Hollywood Cemetery, VA - IR Photos

Scott_Quier

I've decided to be a little more social - no more hermit behavior for me - and joined a couple of local photography clubs. This last weekend, one of them took a trip to Richmond, VA to visit the Hollywood Cemetery (yup, that's it's name and it's not in California ). It's one of many tourist attractions in the Richmond area, being the final resting place of Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler. Many of the grave markers/monuments have dates going back to well before the Civil War.

Anyway, here's a selection of IR photos I took while there. C&C invited/welcome. Thanks for looking.

1. The mausoleum here isn't so spectacular. I was drawn to the texture of the leaves and limbs of the trees behind and, especially in contrast to the relative smoothness of the crypt.


2. The spade-shaped tree is a Bradford Pear - they have them all over the place down here. They bloom for about a week each year, fall apart during any storm, and otherwise are just green - unless you're shooting in IR, then they're WHITE!


3. Hollywood's ninety foot granite pyramid, completed in 1869, is a monument to the 18,000 Confederate enlisted men buried nearby. The stones of this are loose fitted - there's no mortar involved at all. In fact, there are a number of stones near the bottom that could easily be removed - should one be so low character as to consider it.


4. Don't remember about this one - it just seems to work for me.


5. The resting place of James Monroe, our fifth President.

Panther

Howdy Scott,

Wonderful series of images, very nicely presented, and great tones and textures.

I really like shooting in Cemeteries, there are so many interesting stories, and such neat History and even the Craftsmanship of the Monuments and Statues.

Very nicely done!!

Skippy

Scott_Quier wrote:

I've decided to be a little more social - no more hermit behavior for me - and joined a couple of local photography clubs. This last weekend, one of them took a trip to Richmond, VA to visit the Hollywood Cemetery (yup, that's it's name and it's not in California ). It's one of many tourist attractions in the Richmond area, being the final resting place of Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler. Many of the grave markers/monuments have dates going back to well before the Civil War.

Anyway, here's a selection of IR photos I took while there. C&C invited/welcome. Thanks for looking.

1. The mausoleum here isn't so spectacular. I was drawn to the texture of the leaves and limbs of the trees behind and, especially in contrast to the relative smoothness of the crypt.

2. The spade-shaped tree is a Bradford Pear - they have them all over the place down here. They bloom for about a week each year, fall apart during any storm, and otherwise are just green - unless you're shooting in IR, then they're WHITE!

3. Hollywood's ninety foot granite pyramid, completed in 1869, is a monument to the 18,000 Confederate enlisted men buried nearby. The stones of this are loose fitted - there's no mortar involved at all. In fact, there are a number of stones near the bottom that could easily be removed - should one be so low character as to consider it.

4. Don't remember about this one - it just seems to work for me.

5. The resting place of James Monroe, our fifth President.

Hey Scott how's the new IR Cam going?
Do you find you tend to stick to using the same lens when your out shooting, or do you change it ?

The third image (Pyramid) looks quite odd, wonder why they chose a Pyramid? is it symbolical of something?

Shooting in cemetries can be quite interesting,
in particular the much older grave sites.

Looking Good Scott thanks for sharing ...... Skippy
.

Mr. 2H2O

Hey Scott - nice photos. Its great that you're getting out there and firing away. I like to see the composition of natural elements because of the way the trees/bark/rock interact with infrared.

I've got such a busy shooting schedule I can't seem to get away to get more IR done. I guess I'll have to wait until summer to indulge myself. Most everything I'm shooting lately has lots of strobes attached to it.

- Mike

Scott_Quier

Skippy wrote:

Hey Scott how's the new IR Cam going?
Do you find you tend to stick to using the same lens when your out shooting, or do you change it ?

Shooting with the IR cam is fun. I change out the lens as needed to get the shot I want. Sunday (when these were taken), I shot a lot with my 24-105, but I did swap it out for the 17-55 a couple of times.

One thing I've noted - I have to be much more careful about the sun hitting the objective element of the lens as flare is very easy to get. I guess the coatings on the glass are intended for visible light (imagine that ) and not so much for IR.

I've also noted that bracketing is a good thing. Even when the histogram shows that you got a good exposure, there are times when about 1 stop less makes for a better image. Other times, it's just the opposite. Still trying to find a pattern to it - maybe some day I will.

Overall - I'm starting to get like April --> You can have this camera when you pry it from my hands when I'm dead and gone. It's just so much fun to discover what the camera sees and how it's different from what we see.

Skippy wrote:

The third image (Pyramid) looks quite odd, wonder why they chose a Pyramid? is it symbolical of something?

I have no idea why the pyramid was selected. I agree - it might have looked a little better if it had been a little more equilatteral rather than quite so pointy.

Skippy wrote:

Shooting in cemetries can be quite interesting,
in particular the much older grave sites.

Looking Good Scott thanks for sharing ...... Skippy
.

You're so welcome. Glad you stopped by and posted your thoughts.

Scott_Quier

Mr. 2H2O wrote:

Hey Scott - nice photos. Its great that you're getting out there and firing away. I like to see the composition of natural elements because of the way the trees/bark/rock interact with infrared.

I've got such a busy shooting schedule I can't seem to get away to get more IR done. I guess I'll have to wait until summer to indulge myself. Most everything I'm shooting lately has lots of strobes attached to it.

- Mike

What I'm finding I really like is the way the green leaves reflect the IR so brightly and the limbs of the trees almost not at all. The effect of seeing the limbs so contrasted against the leaves makes, in my mind, for an interesting image (see the last image above for an idea of what I mean).

aktse

It seems that you are making good use of your new IR 20D! Well done! #3 and #4 are the winners in my book. I find that a mixture of nature elements – trees, leaves, rocks, buildings, water and metal work the best in IR.

As for sunflares, I find that I have the same problem, but I’ve been getting better at recognizing them. In addition, I find that I shoot less with the IR body, but I find that I have more keepers (or a higher percentage of winners).

Did you try anything in false color? What is your post-process flow for these now?



Well done!

Scott_Quier

aktse wrote:

It seems that you are making good use of your new IR 20D! Well done! #3 and #4 are the winners in my book. I find that a mixture of nature elements – trees, leaves, rocks, buildings, water and metal work the best in IR.

As for sunflares, I find that I have the same problem, but I’ve been getting better at recognizing them. In addition, I find that I shoot less with the IR body, but I find that I have more keepers (or a higher percentage of winners).

Did you try anything in false color? What is your post-process flow for these now?



Well done!

I guess you haven't seen this thread (link) where I talk about the conversion and my thoughts. In the next couple of days (weeks?) I'll be turning this into a "Review You Can Use" and submitting it to Schmoo.

Anyway, in short, the process is to set the WB, the exposure, contrast, black and white points, etc. Move to PS and run the Greg Gorman B&W conversion action (see Action Central for that), adjust all to taste. Some are more contrasty than others.

False color - with the 830nm conversion filter, there is NO possibility of false color as there is no significant color information of any sort to be had. When I get rich again, I might get another 20D or XTi or something and have that converted with the 715nm conversion for the color. But, until then, I'm having a lot of fun with this. On Apr 19, Norfolk VA holds the Azalea Festival and I'll probably be going down there with my color and IR cameras - could be good time.

More later.

CavalierPhoto

Glad to see you enjoying your new toy!
Cemeteries can be kind of overwhelming given the amount of subject matter but you've got some very well composed shots that really work well for IR. I particularly like the Mausoleum. The ivy growing on it really pops.

Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk is a pretty cool one probably a lot closer to your latitude/longitude. I always try to find some time to swing by there whenever I'm in the area.

Keep up the good work. Lets see more!

pathfinder

Scott_Quier wrote:

Shooting with the IR cam is fun. I change out the lens as needed to get the shot I want. Sunday (when these were taken), I shot a lot with my 24-105, but I did swap it out for the 17-55 a couple of times.

One thing I've noted - I have to be much more careful about the sun hitting the objective element of the lens as flare is very easy to get. I guess the coatings on the glass are intended for visible light (imagine that ) and not so much for IR.

Scott, some lenses fare much better for IR than others. The mirror box tends to reflect more IR than visible light, so you get some reflections off the sensor to the back of the lens and back to the sensor.

Here is a link that discusses the suitability of various lenses for IR converted cameras. It is worth looking at, because some lenses that are held in high regard - say a 50mm f1.4 EOS, or the renowned 70-200 f2.8 IS L - have a high tendency to "hot" spotting in IR. I don't know if you have seen this link, but for those who have not and are considering IR conversions, there is some great background information here that is hard to find anywhere else. I was shooting with an 85mm f1.8 on my converted 300D and found a lot of hot spotting. Had I seen this link I would have figured it out sooner. On the other hand, the Canon 17-40f4 L is well regarded for IR use.

Nice series of images. I have a 20D I may get converted yet, but for now I will stick with my 300D IR body.

Scott_Quier

pathfinder wrote:

Scott, some lenses fare much better for IR than others. The mirror box tends to reflect more IR than visible light, so you get some reflections off the sensor to the back of the lens and back to the sensor.

Here is a link that discusses the suitability of various lenses for IR converted cameras. It is worth looking at, because some lenses that are held in high regard - say a 50mm f1.4 EOS, or the renowned 70-200 f2.8 IS L - have a high tendency to "hot" spotting in IR. I don't know if you have seen this link, but for those who have not and are considering IR conversions, there is some great background information here that is hard to find anywhere else. I was shooting with an 85mm f1.8 on my converted 300D and found a lot of hot spotting. Had I seen this link I would have figured it out sooner. On the other hand, the Canon 17-40f4 L is well regarded for IR use.

Nice series of images. I have a 20D I may get converted yet, but for now I will stick with my 300D IR body.

I knew some lenses were better than others, but had not yet found a source of information. Thanks. I'll give it a good read - it may lead me to have to buy another lens or two:D

As for converting a 20D and giving up the 300D - I don't think I would unless you are interested in a different IR filter - say one is the 715nm and the other is the 830nm just to get the different effects. Just my $.02 worth.

Scott_Quier

CavalierPhoto wrote:

Cemeteries can be kind of overwhelming given the amount of subject matter but you've got some very well composed shots that really work well for IR. I particularly like the Mausoleum. The ivy growing on it really pops.

Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk is a pretty cool one probably a lot closer to your latitude/longitude. I always try to find some time to swing by there whenever I'm in the area.

Keep up the good work. Lets see more!

Thanks for the kudos and the pointer to the Elmwood Cemetery. I'll have to give it a look on week-end soon.

And, since you are twisting my arm so hard, I guess I'll post a couple more as I have them.