2nd IDL (Infradaylight) Outing

Today I did my second IDL Outing near my home.

I took my Fuji with the EL-Nikkor 63mm f/3.5, my strudy Gitzo tripod plus the Schott BG-40 and the Hoya U-360 filter and walked through the wineyards above my house. Specially in autumn the scenery is real beautiful here at the suburb of Vienna. All the leafs from the trees and grape-wine lost there green color and vary now yellow to dark red. That are real wonderful conditions for a Infradaylight shooting.

Nevertheless it is possible to make handheld picture when shooting without any filter in front of my Fuji with the EL-Nikkor 63mm I did ever single shot with my strudy Gitzo tripod. Certainly it is not my avocation to carry this big piece of carbon fiber through the nature, but I have learned one's lesson that you wont be able to compose a picture without taking the time to controling the exposure and do some changes. Its the real thing when using a tripod. Without its just trying, but never serious photography in my mind. Befor, in the old days when everyone was working analog it was different, because you never known how the recorded image could look like. That made the usage of the tripod less importend in my mind but it was still useful. Today every child is able to get great images, because he can control and move, zoom, or just correct the exposure after some trys with his cam on the tripod. That is the great improvment of digital photography. So why not use it?

And for those of you who are still wondering what are IDL Pics, I got some new examples from this Outing today. Because many people asked for a hint about this IDL pics I have to tell you some importend details. First of all you must own a modified DSLR. When I say modified I mean that the UV/IR filter pack must be removed already. Only digital cameras without this filter are able to record IDL pictures!

If you own a camera where the filterpack (the glass in front of the CCD/CMOS sensor) is removed already, you just need a lens like the EL-Nikkor 63mm f/3.5. You ask me why the 63mm? Because its able to capture all wavelengths, as there are infrared, daylight and of course ultraviolet. Only when those three radiations can be recorded you can go further and create a beautiful falsecolor Infradaylight photo.

Actually there are two ways to get it. The first is very simpel. Just put the lens on the camera, set the Iso to 100 close the aperture to 11.0 and start with 1/125sec under normal sunlight. If you are lucky the recorded image will be well exposed at the first try. Up to the sensitivity from your cameras CCD sensor you will record much more infrared light then daylight and nearly no ultraviolet light because of the short exposure time. But if the image is beautiful there is no need to do it the hard way, right?

The second way force us to use a sturdy tripod, and when I say sturdy I mean really bouncing. Because afterwards in photoshop we need to overlay many pictures and they must be exactly the same, not nearly. Now we have to shoot at least 3 perfect exposed pictures from the same theme. And because we dont know befor which exposure time will be the right one we will make maybe 10 or 20 shots in a row. The easyest part is the picture with the UV/IR Cut filter at Iso 100 and f/11.0. This one could be exposed with 1/125sec to 1/60sec if the sunlight is quite nice. The next picture made with the Infrared filter needs much longer exposure times already, and the one with the Hoya U-360 filter plus the Schott BG-40 demands exposure time not less then 15 sec at Iso 400! That means that between the daylight picture and the ultraviolet picture is a difference from 11 EV. Thats a lot of light.

So you see what it real necessary, one pic with an infrared filter, the second one with an UV/IR Cut Filter and for sure one with the Baader U-Filter (Hoya U-360 filter) plus the Schott BG-38 or even better the BG-40. Then we can mix those pictures afterwards at our computer up to our feeling to get the pleasing result.

You want to know where my home is.... okay I will show you where I live. Can you see the dark roof with the dormer at the lower left side from the picture. The one between the trees. Thats my one.

At the end I want to show you how a sunset looks like using this new technique.

And because my next assignment as a photographer will take me to south africa.... something dreamful at the end from this great autumn day.

I would love to read here in my blog what you guys think about my new "Infradaylight Photography technique".

Good night

Wolfgang