Saving the World One Pixel at a Time

One of the things that I like to do to get out of a rut is to shoot some photographs in direct monochrome mode. It doesn’t have to be all of the images that you make during a session; maybe just a few to see what happens. If you think that’s a bad idea because you worry about what happens if you change your mind and want that original at some later date to be in color? Many digital SLRs cameras have a RAW+JPEG option that lets you capture a monochrome (JPEG) and color (RAW) file at the same time. Some dual-slot camera, even let you simultaneously save each file type to a different card. My old but dependable Canon EOS 1D Mark II N lets me, for example, shoot RAW on the CompactFlash card and JPEG files onto the SD card.

If you prefer to capture in color and convert to monochrome later in the digital darkroom that’s not a bad idea either. The biggest differences is that all of my favorite retouching tools such as Imagenomic’s’ Portraiture and Anthropics’ Portrait Professional work better with color files, so more often than not I shoot in color and convert to monochrome later using Adobe Photoshop and/or Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro.

1/250 sec at f/11 and ISO 800

N is for normal. Normal as in 50mm lens, anyway. Subject is Tia Stoneman photographed outdoors in the doorway of an old building that has since been remodeled into something nicer but with decidedly less character. I asked Tia to set, resting her back against the wall and also wanted her to pull up her skit a bit to show her great-looking legs. Then the pose was refined having her first place her left hand on her leg and tried different hand placements—always looking for a natural look— before arriving at this shot after eight different variations. Image captured directly in monochrome mode using a Canon EOS 50D with an EX550 speedlight  used for fill.

Joe is the author of “Posing for Portrait & Glamour Photography” which is available at your friendly neighborhood bookstore or Amazon.com.

1/6 sec at f/5 and ISO 1250

There is much more to black and white photography than simply an absence of color. Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way if the first photographs had been made in full color,but that didn’t happen and, like many photographers, I grew up admiring the works of W. Eugene Smith and other black and white photojournalists who photographed people at work, play, or just being themselves. As a creative medium, traditionalists may call it “monochrome” and digital imagers may prefer “grayscale,” but it’s still black and white to me.

Black and white is a wonderful media for making portraits because the lack of color immediately simplifies the image, causing you to focus on the real subject of the photograph instead of their clothing or surroundings. Sometimes the nature of the portrait subject demands that the image be photographed in black and white. Arnold Newman’s portrait of composer Igor Stravinsky could never have been made in color and have the same impact that is has as a monochrome image.

1/60 sec at f/11 and ISO 200

There are also the trendy aspects associated with creating images in black and white. MTV, motion pictures and fashion magazines periodically “rediscover” black and white as a way to reproduce photographs that are different from what’s currently being shown. Right now, many professional photographers are telling me that they’re seeing a higher than normal demand for black and white portraits than previously was the case. Individual and family portrait purchases like these are driven by these same trends.

You can control the contrast and how colors are rendered in black & white by6 using filters. While you could always use real color filters on your camera to archive the same effects there are major advantages of using digital filters: While most in-camera metering systems automatically take “filter factors” (See “Filter Factor” below) into consideration, you still have to look through and compose through a colored filter whose factor might range from three and five. In addition, a purely digital solution is an easier one to live because the exposure for no filter is identical to one made with a dark red filter.

Tip: Filter Factor: In the world of traditional photography, the light loss caused by a filter’s absorption and color density is expressed as a filter factor. A 2X factor means the exposure should be increased by one stop, 3X means one and one-half stops, etc. When using several filters at once, filter factors, aren’t added together but instead are multiplied reducing depth of field or slowing shutter speeds

You’ve heard me say it before but I still think that client communications is the most important aspect of portraiture. That dialog begins with the initial contact and then moves through all of the communications that happen during a session but to make the best possible portrait, you should  start before a subject arrive at your studio or location. Offering a few simple tips beforehand to subjects can make their session go better and help them enjoy the portraits produced during of the session, which then, hopefully, translates into higher sales.

1/125 sec at f/5.6 and ISO 100

One of the most important things I always (and I mean always) suggest is that the subject wear solid colors. No prints, plaid, and especially checks, unless I’m going for some kind of retro look. Nothing detracts from a subject’s face more than clothes covered in busy patterns and prints. I tell clients that the time to wear these kinds of clothes is for fun, not during a portrait session when the emphasis should be on the their face.

But this is real life isn’t it? And things don’t always go as planned. Although you might prefer that a portrait subject bring solid colored clothing to a shoot, that doesn’t always happen out here in the real world, so for the portrait at right, I got in close and suggested this hands-on-face pose that accentuated this subject’s smile.

1/125 sec at f/5.6 and ISO 100

Lighting for the portait: A Flashpoint II 620M monolight with 64-inch FlashPoint umbrella is set up as the main light with another Flashpoint monolight with a 28 x 28-inch PZ Softbox used as a sidelight (at camera left) and slightly to the rear of the subject. Exposure with Canon EOS 5D with EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens.

Copping tightly helped the portrait somewhat but it won’t always work to minimize the busy pattern of a subjects clothing, so I switched the Canon EOS 5D into Monochrome mode and tried a complete different pose (left) creating a totally different look but using the almost identical lighting setup. It’s not a prefect solution but it is one possible solution, when a session doesn’t quite go as planned.

The above unprocessed photograph is how one of my files looked directly from the infrared-converted SLR that captured it.

I often get e-mail from photographers wanting to dip their toes into the water of infrared photography. Lately one of those questions that keeps popping is “How do I set a custom white balance for infrared?” Some of the people who do conversions return the converted camera with a custom white balance setting already in place but as you can see by the image at left it may not be what you expected.

What about shooters using non-converted cameras with the awesome and no longer so inexpensive Hoya R72 filters. Here’s my advice paraphrased from a classic movie: “White balance? We don’t need no stinkin’ white balance.” Now while some purists and IR gurus may vehemently disagree with me about this because I’m breaking one their cast iron principles, my goal with all my photography—infrared included—is to have fun.

• Shoot in Monochrome mode. No white balance needed, everything is right there on your LCD and your image file appears in glorious black & white.
• If the thought of shooting JPEG is anathema to you, the RAW images captured are going to exhibit a magenta cast as in the above photograph. Here’s what I do: I open the file in Adobe Camera Raw, ignore the White Balance pop-up menu, navigate to the HSL/Grayscale tab, and click the Convert to Grayscale button. You can then tweak ago using any of the settings under the Basic tab. You can find details on that approach here.
• Alternative: If you are shooting a bracketed series of images (always good idea when capturing IR) why not double-down and open the files using a program like Nik HDR Efex Pro and create a digital infrared HDR image. Many times the preview thumbnails will show the image automatically converted to monochrome but you can always use the several B&W presets that Nik provides or pick another that you like and move the saturation slider to zero.

And so what’s the common thread though all of these tips? I didn’t worry about the White Balance setting one time. Have fun with your photography!

Joe is the author of “The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography” that is available at bookstores and Amazon.com.

To me, any photograph is usually all about lighting but infrared photography is about capturing images using invisible light, which is why comparisons to traditional photography can be difficult.

If you want to create a dramatic image, few things beat a beautiful sunrise that’s photographed in vibrant colors. The same scene photographed in infrared might be disappointing unless there is some great IR reflective subject matter—we’re talking about foliage—to add interest. That’s because the “Wood Effect” (bright to white reproduction of the chlorophyll layer of deciduous plants in black-and-white IR images) appears strongest at lower sun levels. This effect is not the named for the material wood, which does not strongly reflect infrared, but after infrared photography pioneer Robert W. Wood (1868-1955).

1/200 sec at f/10 and ISO 800

Here’s one of Farace’s laws about capturing infrared photographs: If the lighting looks great for standard photographs, such as portraits in the shade, or a colorful sunrise and sunset, it’s probably not going to work that well for infrared photography. But don’t just take my word for it; you need to experiment because you never know for sure what the results will be when working in infrared until you try. Shooting an approaching storm often makes a great “standard” photograph but I had a feeling that it could make a dramatic digital infrared image as well. The trees should retain some IR reflectance via heat and the storm clouds should add impact, right? Sometimes when you experiment you get lucky.

1/16 sec at f/16 and ISO 200

There are no ‘official’ subjects for digital IR photography. Sure, summer landscapes with leafy deciduous trees, lots of grass, and puffy clouds often make a great infrared picture. (Tip: Evergreens, like those Ponderosa Pines up here on Daisy Hill, don’t reflect as much infrared but depending on the invisible light will reflect some IR light. But don’t confine yourself to landscapes.

Some of the artists profiled in my book, “The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography,” like to photograph people in IR and I tried it myself with one of the results appearing the the book’s back cover. I like to photograph cars and made the above picture of two classic Jaguars (above) using a camera that was converted for dedicated IR-capture by LifePixel. To insure sharp focus I set the lens using its hyperfocal distance and changed the camera’s exposure compensation to plus 1-1/3 stops to make the whites sparkle. Any subject is fair game if you want to produce digital infrared images. Tip: Experiment to discover what works. You may be surprised at the variety of subject matter you can find for your IR photographs.