7 Days of IR: 720nm (3/7)

On Day 1 of this project, I dabbled in 850nm black and white infrared. Yesterday, I tried out 590nm super color. Today, I'll be working somewhere in the middle with 720nm. 720 is a "classic" style of infrared, allowing in only a bit of color but with extremely rich tones and depth.

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For this set of infrared photos, I went deep into the back sois in the Lat Phrao neighborhood in Bangkok to explore the villages surrounding Wat Lat Prao and a local Chinese-style pagoda.

Photos taken on Kolari Pocket with 720nm filter.

Images with high dynamic range featuring water looked great out of the camera without any sort of color channel swapping done in post-processing.

This picture of Wat Lat Prao was shot in 720nm infrared, and I think it looks awesome!

For the rest of the images in this post, I channel swapped the red and blue color channels to make it look a bit more natural. Not many colors are allowed to hit the sensor with 720, but the sky has a slight blue tinge and foliage turns a pale pink. The sky is given a dark dynamic range, and water is solid black. It's a cool look. 

a Chinese-style temple in the back alleys of Bangkok

a coffee shop and Chinese pagoda

statue of a Taoist sage

a Chinese warrior god poses with a sword in front a a large tree - the color of the leaves shifts to a pale pink in 720, and this image reminds me of sakura (cherry blossoms)

the leaves of the banana tree look interesting against the sharp contrast of the almost black sky

the glittering gold of Wat Lat Prao has turned shades of white and silver, except for the bright blue construction tarp which has shifted to a pale orange-pink

Wat Lat Prao against a dark infrared sky

a spirit house surrounded by nature

this large Buddha statue is under renovation at Wat Lat Prao

scenes from the temple

an empty lot and a small house outside of the temple

from the roof of the temple

the temple is surrounded by a small canal village

Infrared images look best in harsh, bright sunlight. On the brightest days, the sky will look completely dark, and the whole image will have intense dynamic range.

I'm discovering that 720 looks best with water and sky! I think that the pale plants look cool, but too many can overpower an image. On the other hand, manmade buildings and urban landscapes look really neat in 720. Sky, water, trees, and construction all together look fantastic.

the temple from across a canal

a busy street and construction

I'm not sure why, but street scenes in 720 remind me of the '70s. It's like how the 590 street scenes made me think of the '60s. Is it just me?

morning street scene with the new Yellow Line Monorail under construction

a local spirit house with an offering of fruit

7 Days of IR: 590nm (2/7)

Today, I'm shooting in 590nm, also called "Super Color". It's trickier than shooting in black and white like I did yesterday. I had to continually work at adjusting the white balance manually within the camera, but the results look pretty cool! These photos take longer to edit, since you have to use software like Photoshop to swap the red and blue color channels, but what you get is pretty awesome. While this may not be the most inspiring set of subjects, I decided to go to the park because there were lots of plants and greenery to play around with.

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For this set of infrared photos, I took an early morning walk at Chatuchak Park in Bangkok. 

Photos taken on Kolari Pocket with 590nm filter.

Photos taken in 590nm infrared don't always look good right out of the camera; the sky tends towards an ugly Venus-like yellow, and the rest of the image looks to be in various shades of dull grey. Still, sometimes these images can look interesting even without a channel swap.

This was the only image I was really happy with right out of the camera. When I tried to channel swap it to make the sky blue, the rest of the image looked far too dark with a blue tint.

Here's my canal shot in 590. The water is dark and reflective, and the trees have shifted to shades of orange and gold.

a motorbike waiting outside of 7-Eleven for its rider to take it on delivery runs to nearby neighborhoods

I really like this picture. It looks like it was shot on some old film. Maybe it's the new style of Bangkok taxi (lower left) that is designed to be a throwback to a classic London cab, or maybe it's just the color tones in general, but I get a '60s photographic film vibe from this image.

Parks in Bangkok have only just reopened, and I'm thrilled! I've missed being able to get some fresh air during the past few months. COVID has made it difficult to travel, and I have missed getting out of the city. Bangkok's beautiful city parks are my only escape from the city right now.

IR photos tend to be a bit grainy, but I like that. It only adds to the classic film look (even though the images themselves are digital).

a city truck waters the plants and flowers alongside the road in the park

a closeup of the water truck with more vibrant colors

This image was too dark. I tried to salvage as much of the color as I could, and I ended up in this blue/pink image. I almost didn't post this one, but there's something I like about it. I think it looks like an old colorized black and white picture rather than one that was shot in (infrared) color.

a park maintenance worker rides her bike in Chatuchak Park

Plaza America Latina, a monument to Latin American-Thai friendship in Chatuchak Park

Chatuchak Park office and headquarters. The Thai flag got channel swapped as well. Now it's the Costa Rica flag. Oh well.

spirit house in the park

a pond in the sprawling Chatuchak Park

I think that images that only show plant life are boring in infrared. I'm starting to realize that the most interesting ones are pictures with architecture alongside plants and greenery.

Chatuchak Park is surrounded by tall office and apartment towers.

tropical vibes

I was really excited about shooting in 590, and these pictures were exactly as weird as I hoped that they would be! Now, I'm getting even more excited about my 550nm day. These vibrant colored infrared images need to be shot somewhere with a lot of interesting plants for the IR light to reflect off of. The park was a good idea for today, but I'll have to think of somewhere else to go for my "ultra color" infrared day.

I am learning to develop my infrared style. I am definitely discovering some of the challenges and surprises that come along with this super fun and fairly unpredictable style of photography. IR is best shot in bright, harsh sunlight (when there are plenty of infrared rays). I started this photo walk a little too early in the morning (around 8:30 am), and there wasn't enough bright light yet. You can see that the colors and contrast improved as it got a bit later in the morning.

7 Days of IR: 850nm (1/7)

Now that all of my infrared filters for the Kolari Pocket camera have arrived, I'm starting a new project! Over the next few weeks, I'll be going out on photo walks on my day off with my little full-spectrum converted camera. Each time, I'll be bringing along one and only one infrared filter. This will give me the chance to not only explore Bangkok in a new way, but also to experiment with the different wavelenths of infrared light that my camera can capture.

Infrared photography is a super cool and sort of tricky medium. It can be hard to capture exactly the sort of scene that you're looking for, as it's much more about light than  it is about color.

In fact, the first filter that I'm testing out, the 850nm infrared filter, doesn't let in any light from the color wavelength spectrum at all. These pictures may look like I've desaturated them, but with this IR filter, the images are black and white directly out of the camera without any sort of post-processing. 850 creates a moody and somewhat classic atmosphere.

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For this photo walk, I explored the area around Central Plaza Lat Prao and the Centara Grand Hotel near Chatuchak Park in Bangkok.

Photos taken on Kolari Pocket with 850nm filter.

a typical street scene on a sunny afternoon - notice how the IR lens turns all the plants a dazzling white

a motorbike zooms past

a quiet side street near St. John's Church

the entrance to a local metro station

a spirit house

a castle at a nearby abandoned amusement park

A listener to my podcast recommended me to check out the photographs of Sir Simon Marsden who shot black and white infrared photographs of castles. This is my tribute to him, the only castle that I could find in Bangkok!

a hotel's spirit house surrounded by lush gardens

the plants contrast sharply with the glittering spirit house and dark sky

a man lights incense and prays at the spirit house

infrared photography turns the sky a moody dark grey; this type of photography looks best in harsh light

unlike other types of photography, you don't need to avoid the harsh midday sunlight with infrared

a typical Bangkok scene of parking garage, spirit house, and garden

walking along a leafy street

the towering Centara Grand Latprao Hotel (home to a very excellent afternoon tea)

a spiraled ramp to an overpass walkway

Bangkok is home to tons of interesting architectural features

Look at my sunglasses! You can see right through them. Isn't that weird? Sunglasses are designed to block UV light, and infrared light passes right through. These glasses are DARK, but they look like transparent glass when photographed at the infrared spectrum. You can also see through the opaque lens filter to the camera's sensor.

a Rolls Royce - not necessarily the best subject for infrared photography, but I can never pass up the chance to photograph a Rolls!

one of my favorite photos from my walk - a spirit house in a beautiful tropical garden

I have to be honest, I started this "7 Days of IR" project with my 850 filter because it was the one that I was the least excited about. I got into infrared photography because of the weird and otherworldly tone shifts that the color filters pick up, and didn't think that an 850 filter would do much other than shoot a basic black and white image. I was totally wrong! The way that this filter turns greens into bright white and shifts the sky to a dark black is fascinating, and it really makes things like the spirit house pop. I am actually really amazed by these photos, even if I'm not so good at IR yet, and now I totally get why IR photographers seem to favor black and white filters.

A listener to my podcast suggested that black and white IR photography looks best on ancient subjects like the ruins found in the old capitals of Ayutthaya or Sukhothai, and how a bit of graininess would help emphasize the vestiges of the past. I'd like to take him up on that recommendation and make a trip to Ayutthaya some time in the next few weeks if the COVID restrictions are lifted. Coincidentally, my buddy Greg (who hooked me up with my new bike), also sent me a route map of a great bike ride from Bangkok to Ayutthaya this week. I think a biking + IR photography adventure may be in the works in the not-too-distant future...