Old Cottonwood

[Tom Robbins]

Features in a long-familiar landscape can almost assume a personality with the passage of years. Given enough time a sense of intimacy can arise with a fence post, a boulder, or any old object along the trail.

Such is the case with this old cottonwood in a nearby prairie remnant. Every passing storm takes its toll yet it remains stoic and stubborn. Or so it seems to me.

Infrared Cottonwood at Swanson Grove​

 

[nicolas claris]

Nice shot and composition!
It let me think of some infrared pictures…

[EDIT] LoL did not see the caption! [/EDIT]

 

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Beautiful work!

 

[Tom Robbins]

Thank you Nicolas and Klaus. I used an early model Canon 5D with the sensor modified for near infrared wavelengths. It's been fun to use through the years, but only sporadically.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thank you Nicolas and Klaus. I used an early model Canon 5D with the sensor modified for near infrared wavelengths. It's been fun to use through the years, but only sporadically.

Is this the original 5D?

Would it be much better, (besides pixel density), if one used the 5D Mark II?

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Features in a long-familiar landscape can almost assume a personality with the passage of years. Given enough time a sense of intimacy can arise with a fence post, a boulder, or any old object along the trail.

Such is the case with this old cottonwood in a nearby prairie remnant. Every passing storm takes its toll yet it remains stoic and stubborn. Or so it seems to me.

Infrared Cottonwood at Swanson Grove​

Tom,

I am enjoying returning time and again to this scene. That tree is like a stalwart warrior, wounded but valiantly standing!

Great to have a dedicated IR camera. Is it monochrome drect from the camera?

You’ve long used your sensibilities to notice and record natural and man-made local fixture, marked distinctively by time!

This could be title you might keep in mind for just one of many focussed portfolios of your extensive photography collection.

Asher

 

[Tom Robbins]

Thanks for your interest and question, Asher.

There is no native color to a raw infrared sensor file direct from the camera. However, adjusting the white balance to something resembling a tobacco stain colors during raw conversion results in a file amenable to straightforward black and white style processing. Well, that's how I see it. No doubt there are many paths to a final result.

Just for fun, this is an example of the tobacco stain image color from eleven years ago when I liked that sort of result.

Hennepin Canal Lock 20​

 

[Peter Dexter]

Lovely image. I shot infrared film back in the 1980s. Results have a really nice feel.

 

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Very nice IR shots!

 

[Tom Robbins]

Thank you Peter and Klaus! I find one of the attractions of near infrared is the way it darkens a blue sky and makes clouds really pop. Sometimes clouds not visible in normal wavelengths can appear in IR.

Asher, the converted body is an original 5D. Yes, a MKII or MKIII would be even better, but the cost of the conversion was around $500 at the time, I think. I had a spare 5D, so figured what the heck. IR is fun, but the gee whiz factor wears off fairly quickly and then it tends to mostly be left at home. Don't believe I'll ever convert another one.