Photographers are always looking for something, be it compositions or new artistic pathways we all need a new challenge from time to time and I am no different. I have been looking for a new challenge to keep the old grey matter ticking along on the long road to recovery and I found it on a video on you tube from one of my favourite landscape photographers, Thomas Heaton.
Thomas published a video where he spoke about having one of his digital cameras converted to capture Infrared photos, there's a link to Thomas' video below. This intrigued me enough to think about having a go at Infrared myself, but I don't have the cash to have my DSLR's converted and to be honest I quite like them the way they are. However, I can certainly afford to try it with film.
I posted a question to the #believeinfilm community on Twitter asking for advice about infrared film photography. It wasn't long before the good folks there gave me a ton of very helpful advice on which films to try and what filter to use along with examples of their work, which is stunning! There are some very talented photographers in the #believeinfilm community willing to share knowledge and encourage folks like myself who want to try something new. You set me on the right path and have my eternal gratitude.
I took a little time to sift through the advice to see what my options were. I was advised to use a good quality IR720nm filter. Light is composed of various wavelengths from ultra violet at short wave lengths, through visible light and onwards to infrared which is 700 nano meters and longer wavelengths. The IR720 filter would block all visible light below this wavelength whilst allowing light above it to pass through and get captured on my film.
My choice of film was dictated by its sensitivity to infrared and, after a lot of reading on the films that were suggested to me, I chose Adox HR-50 35mm B&W film. The data sheet supplied by Adox gave a spectral sensitivity number of 780nm in the infrared range which allowed a fair bit of infrared light to make its way to the film once my IR720nm filter completed it's "Doorman" duties. (I now have an image of my IR filter dressed as a doorman saying to UV light; "not today, you're not on the list!") I ordered a filter from the bay of evil and four rolls of Adox HR-50 from Analogue Wonderland and waited for the day I could give it a try.
This gave me a little time to choose a camera to use for the initial attempt. I decided I wanted to go full auto to remove my ham fistedness from the equation and chose my Minolta X-700 with MD 50mm f/1.7. I set it to P (program) mode and locked the lens aperture at f22 so the camera would be the one deciding what aperture and shutter speed to use. I also chose a cable release and fitted my L bracket to make transition between landscape and portrait viewpoints easier on my tripod with its arca swiss type clamp.
When my orders arrived I loaded a roll of HR-50 into my Minolta X-700 in my darkbag, this is important with HR-50 as it does suffer from what is known as "light piping". Loading it into your camera in a darkbag or in very subdued lighting stops this from happening. Once done I packed my camera and IR filter in my bag and set off to the location I had chosen for my first attempt at infrared film photography.
The appointed day was bright and sunny with some high cirrus clouds to give my compositions a little more interest. I have been studying the trees at the old mine workings a lot this year and felt infrared would give me a different view of them. I also chose to shoot one frame with the IR filter and one without the filter to give me a chance of having some useable images should something go awry. This would either be an inspired choice or a terrible mistake, but I wouldn't know which one until I developed the film. Don't you just love the antici....... pation!
It didn't take me long to use my roll of Adox HR-50 as there are lots of trees to choose from, tall ones, small ones, in clumps and lonesome ones. I tried to position my camera for the best light and the best of the cirrus clouds for the background. I'm told the time of day doesn't really matter as only the longer wavelengths of light are getting through, so I made the most of it and was soon heading home with a full roll of film to develop.
I developed my film in Kodak HC-110 dilution H (1+63 from concentrate) for 9 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I scanned it using my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and removed dust spots and scratches with Affinity Photo. All I can say is WOW! I learned 2 things with this exercise.
1: Infrared Film Photography is freakin' cool!
2: The Minolta X-700 can see in the freakin' dark!
I am blown away by the photos I was able to produce with my Minolta X-700. In truth the camera did the hard work, the metering is just incredible. There will be a part 2 to this exercise as I have to try to reproduce the results, but this time I will be making my brain hurt and using my Minolta X-700 manually. I have to bring my skills up to par with my camera.
Here are a few images from my roll of Adox HR-50 shot with my Minolta X-700 and Kood IR720nm filter. If you enjoy my blog and want to help me continue my photography journey, please consider making a donation via the Ko-Fi buttons on this page. Every donation is gratefully received. As always I have put these photos and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Thomas Heaton's Infrared Video
My Infrared Film Photos Flickr Album
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