The first place I wanted to visit to test my infrared filters was my place of solace, Tehidy Country Park. I could spend hours sitting by the lakeside or walking through the woodland. The 250-acre park is most famous for its wildlife - particularly the over-friendly squirrels who will climb on you for food. With the thousands of yearly visitors, it's no wonder that the squirrels are so brave... and so plump.
When you simply go for a walk it is easy to see what makes Tehidy beautiful: the new life blossoming in the spring, the bright flowers of summer carpeting the undergrowth. In autumn the woods become a flurry of activity, with squirrels hurrying away their food to keep for winter and families rushing in to enjoy the last days of sun before Christmas. The once fresh greens turn to rich reds and burnt browns, and it is here that I find peace. Amongst the rowdy picnics and cawing rooks, it's nice to just sit and be.
In early autumn, as the leaves were beginning to turn, I wondered how the range of colours would interact with the infrared filters. I knew that, depending on the type of filter, all or most of the visible spectrum of light would be blocked, but I wasn't sure if the autumnal leaves would reflect infrared wavelengths in the same way as they would have in the summer. It was a little too early in autumn to fully explore this idea at Tehidy, but there are subtle hints of changing foliage in the bluest image below.
On the left is the image straight from the camera. I found it fascinating that the 850nm filter, which blocks out close to all visible light, resulted in a blue-tinted image. This is because the white balance on my converted camera is set up for the built-in 590nm filter - any additional filter on the lens will require additional white balance correction. Adjusting the white balance and cropping the image to a square (in preparation for posting to Instagram) helped draw the eye to the lake and the sky, framed by trees on either side.
Using just the built-in 590nm filter, the tone completely changes. The sky turns to flame as the orange-red wavelengths of light are allowed through. The green of the foliage becomes much more muted and, depending on the lighting, a cool grey or stark white. The lake photo above was shot from the same position as the blue image earlier, however I zoomed the lens in, resulting in a softer, slightly out-of-focus picture. What I didn't realise at the time was that filtering out visible light also alters the way the lens focuses light onto the sensor. The converted camera has been calibrated to focus when using an 18mm-55mm lens, but the longer the focal length, the more distorted the focus. The focus point you choose through the viewfinder isn't always the one you end up with in the image.
I couldn't get any photos of the squirrels this time, although I hope to return to try again. I did, however, meet some lovely cows who were particularly interested in my tripod. This cow was fully black in reality, but the infrared camera picked out the details in the skin around the eyes and nose. It looks eerily normal in an unreal world of ice and fire.
These are my favourite images from the shoot at Tehidy. On the left I used the 720nm filter, and on the right I used the 590nm filter. Typically, the 720nm filter sits on the edge of the visible light spectrum - this is why a small amount of colour has come through. I quite like the beige tones as they are still other-worldly but muted. They almost give more space for contemplation and allow you to focus on the image as a whole, mirroring the atmosphere found in Tehidy woods. The vibrancy of the image on the right is captivating, however, and adds more life to an otherwise tranquil photograph. I love how the foliage is a bright white, yet the autumnal colours can still be found in the sky and the lake. This is my Tehidy.
Comments