Latest attempt at IR

gluwater

Well so far all my attempts at a decent IR shot have been pretty bad. I went to the Morton Arboretum today to try my luck. I think I did OK but really had to boost the exposure in post because I screwed it up royally in the field. Take a look and let me know what you think. Be harsh, I'm new to IR and can use all the help I can get.

I like this one the best, I just wish I had a more dramatic sky.


This is the kind of sky I wish I had in the first shot.


Here is a gallery with a couple others I took today, have a look.
http://gluwater.smugmug.com/gallery/1407729/1/66658446

Sushant

It looks like you did a good job taking the pictures and post processing them. Skies are dark, leaves are white, and no visible blowouts. Just some issues with composition but that's a battle in all photographs. BTW, did you do some sharpening? The second pic seems like it could use some more.

David_S85

I know both those spots well, and have shots almost identical (just not IR's :cry ). Some day. Some day.

Just got the property tax bill today. Way higher. Why does the universe not want me to spend money on (yet more) photo gear?

Nick, these are well done. No problemo on either. About 2 more weeks for prime IR season. You'll miss it of course because you'll be playing out west. The Arboretum and the Chicago Botanical Gardens are great places for this sort of thing. If you're going to get to either often enough, a yearly membership in the Morton Arboretum gets you into other places for free. C.B.G. and Garfield Park Conservatory are on the long list of included sites.

gluwater

Sushant wrote:

It looks like you did a good job taking the pictures and post processing them. Skies are dark, leaves are white, and no visible blowouts. Just some issues with composition but that's a battle in all photographs. BTW, did you do some sharpening? The second pic seems like it could use some more.

Thanks Sushant. I did sharpen, actually more than I normally would have. But I do see what you're saying in the second shot. I also suck at landscapes so that plus I'm new to IR and a disaster is waiting to happen. What would you change about the composition on these? Any tips are appreciated.

gluwater

Thanks David. I was only there for about an hour and hardly got past the entrance. I have never been through the whole thing yet. I was thinking of getting a membership but I didn't know it worked for other places. Thanks for the info. Did you know that they have Nature Photography classes there? I was thinking of taking one but they are all in the evening during the week and I am at work then :cry. The botanical garden is on my list of places to go to but I haven't yet. Let me know if you ever want to go shooting again. I'm always up for it.

Sushant

gluwater wrote:

Thanks Sushant. I did sharpen, actually more than I normally would have. But I do see what you're saying in the second shot. I also suck at landscapes so that plus I'm new to IR and a disaster is waiting to happen. What would you change about the composition on these? Any tips are appreciated.

In the first one, perhaps a little less of the foreground.
In the second one, the sky and clouds are great but that half bush to the rist is distracting. Perhaps an angle that showed it whole or none would have been better.
Note, a lot of this is just personal preference. Overall, I really like your shots.

Awais Yaqub

Very beautiful
weldone

Skippy

gluwater wrote:

Well so far all my attempts at a decent IR shot have been pretty bad. I went to the Morton Arboretum today to try my luck. I think I did OK but really had to boost the exposure in post because I screwed it up royally in the field. Take a look and let me know what you think. Be harsh, I'm new to IR and can use all the help I can get.

I like this one the best, I just wish I had a more dramatic sky.
This is the kind of sky I wish I had in the first shot.
Here is a gallery with a couple others I took today, have a look.
http://gluwater.smugmug.com/gallery/1407729/1/66658446

Very Nice........ Ohhhhhhhhh I'm a sucker for IR shots there is just something magical about IR, almost like a time warp sort of thing, hard to explain, but it's like time changes in IR .....Love those waved clouds.
Skippy (Australia)

kerry

very nice!
cool IR shots, glu!

gluwater

Thanks for the nice comments Awais, Skippy, and Kerry. Sushant, thanks for the input. I think I should have moved up a little bit on the first shot and maybe closer to the bridge, and on the second I really just liked the clouds, I couldn't find anything more interesting for the foreground so I used the bushes.