My Mom and John got me a Hoya R72 infrared filter for my birthday (exactly what I wanted… how did they know?). Here are some of my first efforts.
The R72 blocks most of the visible light, only letting the near infrared light into the camera. The filter looks almost black to they eye… Because the light is mostly blocked, the camera must be set to a long exposure and a wide aperture for the pictures to come out (these are with a 4 second exposure at f4.0). Because of the long exposure, a tripod is needed.
The most obvious effect is that foliage comes out looking white, as it reflects the most infrared light. Other things come out looking ethereal, too!
The island is in Fairmont Park, and the photo was manipulated in PhotoShop to switch the red and blue channels. The Second photo is the Riverside courthouse… this one is pretty much how it comes out of the camera. The last is the Riverside theater… I played a little in PS to get this look.
One thing you may notice is that the photos show a pretty distinct flare in the center of each picture. This is due to the cheap lens that came with the camera and its crappy coatings. I have identified an inexpensive lens that does not have this problem; I plan on buying it so I can keep playing.
Pretty neat stuff…
Ok, so the strangest thing happened today… I was depositing my paycheck at the bank, and as I was leaving I noticed something in the planter. I looked closely, and it was a couple of Morel mushrooms! I was totally shocked; this is the middle of suburban Riverside after all. I looked around more carefully, and there were a ton of them growing in the planter! I got my bag out and started collecting, and ended up with about 1 pound of decent sized mushrooms. I’ll be going back over the next week and seeing if more sprout up. I am surprised that no one noticed them before me… this place gets a lot of traffic.
I imported this tracklog file into Google Earth. You can see March Air Force Base in the lower right, and Lake Matthews on the left center.
Greenpeace is having a competition to name a whale (don’t ask, I don’t understand either!). The best part? Look which name is in the lead! Chick through and vote for your favorite name…
The Seven deadly Sins matrix…
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Mark, Rob, Pete, Jim, and I went camping out in the Red Canyon area again this weekend. Lots of off-roading, guns, drinking and fireworks (as usual!). The only excitement was when the bolts that hold the Jeep’s power-steering gearbox broke, leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere without any steering. Luckily, Pete and I used our McGuyver powers to jury-rig a solution using bolts from Mark’s truck. Good Times!
