Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept”—Henri Cartier-Bresson
When I replaced my old computer with a 5K iMac it changed the way I view and work with many of my older digital images. Some of my photographs that were made with older, lower resolution digital cameras and when viewed on softer CRT monitors don’t compare with how they look today on higher resolution, crisp and contrasty LCD monitors.
The basic laws of imaging state that only one part of a three-dimensional object can be in focus at the image plane. This means that the areas in front of and behind the focus plane appear more or less in focus or in acceptable focus. That’s what depth-of-field is all about.
Depth-of-field is an area that your eyes perceive as being in focus and is affected by several things. Depth-of-field increases as the lens’ aperture is stopped down, decreases as the aperture gets larger and the camera to subject distance decreases. At the point of critical focus, there is a range of acceptable focus that is one-third in front of that point and two-thirds behind it.
How I Made this Shot: I photographed this hot rod with a Panasonic Lumix G5 that had been converted to infrared capture by Life Pixel with their Standard IR (720nm) filter. Lens was the Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens (at 12mm) that is bundled with many Panasonic cameras. Exposure was 1/50 sec at f/11 and ISO 400. The RAW file was opened in Adobe Camera RAW (at right) then converted to monochrome using Silver Efex.
Tip: Which is why, especially when shooting infrared with manual focus lenses, I use Hyperfocal focusing. The Hyperfocal Distance is the specific point of focus where any object between that distance and infinity is in focus. Some lenses have an aperture ring but this feature is a gradually disappearing from modern optics. Most vintage lenses have a depth-of-field scale, which can be helpful when using hyperfocal focusing. Here’s how it works: You select an aperture on the lens, then rotate the focusing ring setting so the aperture appears opposite the infinity mark on the lens’ depth-of-field scale. Bingo, you’re all set and it’s how all of my images made with the Zenitar manual focus lens were made.
Life Pixel does a great job with IR conversions and they have done most of the conversions for my Canon DSLRs and all of my Panasonic Lumix G-series cameras. This is not a paid or sponsored endorsement, just my experience.
My book, The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography is available from Amazon with new copies available for $14.40 and used copies starting around ten bucks, as I write this. Creative Digital Monochrome Effects has a chapter on IR photography and is available from Amazon with new copies for $5.95 and used copies selling for around four bucks, less than the price of a Grande Starbucks latte.