Winter - The final image

The image below is my final photograph for the second colour studies assignment. For me this image evokes the feeling of winter despite the fact that it was taken on a bright sunny day. The high concentration of blue in this image meant that the Ir process in photoshop was much more effective.

f/32.0 0.4 ISO 100

Infrared conversion in photoshop - the process

Image opened in photoshop and a layer created...

Layer duplicated and inverted, layer changed to colour...

New adjustment layer added - channel mixer and  red and blue adjusted in the red output channel, red should be lower than blue...

Adjustments made to red and blue in the blue output channel, this time red should be higher and blue lower in value...

Saturation adjustment layer added and reds adjusted...

Finally, cooling filter added (This final stage not used in all images)

The final product.

My infrared - pre final images

All the images below have gone through the same infra red conversion process in Photoshop CS5.

f/8.0 35.0 ISO 200

The above image was taken at night, the slow shutter speed has allowed for some movement in the clouds.

f/14.0 35.0 ISO 200

This image was also taken during the night, the white snow like particles are fake snow made with sodium polyacrylate (see earlier post).

f/4.5 1/50 ISO 100

This image was taken on a clear day, the deep blues in the sky help to create a more credible looking fake IR image.

f/4.2 1/800 ISO 100

This image was also taken in bright daylight, the blue on the ground is the reflection of the sky which during the processing has become over saturated. 

f/11.0 30.0 ISO 100

This image was take at dusk and hasn't really well at all, the tree in the that is set away from the others on the left of the image was very yellow in colour and posed some problems during the post processing.

Winter = White

Below are several screen shots of what come ups in a google images search when you type in the following search strings;

Winter in paintings

Winter in photography

Winter

My reasoning behind showing these screen shots is to show the predominance of the colour white in winter imagery. This dominance of white when it cones to winter images has reinforced my decision to use an infrared conversion process to create my final image for my second colour studies assignment.

Winter

After some initial and difficult research on winter,  (difficult because it is not winter and I am trying to think outside the box on how to produce a winter feeling without showing anything that is actually wintry...) I have decided to go with an infrared effect. This is a type of photography that I have seen before but not experimented in. I do not own an infrared camera and I do not have the time required to get a camera converted, I am therefore going to try to reproduce this effect in photoshop.
 
What is infrared photography?

http://www.crhfoto.co.uk/crh/digital%20infra-red/digital-ir.htm

For me the colour I associate most with winter is white, for the obvious reason of snow but also because for me white can be a cold colour when used in contrast with dark colours. I know white can be percieved as hot (white hot for example) but for me it is a cold colour. Infra red photography (or conversion through photoshop in my case) produces images that have a distinct wintry feel, even when the images are far from a wintry setting.

Examples Of IR Photography

http://www.rbfotografia.com.br/Bruna/natureza/content/B6_large.html

http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=41012

http://www.pbase.com/allonkira/image/114808703

http://www.instantshift.com/2010/01/20/99-brilliant-examples-of-infrared-photography/

http://www.infraredphoto.eu/Site/Welcome.html