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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104/365: Up a tree

This... this is the project that took up most of my month of April. Those of you keeping score at home may remember I've had some issues in my Intro to Digital Photography course, namely, the fact that my prof has rigid views of what constitutes "good photography" and what doesn't. Consequently, he's low-balled my grades, saying "It didn't look like you put much effort into them." This led directly to my "Missing Persona" series, which was a shot across the bow. I got an A for that one, but a grudging one at 91, not nearly enough to pull my overall average up from the B he'd stuck me at. So this series is my response, double-dog daring him to not give me a strong A for this project, and an A for the course overall. I hold grudges. When I'm old and grey, I'll telling my grandkids about this epic battle of wills. Win or lose, I'll have fought it on my terms.

Ironically, this first image is only here because this is the direction my prof tried to steer me. He wanted to rein me in whereas I wanted to push farther beyond the envelope. So I allowed this one concession. My project consisted of two, core concepts that I felt would feed off each other to create a profoundly surreal visual experience. The first of these elements is "levitation," a form of photo composite trickery that's A) quite popular online and 2) something I'd never attempted before. So that's what's on display in this image, Bug climbing a mesquite tree in defiance of gravity. This serves as my "control" group, giving visual context to what is yet to come when I add the second element, one that is--photographically speaking--close to my heart.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm
Lisa On Location

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103/365: New kid in town

Yesterday I said farewell to my Canon Rebel XTi, a dependable little workhorse camera we had converted to infrared almost two years back. Today, I introduce the XTi's replacement: A Canon 50D, converted to 720nm infrared by LifePixel, the same folks who converted the XTi. The upgrade is, well, nice. Better noise control and higher ISOs. Larger file sizes (photographers often gripe about the megapixel wars--for good reason--but in some cases bigger is indeed better). A more robust build. Better (and faster) autofocus. Live View (which I normally don't like, but it really helps nail focus with quirky lenses such as the EF-S 10-22mm). I have created some stellar infrared images with this camera, which I'll be sharing here shortly. Just about the only downside to it is the baffling fact that Canon chose to make the 50D incompatible with their simple remote that works with pretty much every other camera body in their lineup. In fact, as far as I can tell, Canon makes no remote for the 50D, which explains the odd, aftermarket Phottix remote attached to the hotshoe in this image. Still, despite that one shortcoming, I expect the 50D will acquit itself very well in the coming years... at least until we get the 5D mark II converted.

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

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102/365: A second retirement

This is my Canon Rebel XTi/400D. The XTi was introduced by Canon in mid-2006 and produced through early 2008. I bought mine in March 2008--the first SLR style camera I ever purchased. What's more, I purchased it with the intent to learn how to use it and take competent photographs. This was during a period in our lives when finances were incredibly strapped (a brief phase that lasted roughly from 1996-2011) so I financed this massive purchase by selling off my Doctor Demento Show CD collection via Ebay. True story.

The real significance of this little entry-level camera, though, is that it finally convinced The Wife that the quality of digital imaging sensors had matured enough to be a viable alternative to film. Realize that she learned photography in the journalism program at Texas A&M circa 1992, and the years before we met as a working photojournalist. She was a dyed-in-the-wool film snob, and scoffed at the pixellation visible in photos taken by digital point-and-shoot cameras. One day, after a derisive comment too many, I pushed the XTi on her and insisted she just go out and shoot with it for the weekend. She came back impressed. Within a month, The Wife had a Canon 50D of her own. Her love of photography rekindled, she started taking the wild idea of starting her own photography business seriously, and today a thriving Lisa On Location is the result. Success didn't come overnight, and she used my XTi as her backup body on many early jobs. I used it to assist her as a second shooter just as often. Eventually, she added a full-frame Canon 5D mark II to her arsenal, then a Mark III. Then she surprised me with a 7D.

Obsolete for all of our regular uses, nearly two years ago The Wife sent the XTi off to LifePixel for conversion to infrared. I love infrared, and experimented much by using thread-in filters over the lenses. Conversion proved a revelation, as I could now compose and shoot hand-held rather than being restricted to a tripod and 10-20 second exposure times. Infrared photography became a unique part of her wedding packages. I learned to take amazing landscapes with it. But... there's always a but. It's an old camera. It's been banged up over the years and I estimate it's got more than 60,000 shutter actuations on it. The 10.1 megapixel sensor is terrible noisy above 400 ISO, and file sizes are on the small side for the large, impressive prints we like to make of the best showcase images. It's captured many, many images for us over the years, and opened up the amazing world of infrared photography for me. But all good things come to an end. We've replace the XTi, and unlike the Elan 7ne, the little Rebel is redundant and outclassed in every way. In the coming weeks I expect to put it up for sale, a bargain for anyone who wants to experiment with infrared photography. It's got a lot of shots left in it, but those won't be taken by me. Sentimentality only takes you so far, and it'd be a waste of a good camera to put it on the shelf, unused. I will always have a soft spot for it, though. A whole lot of good things started with this little XTi.

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

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