Actually, of course, this is a simulation (from an ordinary digital original raw file) of an infrared biased response curve, then turned into a negative. Only visible light was used for the original capture, so it doesn't qualify as an infrared photo. I did it all with Adobe Lightroom®. There was no need to even open Adobe Photoshop®.
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This is so totally cool! When I first read what you wrote about accidentally loading the wrong film, I then (after reading that you were joking) wondered if you had ever had much anxiety about mistakes. At any rate, fabulously cool photo!! Although, in a way, the girl looks a bit demonic (her eyes do because, I guess, they are seemingly possessed by light).
ReplyDeleteIn high pressure shooting situations, particularly something like a wedding, where you feel that you have only one chance to get a particular shot, and the shot may be considered "indispensable", there can be anxiety. Even there, though, I found that in almost all of the hundreds of weddings I covered I was relaxed through almost everything. I put most of my anxiety into the preparation phase, where I really couldn't afford to err. In the days of film, I brought three times as much as I could reasonably have needed. I carried multiple cameras, lenses, flash units, tons of battery power, backups of every cable and accessory, etc. I felt technically prepared, so I was able to tell myself that I would do a good job and my clients would be happy.
DeleteIt is always possible to mess up a camera setting, and I don't believe any photographer who claims to have never done it. However, anxiety never helps and in fact interferes with clarity, so it's a good thing to battle in every way you can. It can wreak havoc in musical performance, too, and in many other parts of life.
By the way, although I don't think I ever loaded the wrong type of film at a job, in one casual, non-professional setting I had improperly loaded the film, and while I was cocking the shutter and seemingly shooting a series of lovely sunset photos, the film was not advancing through the camera, so not a thing was being exposed (other than my red face when I realized what was not happening). There are many reasons to appreciate digital photography!
Was this photo a technical exercise only or is there consumer demand for such a technique as this one?
ReplyDeleteThere is some consumer interest in many types of "alternative" processing; I suspect much of that interest is generated by marketing, but certainly there are people who are looking for something new and fresh.
ReplyDeleteFor me, this was both a technical exercise and an artistic one, an attempt to reduce the image to broad strokes of gesture and movement, without color, with bold contrasts and unnatural tones so that the abstract qualities could come to the fore without much realism to get in the way of perception.
Interesting! I did notice the angles in the photo (e.g., her legs and arms form sharp angles).
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it's an interesting combination - one elbow sharply bent, the other less so; legs straight at the knees, but one foot extended at the ankle, the other sharply turned.
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