Wicked Cool Infrared

 When foggy mornings arrive, I run out with my Infrared camera and a couple of different lens filters to capture some fun colors.

Morning fog can be dreary, but Infrared Chrome adds a new dimension to the scene. It picks up anything with chlorophyll and makes it a gorgeous hue of reds. Dead trees and bark show up as black and anything to do with sky-water, shows up in a blue hue.

I was in the valley fog of the Kickapoo River. Fog is more common here along the river most mornings.

The sun was just beginning to break through the fog in this shot of a pine stand.

I like to use Infrared in challenging situations. The 665nm filter is a light spectrum that we cannot see either. It is really best used in full blazing sunlight. But I enjoy trying to push the limits with seeing what light does to it during a sunrise. The same principle works here. Foliage is highlighted.

The photo below was taken at sunrise when the sun first touched this bush

Below is another shot with the 665nm on a foggy morning. The filter sees through the haze a bit better than a regular camera. I was intrigued by the spider web on the neighbor's rye grass. [This went along with my study of grasses!]

In bright sunlight, the 665nm really performs!

This is a tree in my 'back' yard in full sunlight on a very hot and humid day.
Technically I should have edited the clouds into a white color, however the humidity picked up the blue hue.

With the spectrum filters, one has to edit the photos to get this effect. The IRChrome and the pure 850nm black and white filter barely need any touching up. 

This is how that same tree looked 'in camera'.

To get wild colors with other hues, one has to do a Channel Swap of colors. Depending on the programs used that can vary the results.

This next simple swap was done with a different editing program that obviously reads the camera colors differently. 

This program picked up the clouds with a slightly less blue hue. I could easily turn the leaves into a cotton candy pink. But I was also pleased with this.

It just depends on which one pleases your inner artist more as to which one you keep and which one you toss out.

Last? Two sunrises in different light spectrums.

Normal....

IR Chrome:

The History of IR Chrome and the use of IR Photography in WWII~~~~~~

Excerpt from Kolari Vision:

When WWII began, militaries deployed the use of infrared aerial photography as they did in WWI. The unique ability of IR to differentiate false greenery used for camouflage from real, live foliage (known as the “Wood Effect”) was a powerful asset, and many used it in hopes of gaining every advantage possible on the battlefield. However, a new paint that could mimic the Wood Effect was developed to render this photographic method useless.

A new tactic needed to be born to get back the upper hand. Kodak and the US Military worked together to create a false color infrared film — Aerochrome III Infrared 1443. With this new color IR film, the chlorophyll in plants would photograph as hot pink instead of a snowy white, making camouflage detection possible again without the Wood Effect paint getting in the way.

Ice hunting part II

The wind chills were pretty darned cool. I think it may have gotten up to about 10F.

Hubby said 'Geeze, isn't it cold?'

I replied with my catch phrase. 

"Det finnes ikke darlig vaer darlig klaer!" 

Actually I don't speak Norwegian but said it in English.
There's no bad weather, only bad clothes.

Maybe I love the cold weather so much because I can wear all my funky crazy hats that are warm and odd.  More on my hats some other time.

Snowshoes were my choice this time. They have long teeth for climbing slippery ice packed slopes and can keep a person from wading through deep snow while brush busting. [Read that as going off trail.]

I wear snowshoes with crampons. My old ones have never failed me yet. 

The picture above is taken where I was standing on a steep slope. Below me is a stream. Last time I was through here, the traction was terrible. This is not a path I would suggest to those with poor balance skills. 

I stopped and looked at the first set of ice formations. After the next snow it will look like there are floating islands of waterfalls. This is always impressive to see.

I even tried it with my little Canon ELPH infared camera. The unedited shot right out of the camera looks horrid.

Without direct sun and 'into' shade, this little camera has a terrible time. I mean this photo looks like mud.

Even with some edits, it didn't turn out much better. 

The pocket camera is very limited and IR can be very tricky. This shot turned out noisy and honestly, pretty crappy. But I tried!

I climbed over the ridge and found the equine trail we used to ride from Ma and Pa's Camp. I followed that over the next set of ice formations and trekked through Prickly Ash and low branches to drop into the next valley. 

A nice little hiking 

challenge

Yes, those snowshoes were a huge help! 

I ended up where I'd taken Bill and the kids two weeks ago.
This is the Infrared Version of it.

I was more interested in experimenting with the tiny pocket camera than I was in using the regular one.

I wanted to go wild with Infrared and see what winter would do to it.

The Beaver Dam

Cool Tree

What if we did see in a different 

spectrum of light?

Wiester Creek Ice

My favorite one of

the day.

And then...

Wiester Creek in regular color...

I just sent in my older Olympus to be converted to full spectrum so I can enjoy the alternate colors of the light spectrum. 
I admit, it is not for a lot of people. But for me it is another way of exploring how we see things.

My little Canon really stinks in low light, and it rarely focuses properly if you try to zoom in on a scene. But I've figured out how to work with it and have fun.

That is my point. Explore and have fun. 

Oh and

"Det finnes ikke darlig vaer darlig klaer!"