Mirror Project Continued....

More Mirror Shots

Okay I lied...

I was not done shooting faces. I had a ton of concepts I wanted to explore and more scientific-esque studies I still wanted to do with infrared, but I have been advised by multiple people (who's opinions I respect) to choose a project/direction and make a work or series.

I have decided on capturing how people view themselves. Setting up a highly reflective piece of glass or plastic (which is invisible under infrared light) and setting up my camera on the opposite side of it from the subject, I have captured (with direct eye contact) people looking into the eyes of their reflections.

You, the viewer get's to get a sense of what it it like to be this person looking at themselves, as they appear to be looking at you in the exact same way.

A number of very cool things happened, but I will elaborate on the process and additional findings on my next post which will contain a lot of the in-between and side-concept shots from each of these subjects' shoots.

For now, enjoy the start of the official start of my semester-long project:

Love,

Clifton

p.s. - sorry about recycling some of the previous subjects. expect new faces soon!

More Faces!

Thus concludes my introductory study on faces. I'll still shoot them from time to time, but my primary focus is shifting now to figuring out how to do some infrared still lives. Though I'm fascinated by the concept of being able to shoot through things that would otherwise block visible light.

lets hope I don't accidentally end up creating photographic evidence of a crime of some sort in the midst of my exploration with this concept =/

Enjoy:

More Polarized Sunglasses
(these ones darker than the ones on ghost girl)

Non-Polarized Sunglasses
(apparently they all pretty much look like empty frames under infrared)

This one's my favorite!

I find it fascinating that the difference between skin tones (from super pasty Caucasian to very dark African American) is subtle in infrared.

Shootin a Face! (for real this time)

After experimenting in the studio with 1000w hot lights, I have found that super-bright tungsten bulbs give off lots of infrared light! This not only opens up the possibility of shooting infrared studio portraiture, but also this means that I can use the crazy light as another tool for table-top photography.

Expect some infra-red still lives soon!

For now I present Ghost Girl:

Shot with the overhead lights in the studio
(non-tongsten, long exposure time - not much infrared light)

Tungsten Hot Light
Shades are Amber Polarized Glass under visible light

Close-Up of Eye in Infrared

Similar to First Shot, Tungsten Hot Light here

No Filter Whatsoever, a "full spectrum" photo using Tungsten Hot Lights

An interesting thing to note is that her "teal" frilly shirt is actually a vibrant green within the visual spectrum, and her periwinkle scarf is "actually" (funny I use that word) black when viewed within our visual spectrum.

Playing with Photoshopping

I am beginning dislike the look that I originally loved about those artists' works. The blue sky is photoshopped into place. When shooting infrared, even when one manages to "properly" white balance the foliage to turn white, the sky remains amber. It is by switching the red and blue channels in photoshop that the photographer achieves the blue sky. Examples below (of images I've shot):

original (white balanced)

red and blue channels swapped

original (white balanced)

red and blue channels swapped

Photographing infrared light already embraces the notion of other-worldly photography, what is the point of making the images "more realistic"? I do understand that maybe it is to put it into terms that the "common people" can understand, but when you go through the effort of setting up your equipment to capture this non-realistic looking imagery, going back and trying to "fix" it by making it look closer to what we're all used to seeing is really just clinging to what is familiar instead of going out on a limb and really exploring the depths of something completely foreign. Hurray for run-on sentences, I know.

This having been said, I do enjoy the visual dialog between the two color aesthetics of the same image when placed side by side. I am currently playing with the notion of a "mirror world" sort of visual.

obvious mirror reference

could make an interesting poster
(can flip either way)

I rather like the vertical diptych, and will print one off 18x24 to bring in for critique. I feel this may be the direction I will end up taking this project.

Bonus Midnight Blog!

I borrowed a friend's batteries + infrared filter (the peripherals I'm waiting on) to do a few quick test shots. I think I'm going to fall in love with this digital infrared look/feel.

Elina: shot w/ sunlight coming through window
(not retouched - believe it or not)

On a side note: apparently to get the rich blue sky and water, infrared digital photographers will screw with channel mixing and hue/saturation adjustments. Seeing as how I'm still new to this (and am still of the purist mindset) I will be pushing the images as far as I can with just custom white balance, basic-tab raw editing, and as little photoshop as possible.