Hi Everyone 

As I update my infrared photography collection from various locations around Scotland, it is interesting to re-visit certain places that I have never photographed in infrared but which I have photographed using conventional photographic equipment.  It’s a bit like the switch from analogue to digital, it was like entering a whole new world for the first time.  Recently, I visited the Falkirk Wheel for the first time in years.  Now this is a location that I had visited before but not with my infrared camera.  So what made the visit different.  For a start it was raining most of the time and while this is not the end of the world for landscape photographers, it can be for the infrared photographer.  However my infrared camera can still take creative images, as long as it is not too dark.  So what other considerations are there.  Well you are looking for trees and grass where possible.  You are looking for some sun rays even if it is cloudy and you hope for some blue skies, however, a stormy cloudy day can also produce some good results in infrared as you are still getting improved dynamic range with the final result. You also have do do more pre-visualisation with infrared and the result displaying on your camera screen still requires a lot of work using editing software afterwards and you have to be able to visualise which photos can be brought to life, so you are looking for contrast, dynamic range and perfect exposure.  Focusing is also different for infrared than it is with a conventional event photography photoshoot in Edinburgh or around Scotland and some lenses focus better than others in infrared and it’s not all to do with their cost for some strange reason.  I also look for water and metallic subjects in infrared as they look different in infrared, water tends to be darker and metallic objects reflect infrared light in a different way to create an interesting fine art photography image. The other thing worth considering is whether the photo will be suitable for colour infrared or black and white.  Colour usually works better in the bright sunny days.  So there you have it, a lot more to consider when you visit the location in infrared.

Hope this helps.

Until next time.

www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk

www.edinburghphotographer.com