Fish - IR - BW @ the California Coast

Fisheye isn't for everyone... but I love the curves, unlike the stretched corners of regular wide angle shots.

Combining Fisheye with IR leads to interesting results. All shots with an old converted EPM2, and the ever so useful Rokinon 7.5. Nik Silver Efex to polish them off. None of them are distortion-corrected (de-fished) except one, just a little bit.

Click on original for a more better sharper image.

Beautiful spot at the central CA coast

Path towards the Pacific

Keeping the horizon in the center reduces fish-eye-ness

Protected inlets, would love to do some kelp diving here

Most of the year we don't get clouds - most impressive in IR.

Do not pass... this wall of Poison Oak

Nik Silver Efex makes the rather flat IR images "sing"

Personally I prefer this slightly rounded result over rectilinear UW shots, most of the time.

Empty beaches...

Weegee wrote:

But, there is always a but. Like the Austrian prince said to Mozart, " there are just too many notes in your piece." Mozart replied, " which notes would you have me remove?"

Maybe too busy? I don't know which elements I would remove! In color it would be less busy.......but maybe not as interesting!

Haha, yes, you are right. One could crop of course, but then what's the point of going ultra-wide in the first place? Thanks for the flattering analogy/simile.

I may be posting a few more non-IR fisheyes, close-ups of flower shots. These little lenses are really usable for quite a few different scenarios besides landscapes. Selfies???

I’ve never done much with fisheye lenses as I never liked my results. Clearly, in my case, a lack of requisite skill . Will have to dust off my old FT fisheye and give another try, maybe even practice a little more before I write it off.

Thanks

Inspirational! I will try that combination myself: I have been far too timid. Thank you for both the inages and the idea.

Thanks everyone for the kind replies!

Jouko - yes, I had the camera converted with a 720nm IR filter replacement. Some prefer to just remove the IR cut filter, and then are able to use the camera for regular, IR, or UV photography. I was pretty sure I only wanted IR, so adding the IR filter to the sensor removes the requirement to carry multiple filter types and sizes. I can get to 850nm by adding that filter to the lens.

Well I love B&W and also Infrared. I also had an older camera converted - think it was an EPL1 or 2. Beautiful work.

Steven Wandy wrote:

Well I love B&W and also Infrared. I also had an older camera converted - think it was an EPL1 or 2. Beautiful work.

Thank you Steven. I started to do IR a long time ago, with a converted Canon G3! The EPM2 was a big step up (4MP to 16MP whew).

That camera without a lens fits into a tiny P&S camera holster, so it's easy to take along.

Really nice photos.
Taken at Big Sur, California?

Can that IR be duplicated in software/post processing?

Thanks for sharing.

A few of my favorites. Different processing of the RAW files.

Excellent imagery. They work very well. Interesting application of the Samyang FE.

Len_Gee wrote:

Really nice photos.
Taken at Big Sur, California?

Can that IR be duplicated in software/post processing?

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for your comment!

This is at Point Lobos, a bit north of Big Sur.

IR is difficult to duplicate in Post. Adding a strong red filter when converting to b&w darkens the blue skies, and brings out the clouds well. More specific to IR, and more challenging to imitate, is the light coloring of living plants, which provides added contrast to non-living things like rocks, water, and soil.

What is interesting too is that dark pupils turn light colored and vice versa, and sunglasses become completely transparent. Other things may turn slightly more transparent as well, YMMV.

Nice images!

I played with IR film back in the days, it didn't always worked but I always liked the effect whenever it did.

More than once I thought about converting to IR my EM1, may be it's time...

Cheers

Mauro

Mauro Rau wrote:

Nice images!

I played with IR film back in the days, it didn't always worked but I always liked the effect whenever it did.

More than once I thought about converting to IR my EM1, may be it's time...

Cheers

Mauro

Thanks Mauro! Converting an older camera gives it new life, plus then you have an excuse to get the iii and relegate the ii to a backup position.