We arrived back in the US, landing in Tampa, after our second Cuba tour. I’ll have a lot more on that in the next blog post.
Several months ago, I set up a post-Cuba meeting with my good friend of 20 years, Bob Singh, who makes the best filters in the world: Singh Ray Filters. We stopped at his facility in Arcadia, FL on the way to drop John off in St. Pete for his flight home. My friend and co-instructor, John Barclay, and I had a most enjoyable time with Bob and the entire staff, including a tour of the Singh Ray facility. For those who have had the privilege of visiting there, you know that the facility is small, but set up quite brilliantly. During our meeting and conversation on Bob’s favorite subject: FILTERS!, I left with an iRay infrared filter.
I learned that all cameras, even with the hot mirror that is meant to block infrared (which can adversely affect the image), have various amounts of leakage in the IR spectrum. When using the iRay filter, that IR leakage can be picked up by the filter to create an infrared image. Pretty far out, I thought! So, after leaving Bob, we were looking for a subject to try this new filter. The great thing about it, is that even though I own a converted IR camera, this image was made using my unconverted D3X. This is pretty cool, because I can now travel with one less camera!
The exposure needed to be quite long. At ISO640 and @ f/11, the 30 second exposure was black. The 2 minute exposure was dark, but the 4 minute exposure brought up an image! There were white puffy clouds moving through the frame during the exposure, which was a great bonus. The image came up pink, which is not unusual.
This image was taken directly into Silver Efex Pro, converting the image to the final infrared.
The final image was cropped to a slight pan format. I still have a bit to learn about using this filter in terms of exposure and aperture, but I’m pretty stoked about the result, which has much more of a gritty film look!
Thanks for visiting and feel free to drop in a comment!
See ya online!!
Tony
Hey Tony,
I took a couple of shots today at ISO640 and 800 for around 4 minutes. When I brought them into photoshop and zoomed in a little I noticed a ton of what looks like white specks throughout the photo. I don’t see any dust on the lens or filter and was wondering if you have seen anything like that or had any ideas..
Thanks,
Don
Hi Margaret:
Nice to hear from you.
In response to you inquiry about Singh ray filters, it depends on what you want to do.
Here’s what I use, and why:
VariND, thin mount, to gain a longer exposure in bright light. This can hold back a number of stop to give you a longer exposure for water movement or moving clouds, or to get a longer exposure for traffic trails, or to give you enough time in bright conditions to be able to perform a “swipe.”
If you are serious about very long exposures, the VariND is not enough. I use the 5 and 10 stop ND filters. This enables me to record a multi-minute exposure in late morning or in very bright light.
I use split graduated NDs (2 and 3 stop soft edge is a good jumping off point). This will create a more natural look than HDR.
Hi Tony,
I was recently with you and Susan in Acadia. I want to purchase some Singh Ray filters, but don’t know which ones to start with. Right now, I just have polarizers. Can you please help me with a priority start (wish) list. I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Margaret Page
Thx, Don. Just make sure that you understand that the exposures are long, which I like because it records cloud movement, if you have clouds. There’s a little trial and error, but try the settings listed on the blog on a bright sunny day, and go from there. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hey Tony,
Very excited about this filter. I just received mine yesterday and I’m eager to try it out. Thanks for the tips on exposure – love the shot you got….
Don
Yes, get the shot the way you want it, then put the camera back in manual focus, and press the shutter. On bright sunny days, I find, so far, that 4-5 minutes @f11, ISO640 works. but, you’ll definitely have to experiment. Thx, Ken!
Hey Tony,
I love this image! Do you need to use a tripod and AF-ON only to first focus the image without the filter on, and then put the filter on to get the IR image? I shoot the D800E. Would it work with this filter?
By the way, I love your photo tip of the month that you send me. Please keep sending these valuable tips.
Ken