Today’s Post by Joe Farace
As I’ve mentioned here several times, there really are no “official” subjects for digital IR photography. If you have time, please read Best Subjects for Infrared Photography on my car photography blog for some thoughts on that subject.
I think my initial hesitancy to make infrared portraits was because along with some of my IR-shooting friends we have been told by “the experts” that we shouldn’t photograph people using infrared techniques. This still appears to be a widely held opinion.
One of my infrared images of my former muse, Tia Stoneman, were rejected by an editor of magazine aimed at professional photographers because she thought the subject “looked like a vampire.” It’s a different look for sure and one that some may like, while others may not. In fact one of Tia’s other IR images was cut by the publisher from my book Available Light Glamour Photography. because one of the editors didn’t like it.
Here are a three reasons why having an infrared and/or monochrome option may be a good idea for some boudoir and glamour portraits:
- Aesthetics: Sometimes color confuses the viewer distracting focus from the true subject of the portrait.
- Workflow: If you want to make prints on-site or at a local discount store, capturing the file directly in black and white saves time. But there are also many ways to use software and Photoshop plug-ins to produce great looking black and white images from color files and I even wrote a book on this subject called Creative Digital Monochrome Effects.
- Feedback: Perhaps the best reason to shoot in direct monochrome or RAW+JPEG is the feedback you and the subject get by looking at a black & white image on the LCD screen. It shows your subject what you’re trying to accomplish and you don’t have to explain how you’ll convert the shot into monochrome later; it’s already there in black and white!
How I made this shot: For many years I was blessed—there’s no other word for it—to photograph what was my first muse, the irrepressible Tia Stoneman. She was a delight to work with no matter what genres and styles that we tried together, including this infrared portrait of her wearing mesh lingerie that was photographed via window light in the living room of my former home.
The camera used was a Canon EOS D60 (not 60D) that was converted for infrared capture that I purchased from a friend. Lens used was the EF 135mm f/2.8 SF lens and, I don’t remember if any of the soft focus settings was used; EXIF data did not track it at the time. Exposure was 1/180 sec at f/3.5 and ISO and was shot as a RAW+JPEG capture as per my typical regimen for infrared and other kinds of photography. The RAW file was lightly manipulated in Photoshop before being enhance using Silver Efex and finally Color Efex to produce the finished result.
PS: Just a reminder: Podcast #3 is live now on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos, featuring a look at the Leica Z2X and my experiences shooting 22-year old Agfa color film in a 40-year old Canon SLR, plus some information on where I get my ideas for blog posts!
My book Creative Digital Monochrome Effects that includes a chapter on infrared photography is available from Amazon for $19.40 with used copies, as I write this, starting at around two bucks, for what is one of my personally favorite books. That’s cheaper than a Starbucks latte, so you should get one while you can.