House at the end of the lane

House at the end of the lane, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

I hope to use this on my Christmas CArd this year, but am having some issues with the black and white printing. We love this woodsy, quiet place!

Oak

Oak, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

More from the roadside stop in the Feather River Canyon. When the leaves fall, the structure of the trees is revealed.

Safety fence at Theodore Roosevelt National Park

DSCF1103, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

By rendering some medium-value things as light values, infrared photographs often have the effect of making shadow patterns clearer.

Oak and shadows

DSCF1447xxx, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

It is not so much the white leaves in this one, but the pattern of shadows. I found this oak at a rest stop in the Feather River Canyon.

JIll

DSCF0833xxx, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

This is a portrait of my daughter-in-law using a converted Fujifilm camera. Try portraits; you'll like the resuts.

Reflections on the floor

Reflections on the floor, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Not only for trees, infrared makes people shots with a difference. Better floor reflections, a glow on hair and lessened skin imperfections. Try it!

Clouds and sun

Clouds and sun, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Highway rest stop in infrared. Don't go anywhere without your camera!

The Cloud

The Cloud, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

The real beauty of this tree and this cloud is revealed with infrared treatment. In color life, they were overlooked. . .people thought they were ordinary.

Curve of the road

DSCF0986deepshad, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Follow me along this road. . .

Meet you at the pump

Meet you at the pump, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Another shot from the San Jose History Park. I love what infrared shooting does for artifacts!

Reminders of a past time

Reminders of a past time, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

In Edwin Markham's house, in San Jose's History Parkthe docents have collected volumes of books he might have had and the types of chairs he might have sat in while his Mom served up Sunday dinner. It wasn't that long ago, and nearly forever.

A Frosty Morning

A Frosty Morning, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

This reminds me of a Japanese ink painting; I think it is because of the shape of the tree.

Garden Bounty

DSCF0904, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Vegetables and leaves RULE in infrared. This is your invitation to visit a farm market as soon as you can. It was very windy and I was with someone else, so I didn't get the pictures I wanted, but I did get this transcendent squash!

October Spirit of the Farm Market

October Spirit of the Farm Market, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Her arms whip in the strong wind. What is she thinking?

Tiny clouds over our tiny house; my husband in his tiny Bronco

Tiny clouds over our tiny house; my husband in his tiny Bronco, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

It's all in the title, but you have to look for it. I had him let me out to take pictures as I walked home down the two-track. I only caught this one of him driving away from me.

The Glittering Frost

The Glittering Frost, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Frost turns out to be a good subject for infrared. This morning was the first fairyland one. Of course, people get tired of it later.

Row of seedling trees

Row of seedling trees, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

At the eastern edge of our place, the fence line. I love the varying structures of leafless trees!

Leaves Falling Fast

Leaves Falling Fast, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

In just a few days the leaves will all be gone. Welcome to winter. Although the weather is still quite warm. Sometimes, you might bring a sweater. . . I love the lacy remnant leaves at the right of the photo, and wish I had captured more of them.

Flare

DSCF0949upunmod, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Cool, no? This delights me, although it is not what I was trying for.

Beach grasses: morning

Beach grasses: morning, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

A problem with this digital camera is that it has no viewfinder and the light often makes it difficult to keep the horizon even. I would have like this to have a little less foreground, a straight horizon and a little less plain sand in the foreground. That said, I like the infrared effect on the grasses. I will be looking for more clumps of grass to work on.

Calm under cloud

Calm under cloud, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

More from Sturgeon Bay. I've got to get back there!

The hidden dark of the forest

The hidden dark of the forest, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Just more of my lovely aspens. In the last week since I took this, many leaves have fallen, but the trees are not yet bare.

Trees

DSCF0844, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Another young maple in the woods behind the house. Early morning sun.

Slant Light of Morning

Slant Light of Morning, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

You can't see it at this size, but the overnight moisture has beaded up on the decking that we put Thompson's Waterseal on the day before. We felt very virtuous. Thompson's is one of the fine old products that I remember from my childhood. Unlike my favorite brand of shampoo (Silkience) you can still get it.
Infrared gives this domestic shot a little glamour, I think. It is more interesting to me than in straight black and white.

Where Edwin Markham wrote The Man with the Hoe

Where Edwin Markham wrote The Man with the Hoe, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

I took this with my first infrared camera; I broke the switch when I took it to Greece, I suppose I should try to get it repaired. I liked using it. And it had a viewfinder, which my current one does not. This house is what Edwin Markham's mother didn't have to have as an empty nest, since he lived with her. The foliage at the top is part of the huge oak tree that stands in front of the house at its current location in San Jose History Park.

In the Heritage Park

In the Heritage Park, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

I need to try for some more flowers, but flower season is about over, and I don't think plastic ones would give off the same infrared rays.

Where Tanner mowed the bracken

Where Tanner mowed the bracken, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

When we bought the land the bracken grew back by the wood. Each year it grows closer and threatens to engulf the house. I love the ferny greeness of it. But by autumn it grows tall enough to completely hide browsing whitetail deer. They leap when they run and show their white flags, and disappear again. It's tough to walk through, too. My grandson mowed this pretty curve at the edge of the meadow.

Heavenly light

DSCF0762luk x, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Clouds and trees can be pretty much inexhaustible! Here, a view of our east meadow.

Morning light

Morning light, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

White leaves worn like a frilly garment as autumn begins.

The heart-shaped leaf

The heart-shaped leaf, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

And yesterday, this sunflower fell over in the rain. No more portraits until the seed-children sprout next year.

Clouds at sunrise

Clouds at sunrise, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Autumn is the season of spectacular Michigan cloud. Be there with your infrared camera! Taken off my front porch this morning. Unmodified.

Tracery

Tracery, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

I am growing to love this blog, but want to get out quick and shoot some more, as I keep learning more secrets of the infrared trade.

A sprinkle of cloud over the bog

A sprinkle of cloud over the bog, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

I am sending you this peaceful image of the natural world during the vice presidential candidate debate. Palin is looking at the camera and Biden is looking at Gwen Ifill. Strike one for Joe. It really makes quite a difference. I wonder if I would remember to look at the camera instead of the moderator under that kind of pressure.

A country road in autumn

A country road in autumn, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Ordinarily, tilted photos like this one make me nervous. But this one so captures yesterday's rainy evening. And I quite like the effect of the triangle of asphalt. What do you think??

Autumn beginning: the cloud

Autumn beginning: the cloud, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

More through-the-windshield infrared. I wanted to scream: stop the car! It was raining and there was no roadside big enough to get off the road. This cloud could almost make me believe in heaven.

Corn is Beautiful

Corn is Beautiful, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Standing corn next to the Waldron Fen Nature Preserve. More infrared. All the time we were walking past, a flock of Yellow-rump warblers seasoned with a few palm warblers were flitting into the few rows nearest the edge. Of course, they might just have been avoiding the birders, but maybe they found insects in the corn, too. Someone said he thought there were bugs in the tassels, but the birds I saw were flying about a foot lower than that. Another mystery.

The Pond's Dark Waters

The Pond's Dark Waters, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

I am just learning how to do this, but I love the results. You can make any weedpatch or clump of trees look world-class, I think. I took these pictures with my infrared camera, a Fujifilm Finepix F30. I got it on eBay; there are quite a few companies that convert them to be able to see infrared light, which is outside the visible spectrum. With any converted camera that enables you to set a custom white balance, you can avoid most of the the color cast. Otherwise they are sort of pink, or blue if you choose a tungsten white balance. After conversion, the camera is only good for these pictures. They are still RGB files, but look monotone.
There are two problems with the unprocessed files besides the possible color cast. One is a slight softness of the image, which hasn't bothered me with landscapes (or you can sharpen); the other is that the range of values nearly ALWAYS needs to be increased. It is very easy to do in Picasa, if you feel lazy. That's the way I did this, which I took on this morning's birdwalk. There are probably better ways to do it in Photoshop. I will work on a few things later and more intensely--when I find which images I like best. I am so excited about these ghostly white trees. And the Lake Michigan pictures I took at Sturgeon Bay earlier this month.

Autumn Deepens: This morning's meadow in infrared

DSCF0452 tuned, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

The last of the leaves is almost here. Now is the time to be outdoors, for sure.

Curve of the sand

DSCF0383 luk, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

Wallace Stevens Talks to Clouds

"Addressing Clouds is an actual address to the clouds. The gloomy grammarians and funest philosophers are the clouds themselves. What could be simpler? Of course, it all depends on the point of view. People scent symbolism as if something of their own realism and reason must, like the blood of an Englishman, be somewhere concealed. You can imagine people accustomed to potatoes studying apples with the idea that unless the apples somehow contain potatoes they are unreasonable. Such people have poignant difficulties with zinnias and pies."

from a letter to Alice Corbin Henderson, March 27, 1922.
Wallace Stevens; Collected Poetry and Prose, p. 938.

I want to go back to Sturgeon Bay! And talk to clouds . . .

Sky Over Lake Michigan

Sky Over Lake Michigan, originally uploaded by jhhymas.

I wanted a blog for just black and white photos. (The colors of my main blog don't suit them.)This is it.