Argentina Infrared Iguacu
Iguacu Falls in Argentina. I thought it could do with a fresh infrared perspective, and I was extremely happy with the results. ...
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Iguacu Falls in Argentina. I thought it could do with a fresh infrared perspective, and I was extremely happy with the results.
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Jul, 2015Views
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Awards
Action Award
Top Shot Award 22
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Contest Finalist in Covers Photo Contest Vol 31
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
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Outstanding Creativity
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at the Iguazu Falls National Park on the Argentinian side. This national park borders Brazil and Paraguay which give astonishing contrasting views.In the distant left you see Brazil, in the foreground on the right is Argentina. This national park has over 200 waterfalls all together, not technically hosting the largest waterfall, but the combined waterfalls truly makes this location awe-inspiring.Time
Photo taken: 28/06/15 - 13:30 - 14:10 This image comprises of 16 images, all taken between 13:30 and 14:10. I needed optimum light for this image, but the time was dictated by our exploration of the park, thankfully it worked out well. This image took the best part of 30 minutes to capture, due to the amount of shots taken and light conditions as I used an infrared filter.Lighting
The lighting was the most difficult part to this image as I used infrared. With an infrared filter and an aperture of f/4, the shutter speed had to be 60seconds. This took up so much time as a further noise reduction function added a further 60 seconds to develop the photo. Over 60 seconds also the exposure changes naturally, but in keeping the settings constant the image came out alright.Equipment
I used a panasonic G6 for this image - a micro four thirds system, which probably made it the hardest challenge. I obviously had to use a tripod for this, but a remote shutter was not required. Due to the small sensor size of this camera, it is already poor in low light. Add this with the infrared filter and partly cloudy conditions, this added up to an immense challenge. I used a 14-45mm lens to gain the widest angle I could, and with the small sensor, I had to take more images to capture this panoramic.Inspiration
I knew I was travelling to a well documented national park, so I had to have a very unique method to capture its beauty. At my local photographer club in Scotland a guest speaker came and opened my eyes to buying an infrared filter for my camera. I had an ambitious vision to create an inspiring infrared image of these waterfalls. As infrared is long exposure naturally, I wanted to make the most of it and have waterfall as the main subject. I succeeded in gaining the infrared vision, but would go back in a heartbeat!!Editing
With this image half of the effort went into post processing. With infrared it is advised to switch the colour channels of the red and blue, which I did to every single image first (16 in total). Once these channels were switched, I enhanced the exposure/contrast and such to one image in Lightroom and copied the settings to the remaining images. I then had to merge all the photos together in Photoshop to create the final panoramic. Once the panoramic was created I then did a final crop in Lightroom and added one or two filters to keep the sky colour constant.In my camera bag
On this occasion I had my Panasonic G6, 14-45mm (panasonic) lens, 45-200mm (panasonic) lens, 70-300mm (sigma) lens. I also had my travel tripod (one that can fold up), a remote shutter and filters. The filters included an Infrared filter, Neutral density filters 10 stop, 8 stop, 4 stop ad 2 stop. And as always I had extra batteries, SD cards and cleaning kit with this equipment.Feedback
The first thing to do is to check to see if your camera can detect infrared, by taking a picture of a tv remote as it is being pressed. If red is detected then it can pick up infrared - most digital cameras can though. In capturing infrared ideally you need a large sensor - something that is good in low light as a lot of noise can be picked up. Another ideal set up is to convert your camera to infrared, but this costs and the camera is permanently infrared. If you cannot afford such good equipment though, go out and try it, you just need to buy an infrared filter. Thats what I did and it is a lot of fun. I do not recommend trying panoramics if your just starting out, you need to practise infrared first through with simple subjects (landscapes I recommend). If your doing infrared you need to know how to post process. I recommend using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, but all you need to do is switch the colour channels (red to blue and blue to red). If you know of software that can, then go for it. Infrared is very challenging but I find it so rewarding. A simple landscape can be changed into something very unique and you have great creative control in colour as naturally infrared is a very unnatural shot. This photography will develop your skills in good ways and makes you appreciate the light evermore.
