Dark Streets (5 infrared photos)

[Don Ellis]

After making the pronouncement yesterday that there's nothing to shoot around my client's office building in Causeway Bay, I thought I'd take thirty minutes today to see what I could find... which mainly consisted of walking around with my eyes open.

Here are five photos that interested me...

Fire hydrant that's bright red, except in this case...



A variation on the original street broom shot -- another day, another broom, yet to be used by the look of it...



Drainage hole in the wall being used as a public ashtray...



Empty water bottles waiting for collection...



Washing those windows, even though it's going to rain tomorrow...



Cheers,

Don

[Bean13]

Nice shots Don. I especially like the last one of the window washers! I have taken a look at some of your other posts and you take some excellent photos. What is it you use to take these infrared photos? A filter? Thanks for any info.

~Adam

[Don Ellis]

Bean13 wrote:
Nice shots Don. I especially like the last one of the window washers! I have taken a look at some of your other posts and you take some excellent photos. What is it you use to take these infrared photos? A filter? Thanks for any info.
~Adam

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your comments... I used a modified G1 with a B+W 093 true-infrared filter on a Lensmate 49mm adapter. But you can use an unmodified G1 with a Hoya R72 (or equivalent) near-infrared filter and Lensmate with excellent results -- you just need a tripod. This latter setup is easier to come by and can give you interesting false color tones that are quite attractive.

I have notes on my galleries at www.kleptography.com which I haven't read in a long time. Perhaps they'll help.

Cameras other than G1s take decent infrared photos, by the way, including the rest of the G-series, but not quite as easily as the G1. Virtually everyone uses the inexpensive Hoya R72 so if you have an interest (and a tripod), you might want to try it.

Good luck.

Don

[marie]

hi don
I love the brush shot .. its really nice

you will not believe this
(you will)
but I took shot of a 'sweeper' in london last week with a brush like it .
right beside the tower of london.
he didn't see me .
they could be insulted
but its never meant that way
I just love watching them.
you played safe and took the brush without the sweeper
really nice. makes a good point of the brush.
mine is of the two working together,
just happened that way.
if the brush had been there I would have liked to photograph that on its own too, just like yours ....
but not quite

the fire hydrant shot needs the vivid red I imagine that it is, in colour
amazing how it looks now
weird and what looks like blood dripping
(that chain) down from it
(imagine if it were red then marie )




in other shot , good picture.
real life
at least 'they' stuck the butts in that drainage hole and did not throw them all around the pavement
( a fine if so?)

sometimes fellows just empty their car ashtrays out near the gate which I go through on the curragh plains.
I see the butts
but not the person


the bottles waiting for collection >
over here they are thrown in a bottle bin for recycling...
smashing on the way in
am wondering now do they just clean these and use them completely (but clean) again. seems ok
may be milk bottles so

the window cleaning shot is terrific.
great moody sky (rain tomorrow you say)
the little showing of the foliage adds to it all
(infrared and magical looking in ways)

best wishes

marie

[new girl on the bloc]

Wow Don, I am really wanting to play around with infrared. Your photos inspire me! I love the water bottles and the window washer - superb!

[Bean13]

Don Ellis wrote:
Hi Adam,

Thanks for your comments... I used a modified G1 with a B+W 093 true-infrared filter on a Lensmate 49mm adapter. But you can use an unmodified G1 with a Hoya R72 (or equivalent) near-infrared filter and Lensmate with excellent results -- you just need a tripod. This latter setup is easier to come by and can give you interesting false color tones that are quite attractive.

I have notes on my galleries at www.kleptography.com which I haven't read in a long time. Perhaps they'll help.

Cameras other than G1s take decent infrared photos, by the way, including the rest of the G-series, but not quite as easily as the G1. Virtually everyone uses the inexpensive Hoya R72 so if you have an interest (and a tripod), you might want to try it.

Good luck.

Don

When you refer to a modified G1, what exactly does that mean? Probably not much to me since I own a G2, although I'm curious to find out more. Thanks for all the info on filters and such. I have no tripod at the time, but have been meaning to buy one for some time now, and I think you have finally pushed me to do it with your photos

Thanks again
~Adam

[Laziferous]

Excellent as always. I love the great detail of the fire hydrant. You have also inspired me to try infrared... though it will be a little more work with a G2.

Again... outstanding.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Blown away as allways

Every one a gem.

//P.S.,.. I haven't e-mailed you yet,. as I am having a devil of a time trying to decide on a single print!

[pappy]

All are superb photos. I particularly like the hydrant, the broom and especially the window washing. You have such a good sense of composition and presentation. Your photos are always inspiring.

Thank you for posting these.

regards,
peter

[slejhamer]

Nice work, Don, esp. the hydrant and broom.

Your new filter is interesting!

[Hatem Eldoronki]

Photography should be more appreciated as a form of fine art. Just lloking at your first picture should convince anyone of the artistic value of a photo.
I love it.
Are these pictures straight out of the camera, or are they processed in any way by PhotoShop for example? I ask because my Sony has a built-in 'NightShot' mode (infrared), but the pictures are very grainy and noisy!

[Don Ellis]

Hi Everyone,

Can you believe... I've had to work all day. I took my camera to see if I could shoot some more street scenes for the third day in a row but it bucketed down... so I stood in the office doorway, leaned against a post, and took this handheld shot at 0.6 seconds, f2.2 (just in case you thought the new camera routinely turned in 1/200th-second performance)...



So now I'll try to answer a few questions and say a few thank-yous.

Don

[Don Ellis]

Marie,

Thanks for your comments and shared brush experience. I did take one of the brush-wielder, but it wasn't good enough to post.

When it gets sunny again and Leela gets back from Australia and lends me the G2, I'll consider taking the hydrant in color. Still, I do like the way the infrared turned out -- keeps you focused on the texture and shape.

They "stuck the butts in that drainage hole" for exactly the reason you mentioned -- littering fines have recently zoomed from US$77 to US$192.

The bottles are reusable and carry distilled water for the office coolers in the area. They were lined up out there waiting for a pick-up.

Thanks again for your thoughts and stories.

Don

[Don Ellis]

new girl on the bloc wrote:
Wow Don, I am really wanting to play around with infrared. Your photos inspire me! I love the water bottles and the window washer - superb!

Hi new girl,

While I wouldn't want to give up color entirely, I have been enjoying the new pleasures of black-and-white with an infrared twist. Certainly I recommend you try it if you have any interest at all. Thanks very much for commenting. The window washer was the last shot of the half-hour and turned out fairly well -- I was fortunate to have a cloud behind him for contrast.

While I was waiting for my G1 to be "fixed" and returned, we had weather like I haven't seen for years, with incredible, well-defined clouds everywhere, every day. The best I could do was memorize them... we're now into nondescript rain clouds and overcast.

Don

[Don Ellis]

Bean13 wrote:
When you refer to a modified G1, what exactly does that mean? Probably not much to me since I own a G2, although I'm curious to find out more. Thanks for all the info on filters and such. I have no tripod at the time, but have been meaning to buy one for some time now, and I think you have finally pushed me to do it with your photos

Thanks again
~Adam

Hi Adam,

Didn't mean to be so esoteric... "modified" means that I've had the hot mirror replaced with clear glass by someone who knows how to do that (and is not doing any more at the moment, unfortunately for the people who write me). He wouldn't have done my second G1 except that he knew the first one he did was stolen.

With a Hoya R72 infrared filter, I can get normal shutter speeds which allows for handheld infrared -- not a common animal. With the 093 infrared filter, also called a black filter because it doesn't allow any visible light through, I get slower shutter speeds but still fast enough for handholding.

Definitely buy a tripod and consider getting a good ballhead. One of the pleasures of my photography is my Kenko FP-100 Ballhead (about US$140)... it's not as expensive as the real upper-echelong ballheads, but it's smooth as silk and reminds me what machinists and human ingenuity are capable of. I use a Manfrotto 055PRO tripod, by the way, which is very solid and fairly tall. And I have a surprisingly versatile and tall tabletop tripod -- the Gitzo G1375 -- which cost as much as the Manfrotto (about US$100).

Having said that, you don't need anything that costly to support a lightweight camera, but you should have a tripod in your equipment collection.

Don