720nm IR E-P1 Camera System For Sale!

720nm IR E-P1 Camera For Sale!

720nm IR image from THIS camera!

This was the first KING of IR camera systems.  You can read about THIS camera and its capabilities on my Infrared Educational site at:  infraredatelier.wordpress.com  There will be many example images, tips and IR recipes specific to this camera system.  The conversion was done at Spencers Camera in Utah in 720nm called Standard IR.  It is a small, compact IR camera system that is easy to carry with you meaning that you will never have an excuse for not getting the shot!  

Visit this Auction HERE

Included with this auction:

• E-P1 Camera
• Olympus 14-42mm lens.
• Battery Charger
• 3 Batteries
• Shoulder Strap
• Box
• Lens Hood
• Instruction Manual
• Magic Lantern r E-P1 guide
• Access to educational IR site at infraredatelier.wordpress.com

This is a great IR system that will give you years of fun and artful creation.  Look at the 3 samples above that were taken with THIS camera and you will see what I mean.  You can change the flavor of this camera with the addition of external IR filters on the end of the lens as long as you go up in nm range  ie 800nm 850nm and so on.  You cannot go down since the internal filter will block it.

The camera is in great shape with very small minor scratches on the bottom where the tripod attaches!  The lens is clean and clear with no dust.  For IR work the 14-42mm lens is the best selection since we mainly shoot landscapes but this camera will work perfectly with ANY micro 4/3 lens that you desire!

System

The Hammond & Gilbert Mills In Rhode Island

The Gilbert Stuart Museum & Mills

In Color, Infrared and B&W

The Hammond & Gilbert Mills

The Hammond Mill, Selective Focus

I would like to draw your attention to a specific Grist Mill in Rhode Island!  This is the Hammond and Gilbert Mills at the Gilbert Stuart Museum.  What is so unusual about them is the fact that they are 50 feet apart on the same creek feed!  The Gilbert Mill was a Snuff Mill with living quarters for the family above the mill.  The Hammond Mill is and was a standard Grist Mill.  Both Mills are in AMAZING condition and the location just screams “Photograph Me“!    Location is a little in the back country but well worth the drive.  If you would like directions then download the Mills GPX file in the download window to the right!

The Gilbert Mill

The Mills are full of promise!  Look for detail shots as well as wide angle shots.  If you arrive mid day then you will likely be only able to shoot in Infrared (hey, not exactly a bad thing, you think?)  I think that early morning would be the best.  There is a nice standing pond behind the mills for reflection shots and the water path below the mills is actually a fish ladder to aid in migration! As I said, VERY PRETTY!

I shot these images using a Panasonic GH2 Micro 4/3 camera body (Color) and the Pansaonic 14-140mm lens.  For the Infrared shots I used my Olympus E-PL1 Full Spectrum Infrared camera body with the Olympus 14-150mm lens and an external (on the lens) B+W 091 630nm IR filter.  Since the previous post has a lengthy description and recipe for post processing these IR images I am going to leave the same out of this post!

Again, I am going to place all of the images of these amazing mills in a photo album below and all you have to do is to click on any image to bring up the slide show!

_____________________

The Hammond & Gilbert Mills

The Hammond Mill

The Gilbert Mill

The Hammond Mill

The Hammond Mill

The Gilbert Mill

The Gilbert Mill

The Gilbert & Hammond Mills

The Gilbert & Hammond Mills

The Hammond Mill, 630nm IR

The Hammond Mill, 630nm IR

The Gilbert Mill, 630nm IR

The Gilbert Mill, 630nm IR

The Gilbert Mill, 630nm IR

The Gilbert Mill, 630nm IR

_____________________

I hope that you enjoy this collection of a VERY unusual Mill!  

Please let me know what you think!

Grist Mills Of Rhode Island

Post Processing the Infrared Grist Mills of Rhode Island

Hammond Mill, Selective Focus

I have just now getting around to post processing the Rhode Island section of The Great 2 Week Grist Mill Trip!  I cannot believe that I am so behind… Oh well, better late than never!  Since completion of the trip I have had 2 other Grist Mill Trips with a ton of photos in the que! All of these images were taken on my Olympus E-PL1 Full Spectrum converted IR system using the Oly 14-150mm lens with a B+W 091 630nm filter.

As you can see I processed for both Faux Color and B&W IR images because you just never know how they will look unless you try!

Does everyone understand exactly what a Faux Color Infrared image is?  It is likened to the old Kodak HIE IR films of the 80’s (I actually designed the silver salt growing system for that film while I worked at Kodak!).  In modern converted IR digital camera systems the images are true IR images, but since the sensor is RGB we have a lot of color data there!  To get to what the film was capable of producing we simply swap the data on the Red and Blue channel of the image in Photoshop, fine tune the colors in NIK Viveza and work from there!  Just because it is described as a Faux or False Color IR image doesn’t mean that it is so!

The B+W 091 is a little more on the red  end of the spectrum so the images tend to (when Faux Color…) lean more towards the pinks and reds.

Basic Post processing is as follows:

1. After conversion of my RAW files in Capture One Pro v6 I then do my critical deletion edit using Bridge.  This is perhaps the most difficult step. You have to look beyond low contrast off color images and see what they can be. Look for coloration (this will get better with time), emotional impact (yes you CAN do this! I have several BLOG postings here that talk specifically about this one…) and sharpness and exposure.  Think about each and every image in terms of Faux Color and B&W! When finished, I then open the images one at a time in Adobe Photoshop CS5 with ALL of the NIK filters installed.
2. I did my normal cropping to my master storage size of 12.5×8.5 making sure that the image was at 300dpi and in the Adobe RGB 1998 color space
3. I ran NIK Software’s Define 2.0 for noise reduction. For this I simply accept the default settings!
4. I then ran NIK Viveza 2.0 and specifically added 20% structure and 10% extra contrast without any control points so that the changes affected the entire image!  This was to create a brighter deeper image before I ran the channel swap Photoshop Action!  WOW!  WHAT A DIFFERENCE THIS MADE!
5. I then ran the channel swap action and proceeded as normal with the rest of my Post Processing Recipe! This is the Khomography Photoshop Action that you can download here towards the bottom of the right hand menu! The action swaps data between the Red and Blue image channel and allows you to adjust the Hue/Saturation in the Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue & Magenta color channels separately!
6. In the action select the Red, Yellow, Cyan and Blue channels and adjust each of them using saturation and hue to get the image elements to start to fall into place. Pay careful attention to the Cyan channel adjustment as most of the time the sky takes on a green/aqua tint which looks terrible!  Simply adjust the Hue of the Cyan channel to fix this!
7. Now, Calling up Nik’s Viveza again I will select specific elements of the image with control points.  I will add contrast and structure then adjust the primary colors R,G and B to adjust the specific color of the compositional element to achieve the overall color I want for it.  You can also use the Warmth Slider to add or remove warmth.  This entire process takes only a few moments to do if you understand your basic color wheel and how to mix to change!  This process will give you your final ball park image!
8. THEN I called up another of NIK Software’s world class filters and ran the TONAL CONTRAST filter in the COLOR EFX PRO plugin.  The result was this incredible image full of contrasts tonalities as well as contrasting colors!

Rather than simply place the images here in the post separately I am going to try Word Press’s new Photo Gallery.  Simply click on any of the images that you see to bring up a nice slide show!

The Hammond Mill, Selective Focus

Hammond Mill, 630nm

Hammond Mill, 630nm

Gilbert Mill, 630nm

Gilbert Mill, 630nm

Gilbert Mill, 630nm

Gilbert Mill, 630nm

Exeter Mill, 630nm

Exeter Mill, 630nm

Gilbert & Hammond, RGB

Rock Run Mill, 630nm

Rock Run Mill, 630nm

Hammond Mill, Selective Focus

You Do NOT have to spend a fortune to do IR!

How To Do It On The Cheap!

 

I know, this was supposed to be a post on the GH2 tests but I have been getting a lot of email and comments about the assumed high cost of getting into Infrared Photography!  This insane notion needed to be stopped before it got any further!

If you have an extra camera system laying around you can reasonably expect to send it off for conversion for $200-$300.  Yes that is a lot of money but the expansion of your artistic mind set that Infrared will give you will be worth it.  But there is a cheaper way!

EBay is a great place to find used digital camera systems already converted to Infrared!  I have purchased several of these used IR camera systems in the past year for next to nothing and have NEVER had a problem with a single one that came from EBay!

So far I have purchased from Ebay:

• Canon G10 at 720nm for $350 (G10’s are in high demand)
• Canon G9 at 665nm for $300
• Canon 10D at 850nm for $250
• Olympus E-P1 at 720nm for $300
• Canon 20D at 590nm that I picked up for $300.00!

Why you ask did I purchase all of these system?  Well I TEACH Infrared Workshops and as part of that I have loaner cameras so that my students can try different camera systems before they decide on what type of camera and what conversion they like the best!  But the real point that I am trying to make here is that YOU DO NOT have to spend a lot of money and that EBay is your friend!

Point and Shoot cameras are very inexpensive and are light and easy to carry.  This means that you will always have a IR system on hand.  Mirror-less SLR IR systems like the GH2 and OLY Pen systems give your the advantage of interchangeable lenses and are small and light.  DSLR IR systems have the advantage of being able to share lenses and accessories!  If you shoot Nikon, do not be afraid to buy a used Canon camera and a cheap lens and vice-versa!

Go back through this blog and read the posts on the 14 IR camera systems that I have tested!  You will notice that I tend towards smaller lighter and cheaper cameras!  There is a whole world out there full of people with IR systems that are upgrading to something newer and cooler (in their eyes!) who would jump at the chance to sell the old ones for funds to add to their new ones.

Beware of buying from friends in camera clubs as they are looking to recover ALL of the money they spent both for the camera as well as the conversion!  As I said EBay is your friend!

 

Images from the Low Country Infrared Adventure!

Seven Gifted Attending Photographers Share Their Work!

WOW!  How else to describe the 3 day Low Country Infrared Adventure!  It was an amazing time both in the workshop and out in the field shooting. Both Jamie and I were very impressed with everyone there.  We had seven gifted photographers in attendance, 8 hours in the classroom split between 2 days and 17 hours out shooting in all of the BEST Infrared locations in the Low Country.  Talk about tired, I am still dragging around.

We had a total of 7 photographers in attendance.  There were several Nikon IR conversions, Canon, Panasonic and Olympus systems. Every spectrum was covered from UV to Deep IR.  I am going to show case images from each of the attendees here in the days to come as they send their images to me so stay tuned and re-visit to see the new additions!

______________________________________

Donald E Brown

Mark,
Been at it all morning processing images from this last weekend.  I am hungry and my eyes are hurting and it is all your fault!!!  I have tried many variations of this shot  from “Roadside View”  and it and some other variations are fast becoming my favorites. 

Anyway, enjoy the scenery from my roadtrip home.

Old Barn Version 1

Old Barn Version 2

Old Barn Version 3

Old Barn Version 4

Donald was shooting a 665nm converted Nikon DX2 and was an established Infrared photographer.  He added a lot to the workshop/excursion and was a lot of fun to shoot with!  Donald, these images are just breathtaking!

More please….

______________________________________

Vicki Wilson

Hi Mark and Jamie,

I had a great time in the workshop! Thanks for sharing the IR cameras and letting me try out different filter types.  This has opened up a whole new fun area of photography, I love it! Here are a couple of my photos from the workshop.  Thanks again!

The Path...

Of Boats Long Gone....

Capt Andrew

Vicki was shooting with a loaner IR camera!  My Olympus E-PL1 Full Spectrum mainly with the 630nm filter and the UG1 UV/IR filter!  Her excitement was infectious and she is going to convert a Nikon D90 to the same!  I expect to see a lot of fabulous IR work from her!

______________________________________

Dave Lindey

Jamie/Mark

I processed each in FAUX color and Monochrome. Couldn’t decide which to send. I processed a total of 120 images from the weekend. The attached represents a variety of what I shot over the weekend. I spent the past week experimenting with the post processing and will likely go bacl over a few because I learned a few things along the way. All images were shot with a Nikon D200 665nm conversion processed with Capture One, Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Nik Dfine 2.0, Viveza 2.0 and Silver Efex Pro 2. Select what you like to post. I did not sharpen the images at all.

It was a great weekend.

Walkway, Georgetown, SC

The Path Less Taken....

The Tug Susan RIchards

Brookgreen Gardens Pond

Dave, I am stunned by these images!  To say that they take my breath away is simply an understatement!  For you to be creating this caliber of ART after only shooting Infrared for a year is amazing. Please continue to share your work with us!  I can see now that I am going to have to create a guest gallery now……..

OK, as I said earlier, stay tuned for more images from the workshop!

The Grist Mill Trip – Day 2 Covered Bridges & Farms

Amish Country – Lancaster County, PA

630nm Covered Bridge, Lancaster, PA

 

Today we drove about 4 hours east to Lancaster, PA.  The point being to visit Covered Bridges, Farms and the Amish people who reside there.  I grew up in the Amish community of Lexington, Ohio and have a good knowledge of the people and their customs and was very excited to visit an area where they reside!

I didn’t expect to see any grist mills today and didn’t really look.  In truth, there are about 30 of them in Lancaster!  But, they are all ugly boxy white buildings with no external water wheel assembly.  They are common on the larger farms but not really worth seeking out.

Lancaster Covered Bridge

I have always enjoyed seeing covered bridges.  They like grist mills are a reminder of times past.  But I didn’t realize how fast I would grow bored with them!  That may sound terrible, but to me here in Lancaster, they just all look the same.  The only real differences were the surrounding trees, their length and the walls, fences or guard rail leading up the their entrances!  Plus we arrived mid afternoon with a BRIGHT white sky and color photography was very difficult.  I even had some issues with them in Infrared!  This is not to say that I didn’t walk away with some nice images, but I could have done much better in the early morning.

The other difficulty in photographing these bridges is that they are hard to find.  All of the web sites direct you to them via a convoluted series of turns and roads.  Not ONE gives an address OR a GPS Lat/Long string which would make it much easier to find them!

All told, we visited 7 bridges here.  They were interesting but most were impossible to get a side angle on for a good photograph.  I still think that they are a worthwhile subject, but one that will require much more research.  They also are a little more interesting when shot in COLOR. I am not going to talk about the Infrared Post Processing since these images are basically the same as the ones in Day 1!  But, the color images while simple really need a small discussion:

Basic Color PP Recipe

Photoshop CS5 with NIK Viveza and Color EFX Pro

1. Delete marginal, duplicates and bad images!
2. Convert from RAW to TIFF using Capture One V6
3. Open in CS5
4. Crop to standard storage size: 8.5 x 12.5 (the extra .5 is for underlay with the mat.
5. Run NIK Define 2.0 on images with skies.
6. Run NIK C0lor EFX Pro color contrast range preset and adjust as necessary.
7. Run NIK Viveza to adjust various image component brightness (tress and such).
8. Save as a PSD file.

Lancaster Covered Bridge, Side View

That is it.  Each image only takes about 1 min from start to finish.  You really will like the ease that the NIK plugins give you in processing.  Plus the NIK tools work equally as well in Photoshop Elements!  What more could you ask for?

Take a look at these images and try to decide if you like the Color or Infrared versions better.  For me I almost always will pick the IR version but in the case of the Covered Bridges I like the Color versions a little better!

Lancaster Covered Bridge, Entrance

Lancaster Covered Bridge, Inside Detail, Color

Lancaster Covered Bridge, 630nm B&W

Lancaster Covered Bridge, Color

Lancaster Covered Bridge, 630nm

Lancaster Covered Bridge, 630nm B&W

Have you noticed a pattern with my Infrared photography?  I seem to be spending much more time shooting with the 630nm (B+W 091) filter all of the time.  I do like the 590nm (B+W090) and a 665nm (more pinks and reds) as well as the R72 720nm Hoya filter.  But for most of my work I am getting stunning Faux and nice contrasty B&W from the 630nm.  I like the post processing from this filter as well because it gives me the ability to generate different hues in the tree leaves depending upon the type of tree!

Lancaster Covered Bridge, Long View

All of the bridges were within a 10 mile square and still difficult to locate.  I do feel them to be worth the effort and hope that if you get the chance to see them that you give them a chance!

OK, on to Amish Farm Country!

Working The Fields

They are a very interesting group of people and I admire their fortitude in sticking to their beliefs.  I saw hundreds of horse and carriages on the roads.  I saw small red wagons being drawn by a small pony.  Lots of field equipment behind teams of horses.

Typical Amish Farm

The farms were beautiful but small (as you would think being worked by horse power).  Kids were out playing and riding a bicycle like device with no seat and peddles.  It did have a front turn able wheel and handle bars with full size tires but they stood on it and pushed with their feet!

Cool Rest

We didn’t stay more than a few hours as I was very tired and wanted to get closer to my next main destination which meant another 4 hours of driving east thru Philly and then finding a hotel for the night so that I could be there early in the morning.  Yes, I actually did plan on this stop for early AM!

So the next post for Day 3 Is Cutalossa Farm East of Phili about 10 miles.  I can tell you that this stop will turn out to be the best stop of the entire trip!

Stay Tuned!

You are invited to the Low Country Infrared Adventure!

Jamie Konarski Davidson & Mark Hilliard
present an exciting, new Photographic Workshop &
Excursion Series on Fine Art Infrared Nature & Landscape Photography!

By Jamie Konarski Davidson

Come along with two of the most accomplished Infrared photographers on the Southeast coast for this energizing study of Fine Art Infrared (IR) photography! Learn about equipment needed for Infrared photography, what subjects  generate stunning IR images, and how to capture & process breathtaking IR images using this new digital technology.

By J.M. Hilliard

We will teach both Faux Color & traditional B&W post-processing techniques using Photoshop CS5, Elements 9 and Nik software. We will have several loaner IR camera systems for you to share if you do not yet own one!

Explore with us the rustic southern beauty of the Low Country. Along with two intense classroom sessions on Infrared Photography and post-processing, we will be shooting breathtaking land and seascapes in Pawleys Island and Brookgreen Gardens. In historic Georgtown we will capture local nautical themes, including the shrimp boat fleet and an ancient working boat yard where you will never know what you will find!

Infrared photography has become wildly popular in the past two years. It allows us to create new, different and emotionally intense images of things we see every day. Combine this capability with the stunning locations that we will be visiting, and you will understand why we are so excited to share this adventure with you.

Even if you do not currently have a Infrared camera  plan on attending! We will have loaner cameras for you to use as well as Infrared Filters to convert your current camera to Infrared!  This promises to be a great photographic experience for all!

By J.M. Hilliard

Infrared Workshops & Excursions!

Basic and Advanced Infrared Workshops and Excursions are coming!

Seacoast Artist Guild in Pawleys Island, SC is sponsoring a 1 day Infrared Introduction workshop at The Lens Work Gallery  at the end of April.  You must be a member to attend. Please click on their link above to get more information.

Jamie Davidson and I are putting on a 3 day Low Country Infrared Adventure &  Workshop on July 8-10.  This will be centered in Pawleys Island but will include GREAT OUTINGS in and around the Low Country of South Carolina. It also will include two 1/2 day Advanced workshops that cover everything from equipment to printing but REALLY hit Post Processing FAUX COLOR and B&W Infrared Images!  More Info will be coming soon on this workshop.

Jamie and I  are also planing another similar Infrared Adventure in from Oct 30 thru Nov 2nd called The Inner Banks Infrared Adventure & Workshops that will take us down the Sound from Grenville, NC to the Outer Banks shooting shrimp boats and other nautical scenes! It also will include two 1/2 day Advanced workshops that cover everything from equipment to printing but REALLY hit Post Processing FAUX COLOR and B&W Infrared Images!  More Info will be coming soon on this workshop.

Lastly Vic & Lori Grbich and I are  in the beginning stages of planning a weekend Great 2011 Grist Mill Excursion this Fall to Pitkins, SC!  If you have read any of my posts here about grist mills and Infrared then you KNOW how excited I am about this trip!

Stay tuned for Info!

Oh My GOD! What Have I Created?

And Now For Something Different….

Not your normal flower image! While this is a normal Faux Color Infrared image, there is nothing normal about  its outcome. I love the color ranges displayed here  in Infrared!  The different Hue’s of the flowers and leaves both real and reflected are caused by varying angles and intensity of the sun as well as how they react in the IR world.  You NEVER know what you are going to capture until you return home! To me the striking part of this image are how the colors assault your eyes and affect you on a much higher level than normal photography possibly can!

Faux Color Magnolia Gardens, Flowers and Leaves

What makes this image so special to me are the deep range of colors across the whole image. It seems like now matter where your eyes fall, they uncover something new and wonderful!  Even the water reflection has a major impact on the color contrast range that says OMG! The wide range of the colors are the result of using the B+W 091 630nm IR filter of course but it is the OUTCOME due to the Post Processing is the direct reason why the image grabs you by the throat and screams “LOOK AT ME!”.

Processing was slightly different with this image then with the previous post. Earlier I was setting up my image as a landscape.  This new image is simply a DETAIL of the same landscape but taken with an eye for the sun direction and color of the flowers and leaves. I was hoping for something spectacular and found it!  As with the previous post I followed the modified recipe for Post Processing a 630nm filter.

1. I did my normal cropping to my master storage size of 12.5×8.5 making sure that the image was at 300dpi and in the Adobe RGB 1998 color space
2. I ran NIK Software’s Define 2.0 for noise reduction.
3. I then ran NIK Viveza 2.0 and specifically added 20% structure and 10% extra contrastwithout any control points so that the changes affected the entire image!  This was to create a brighter deeper image before I ran the channel swap Photoshop Action!  WOW!  WHAT A DIFFERENCE THIS MADE!
4. I then ran the channel swap action and proceeded as normal with the rest of my Post Processing Recipe!
5. BUT THEN I called up another of NIK Software’s world class filters and ran the TONAL CONTRAST filter in the COLOR EFX PRO plugin.  The result was this incredible image full of contrasts tonalities as well as contrasting colors!

Take a look at the original RAW converted image.  Do you notice the subtle coloration changes across the flowers and leaves?  Each change in shading in the blues and reds will create a totally different color when Faux processed! This is what I was looking for when taking the picture.  I knew that Post Processing would produce something great!

I am VERY interested in your thoughts in this process.  Like I said, I NEVER take Infrared flower shots.  Nothing ever turned out pleasing with the effort. I can see now that I was wrong….. Heck, dont you just hate it when that happens?

Let me know what YOU think…

 

Spencers Camera IR Conversion Discounts

Coupon Code For $25.00 Off Your Future Orders!

Spencers Camera is giving any of my customers/readers a $25.00 discount on any Infrared Conversion if you order on their WEB page and enter the following coupon code:  hilliard25

Their WEB address is:
http://www.spencerscamera.com

I have had VERY GOOD service from these folks on the conversions on my Olympus PEN camera systems and have had 4 done so far with a 5th in process now!  They offer 830nm, 720nm, 665nm, 590nm and Full Spectrum Infrared conversions.  They offer conversions on so many different camera systems that it is impossible to list them here in a short post.