Boulder and Shrubs, Porcupine Track, Infrared

[Maris]

Boulder and Shrubs, Porcupine Track, Infrared
Gelatin-silver photograph on Ultrafine Silver Eagle VC FB photographic paper, image size 19.6cm X 24.6cm, from a 8x10 Efke IR820 negative exposed in a Tachihara 810HD triple extension field view camera fitted with a Wollensak 159mm f9.5 lens and IR680 filter.

[Bazz8]

I like this shot Maris so moody

[Mick Fagan]

Maris, that looks like the perfect IR image.

It looks as though it was exposed either mid morning or mid afternoon, which from my own experience with Kodak HIE was usually when it worked best.

My only IR filter is the Hoya IR72, I'm not sure whether that would change the filtration enough to alter the outcome depicted here that you have used with this film; thoughts?

[Maris]

Yes Mick it was a mid morning shot and easy to compose:heath bushes left, right , and middle; leafless trees left and right; and the big rock in the middle. What I didn't know was how black the sky would turn out with an IIR680 filter. It seems high altitude skies go black easily - even with an ordinary #25 red filter let alone an infrared.

The IR680 infrared filter came from China via eBay together with a IR720 filter for comparison purposes. The samples I got look and act identically. It is as if (dark unworthy thoughts) the filter supplier uses the same IR plastic material with a variety of wavelength designations just to cover the market.

[Mick Fagan]

Maris, having used Kodak HIE extensively, along with a dedicated IR 720 filter, have you tried this method to gauge IR activity?

Holding the filter in my hands and blocking as much extraneous light as possible, I quickly held the filter up to a single eye. A very quick scan of the desired image one is considering, then pull it off, wait a second then have another scan, and so on.

Using this method I was able to quite confidently know firstly if there was much IR light around, and also if the desired subject was glowing in a manner I was hoping for. As well as the best direction for the best effect; which I'm guessing you already have a handle on.

Water goes black, as does high sky, just like in your picture. What I was usually looking for, was glowing green foliage and using that method worked wonderfully.

I also never used a light meter, I just had three exposure conditions and three shutter/aperture variables and found this worked perfectly as I was only really interested in the IR part of the spectrum.

Bright sunny/ cloudy bright / sort of cloudy bright. If any of these conditions weren't met, then IR in general wasn't going to work too well.

If you had some Tech Pan, you could try one sheet with the 720 filter and one with the 680 filter. there should be a noticeable difference I would think.