Craete Your Own Reality with an IR Conversion

John Lennon, who was killed 29 years ago today, said: "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."

I liked John Lennon's music - very much so. I also liked all the home movies I saw of him playing with his young son . . . but all that is a topic for another time.

For now, if you are in a creative slump, here's an idea: have one of your old digital cameras converted to an IR-only camera. Or, buy an older model digital camera (compact or SLR) cheap on ebay and have it converted to an IR-only camera.

Hands down, an IR converted camera is the best and easiest way to get into infrared photography - where you can alter reality with your camera and your imagination.

Here you see a boring color shot and a much more interesting IR shot of the same scene. I took the IR shot with my converted Canon SD800.

Lifepixel offers several different conversion methods - enhanced, super, black and white, standard and so on. You can see examples of these conversions on their web site.

Good news! You can get a discount on your conversion by using this code upon checkout: RickSammon.

Explore the light,
Rick

Seeing in HDR and IR

One of the cool things about taking many pictures is that you become better and better at envisioning the end result. In other words, you see the final image in your mind's eye even before you make a picture. The more pictures you take, the clearer your vision. How cool!

So the idea is to make a lot of pictures.

If you are new to photography and/or have trouble seeing the end result, try this experiment: shoot only HDR or IR pictures for a few days.

With IR, you'll start to see the sky as black and foliage as white. You'll look for pictures that will look especially good in IR – scenes that are not affected by the visible light we normally see, which makes shooting at noon even a good idea.

With HDR photography (I use Photomatix), you'll look for high-contrast scenes that can be enhanced through the magic of HDR, which enables you to capture a much wider dynamic range than even the best digital SLR on the planet.

Sticking to one type of image also works with plug-ins. If you have a favorite plug-in, take pictures with the idea of applying that plug-in in Photoshop. My current favorite plug-in is Topaz Adjust, which I used to increase the detail and tonal range of the bottom images you see here.

Click here to learn more about, plug-ins, Photomatix and Topaz Adjust.

So stick to it. Okay?

Explore the Light,
Rick

Here's the Before IR/Mirror Shot. Borrrrrrring!

Several folks really liked the IR image I posted yesterday (below). Here's a color shot of the same scene (minus the magical mirror effect). Borrrrrrrrrring.

If you need a creative boost, why not covert an old digital SLR or compact camera to IR? Lifepixel offers several options. You can get a discount by using this code upon checkout: RickSammon.

To create the magical mirror effect, click here.

Play with the light,
Rick