this XTi over the years:

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121/365: Twin yuccas in bloom

Twin yuccas in bloom at Presidio la Bahia, Goliad. We've visited the old mission before, but never the presidio across the river. I was impressed with both the preservation and reconstruction, and hope to return someday. Yuccas were in full bloom all over the grounds, and this pair was doing its thing at the southwest corner of the old fort. Lots of black-throated humming birds were squabbling over the flowers, wanting to keep the nectar all to themselves. I suspected the plants would contrast nicely against the stone walls in infrared, and it appears that I was correct.

Camera: Canon 50D, 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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117/365: IR/Lev XIII - Swept away

My final entry in my Intro to Digital Photography class final project. I saw this willow tree, and knew it would look fantastic in infrared. But I didn't want to simply repeat my previous "model floating" illusions. Then I thought, what if she wasn't defying gravity, but instead, gravity was defying her? The result is a little silly, a little scary and a little self-referential. I thought it a fitting conclusion to the series.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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116/365: IR/Lev XII - Ascension

So, spirituality and symbolism. Yeah. Pretty heavy handed here. It's an interesting image, but I'm not entirely happy with the final product. I'll likely revisit it in the future and work on it some more.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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115/365: IR/Lev XI - Moment of Zen

Confession time: I have trouble with backlighting. The Wife is a whiz at it, and during Imaging USA this year, I briefly got to speak with Hanson Fong about his use of infrared and he started gushing about backlighting. But I normally struggle with it. Haven't developed my lighting skills enough, it would seem. But the Austin skyline beckoned, and the only way I could possibly get this shot would be to deal with serious backlighting from the sun. I took a flyer, and it worked. Not without a whole lot of post-processing, mind you, but it worked.

The problem is, I learned this on my own (not that I have backlighting down, but I'm slightly more competent now than before with it). I took two photography courses this semester, and worked my butt off in them, but they taught me zero new technical skills. I learned more photography technique and technical skills in the one photojournalism course I took four years ago than in the three fine art photography courses I've completed, combined. There's something seriously out of whack with that. One fine art photography major quietly complained toward the end of the semester how he wanted to know how to stop fast action, like with sports, but that hadn't been covered in the 4-5 courses he'd taken. Without thinking, I said "Set your shutter speed to 1/800 or faster, with a wide open aperture to blur the background and adjust your ISO accordingly." He looked at me for a moment with a mixture of shock, elation and frustration, then said, "See? That's what I wanted to know! Why can't they teach us anything like that?" The professors in the photography department may say, "See? You learned." The trouble is, everything we learned, we learned on our own. Several times students went up to the prof in both my classes with questions on how to accomplish something technical, and were dissuaded from pursuing that line of inquiry because, "That's covered in X class you'll take next semester/year/whenever." That's not a good way to teach photographers, and one of many complaints I have about the program overall. No thanks, I won't be taking those courses. If I have to teach myself, I'll do so on my own and save myself the stress and expense.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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114/365: IR/Lev X - The old fishing hole

Remember how I mentioned morning sunlight was much better for false-color infrared than late afternoon sunlight? Here is exhibit A. I thought the light was perfect--and it was, for visual photography at least. There's a reason why photographers call the 90 minutes or so before sunset the "golden hour." Colors are rich and saturated, shadows are long and soft. Perfect lighting for photography. But not infrared. Everything I shot came out nearly monochrome, and no matter how much processing I did, I couldn't draw any more color out of the images. This is still a cute picture, just not what I was striving for. I'm particularly pleased with her reflection in the water.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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113/365: IR/Lev IX - Photo shoot

Sometimes on a photo shoot you try silly things, just to see what happens. This was a chance for the models to goof around and get a little meta on the absurdity of what we were doing. Sometimes silly is good.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
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112/365: IR/Lev VIII - Bus stop

Just to show inspiration can strike anywhere, I had no concept for this shot until we walked past these benches, and it popped into my head, fully formed. Parthenogenesis, as it were. I wasn't sure if we could execute the concept, but I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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111/365: IR/Lev VII - Contagion

This image gave me tons of problems. I took an array of shots with my models in different poses, but ran into the problem where one would strike a great pose, but the other two were somewhat uninspired. And so on. Then I moved the camera a split second before remembering to take the necessary background shot, and getting the various scenes properly aligned for the composite was nightmarish (parallax is a harsh mistress). But I knew I absolutely had to have one image of multiple people floating in my series, because really, that's just not done.

What if levitation were involuntary, and catching?

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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110/365: IR/Lev VI - Kensho

I like the joy, the implicit bliss and oneness with nature implicit in this image. During the class critique of the final projects, the subject of spirituality in my images came up. To my thinking, spirituality cannot be avoided in most infrared photography, regardless of whether it is false-color or monochrome. The Wood Effect characteristic of infrared turns foliage white, and white is a powerfully symbolic color for rebirth, the afterlife, supernatural, etc. It can be very subtle or very overt, but I believe it's always present. Couple that with subjects floating in the air, seemingly defying gravity, such connotations are inescapable.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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109/365: IR/Lev V - Light reading

One of the problems with getting your children to pose for your photo projects is that the roll their eyes and complain and generally don't want to be associated with something as dorky as a parental project. After the fact, though, they ask for a copy to use on Facebook. Such is life.

This is actually the third version of this image, and I'm still not happy with it. I've come close to hitting the mark, but none of my various processing approaches have quite hit the sweet spot I'm striving for. That's one of the perils of false-color infrared: There's no straightforward, linear action that will guarantee uniform results every time. It takes a lot of finesses and guesswork to craft these images.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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108/365: RI/Lev IV - Umbrella

This was the first image from this series that told me I was really on to something. This was also the image that drove home the point to me that morning sunlight is much, much, much better for false color infrared than evening sun. I'd tried several evening shoots, and while the results were interesting with nice contrast, they were quite devoid of useable color and only suitable for black and white conversion. This image, on the other hand, made me say "Wow!" even before I got it out of the camera.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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107/365: IR/Lev III - Spawning run

While I take my art seriously, whether it be writing, photography or anything else, I never want to come across as a Serious Artist. That level of self-importance just isn't me. So I like to include some level of humor in my projects, whether its apparent in the final results or not. In this case, it's not particularly subtle. I don't think the model knew what he was getting into when he started trying random, spontaneous poses, but I instantly knew this was a winner. Anything that makes me smile is a winner.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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106/365: IR/Lev II - The opposite of falling

My infrared levitation series continues. This is, without a doubt, the most ambitious photography project I've ever undertaken. I've never used infrared in this exclusively, or so aggressively. And I'd never attempted levitation before. All while breaking in a new camera. And the locations! Apart from selling the illusion, two things were important to me in this project: 1) it couldn't look like I shot everything at the same place and B) it couldn't be the same person in every shot. So that meant multiple models and multiple locations. Multiple shoots over multiple days, in Austin, New Braunfels, San Marcos and San Antonio. Some people stood me up. Some shoots fell through. And some concepts just didn't work no matter how hard everyone tried. But that's part of what makes art, art.

What is the opposite of falling?

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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105/365: IR/Lev I - Up a tree

The second conceptual element of my digital photography final is "infrared." The recently-converted Canon 50D that has supplanted my old converted Canon Rebel XTi? Yeah, I put it through its paces in a big way. And I love it--except for my oft-repeated complaints about the lack of a good remote trigger. Images are cleaner, less noisy with the 50D. And I took a lot of images with it for this series.

Infrared levitation. That's my series concept. A quick Google search tells me that's one of the very few photographic combinations that hasn't been exploited to the Nth degree via Flickr, Deviant Art, etc. So I think I've got a winner. The otherworldly, ethereal tones coupled with the illusion of defying gravity makes for a whimsically surreal visual, no? Stay tuned, as they say. More to come.

Camera: Canon 50D 720nm infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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53/365: Kovar church

More catch-up going on. Remember the other day where I skipped an entry and promised to come back to it later? It's later.

I assisted The Wife in photographing a wedding this past weekend in Smithville. The reception was held at the SPJST Hall in tiny Kovar, Texas. As I finished my second shooting duties and was leaving, I saw the sun hitting the nearby Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church beautifully, and I had to stop and get some shots. I love these small Czech churches that date back to the turn of the previous century, and their painted insides are gorgeous. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to charge the batteries in my infrared camera (which is what I wanted to shoot the church with) so I managed only three shots before my camera went dead. Even so, I like this angle.

Camera: Canon XTi/400D 720nm infrared converted
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm

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16/365: Boudoir

Here's a little change of pace, a boudoir image from a shoot The Wife and I did with Seraphina Song. I have to say, I feel this was one of my most productive photo sessions ever. Lots of great images. I like this one because it's sensual without being overtly sexual, and significant personality comes through.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8

I also shot quite a bit of the session with my infrared camera. I got some nice, interesting shots with that as well. They're going to take a bit more processing, but this nice headshot called for immediate attention. It's quite striking and surreal, no?

Camera: Canon XTi/400D infrared modified
Lens: Canon EF 50mm 1.8mm mark I

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365 / 29: Blanco Shoals infrared

Went for a little walk on my lunch break today, scouting out Blanco Shoals Natural Area in San Marcos for possible future photo shoots. As undeveloped park land, it's a little confusing getting around and knowing where the boundaries are. There are some old, overgrown roads that offer a rough guide for the hiker, but beyond that you're on your own. There are only a couple access points to the Blanco River--and most of the time it's not even visible, which is surprising considering that it borders the length of the park. Today's Photo of the Day is from the south end of the park, looking north east. I thought it would make a good false-color infrared scene, and it looks as if I was right.

Camera: Canon XTi/400D 720nm infrared converted
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm

Lisa On Location Photography

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