Monday 18 June 2007

Don't have a tripod? Have a bottle instead


No. It's not April, but what deranged (or probably inebriated) mind came up with this. A tripod head that screws to a bottle - instead of the more obvious tripod. If you can't wait to get your hands on this invaluable addition to your photographic tool kit you can buy one here for a mere £2. Just don't try mounting your SLR with 1200mm lens to it.

Image: Lulworth Cove, April 2007

Sunday 17 June 2007

Infrared false colour conversion


Some time ago I saw an interesting technique for getting enhanced colour into infrared images, detailed on the Khromagery web site. I had used other methods that I had just stumbled on by myself, but I liked the results shown on the site. I intended to try it out, but somehow didn't get round to it. Well, today I did. Here is a first test on an image that I shot yesterday while taking a class. The image was shot on a modified Canon EOS Rebel XT (350D in the UK market) that I wrote about some time ago. The filter used was a Lee 87. Now according to the instructions on the site this technique is only suitable for images shot with a R72 type filter and I was using the more restrictive 87 type, but I had a go anyway and the result is what you see here. The RAW image was first processed in DXO Optics Pro, which is better than many converters at neutralising the very red cast of the original image. Saturation was increased to make the most of the very limited range of wavelengths recorded through the 87 filter. The image was converted as a 16bit TIFF, and the rest or the colour conversion done in Photoshop. The method is detailed here.

Image: Buckinghamshire Golf Club, June 2007