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Oh... what loveliness a Lensbaby doth
on InfraRed photographs!
Oh... what loveliness a Lensbaby doth
on InfraRed photographs!
[This was originally posted on ClubSNAP on the 15th May 2011]
Like many of the experienced shooters before me, I have also recently been drawn to the (almost tilt-shift) effects of the Lensbaby.
It is, in its very nature and very much like IR, an alternative photography. And when used together with IR photos, I felt that it brings out (again the use of the cliche word) the surreality of the scene.
The Carribean was the first show, high above at Mount Faber the shot was taken...
Erm... let's just see.
This is the 535nm IR with Lensbaby Control Freak at f/4.0 aperture disc.
... And Vivocity, here we cometh...
And here we were standing from the Skypark of Vivocity. (Is it called Skypark? Correct?)
And here I really played with the post processing.
Of course, the Lensbaby effect is the basis upon which I played around.. but I dragged more colours out of my 535nm and I invariably over-cooked the Lensbaby effect... er.. sorry...
A turn of the head to the Other side of Mount Faber...
We er... while up at Mt Faber, turned to the other side of the ridge facing the Telok Blangah estate.
And finding a clearing in the foliage, took a shot of the HDB buildings below the hill.
A Tweak of the Subjects to People and Trees...
Just for fun.
Here are some shots of trees and my girls shot with the Lensbaby on the 535nm... just for fun...
Walking our way to the seaside...
Towards the Park Connector...
Anyhow shoot with the Lensbaby...
Another one of those anyhow trees on Lensbaby...
This one not a Lensbaby... apologies...
It was bright and shiny all over outside. But strangely, once I walked under its leaves it was as though it has wrapped itself around me.
And it was dark, shady and... a little gloomy suddenly all around.
I shot it like the way it should appear... eerie.
Lensbaby on... Vesak Day
Here are just some shots taken with the same set up ~ 535nm IR on Lensbaby Control Freak with the f/4.0 aperture disc.
Shot today... Vesak Day 17th May 2011.
The girls
The Dragon with the Golden nose
The Lion who was having a flu...
Er... my apologies... was just having fun here with the post processing...
Lensbaby from Roof Garden, Orchard Central
First time high up on top of the Roof Garden of Orchard Central.
Didn't intend to be there but stumbled upon this lovely vantage point and decided to take the zig zag escalator all the way up.
'Twas a wonderful wonderful discovery.
Similarly shot from atop Roof Garden of Orchard Central.
Screwed on the 1.6x Tele adapter for the Lensbaby Control Freak.
A slightly cooler tone...
Time to change the PP to that of a slightly cooler tonality.
As we stood on the Escalator up Orchard Central, we looked back and looked down and Wow! The people on the ground were like ants...
Peranakan Place
I thought I'd use back the same cooler tone to PP this one...
Some more long-legged specimens of the species...
Hmmm... I Triton-ized the whole 535nm IR photo, leaving the two lovely ladies in colour.
It is very obvious that the colours are still indeed Infrared from the magenta artifacts on the fringes, and the pinkish hue of the skin tone.
The spillage of the masking at the foot of one of the ladies and the roughness of the post processing is a reflection of a deficiency in skill that still requires lots of practice and improvement.
Another tone of PP.. where the green is supposed to be still green...
What a busy Tuesday afternoon it was along Orchard Road.
Aside from pretty Belle aplenty, there were hunks, chunks and punks railings to railings. Here goes another style of PP.
Cute Japanese girls...
Arm-outstretched Ang Moh lady...
What about the R72 ...?
Some of my friends asked me what happened to my first IR love ~ the R72?
Haha.. it's still here. Held close to my heart.
Once in a while I still shoot with it.. like today.
Here are a couple of shots while I was on the MRT travelling home.
... passed by the waters...
... passed by the roads...
... and finally, passed by the neighbourhood...
I feel that the R72, being of a higher cut-off, is much suited to IR photos with paucity of hues. And as I learn to shoot more IR pictures, I begin to appreciate this very characteristic of the 720nm filter, and thus I begin to tend not to push the colours too hard on this lovely piece of glass.
In short, I have learned to be more mellow whenever I am on the R72.
Colouring my R72 again...
Well... not that it is impossible.
The R72 is definitely far from colourless. And what I have always found is that in bright sunlight with good exposures, the IR pictures from the R72 can bear a great deal of intrinsic colours. And here again, I have resorted to my old time bad habit of drawing them out with layers after layers of Hue and Saturation... Terrible...
Walking down the slope...
The Edmund Long Pass (ELP) IR...
Of course, the ELP-modified Canon 20D shouldn't be left out. All my children must be given equal attention.
Fatherly Love
In this modern world, children who are half-grown usually want to appear Cool.
Open show of loving concern towards these young ones may often meet with embarrassed refusal.
As reluctant as we are as Fathers in appearing Cool around them and with them, deep inside, our deep Love for the young ones never ever fades.
It remains hidden from sight, only to emerge whenever the young Cool one takes a tumble and bruise a knee.
Hmmm... my message for the day.
Back to the 535nm... again.
Still, I find that the colours of the 535nm is the most intense and most processable so far. And if I am not aiming for the snowy-white effects of the R72 or the pristine Golden effect of the ELP, I will still reach out for the 535nm. Until such day Fatigue has the 470nm for me... hahaha...
Here is another experimental shot with the 535nm. It was a really hot and bright and sunny afternoon. SereneXMM and I ascended a five-storey old flat to shoot from above.
My 535nm IR in China
Just returned from a trip to Southern China in a discovery of my ancestry roots.
It was one heck of a hot summer up there.
But with the scorching sun came the opportunities for IR.
What more, with my 535nm.
漳州 Village
We travelled up the hills of Zhangzhou 漳州 and passed by many many many rural villages with very old classic Chinese village houses
and their typical Chinese tiled-roofs. Scenes which I have seen only in Chinese movies, but never in real life.
And right in front of my own eyes, I had opportunities aplenty to appreciate traditions in continuity.
漳州华安土楼
These are big cylindrical enclosures of a couple of hundreds of household units.
And this one here built in Zhangzhou are, contrary to the usual Tulou (mud-houses 土楼), built by the Hokkien people instead of the Hakka people.
And needless to say, the sheer magnitude and complexity of the 土楼 was mind-blowing.
My Lensbaby shot does it no justice.
厦门大学鲁迅像 The Statue of Lu-Xun in Xiamen University
Lu-xun 鲁迅 is a very reknown writer in the history of China.
His works were very reflective of the general sentiments of the people during the period when China was in great turmoil during the Qing Dynasty.
Often, his writing was critical in a subtle literary fashion, of the political decadence of Qing Empire.
A great Philosopher, Revolutionist and Author, his writings earned the praises of the late Mao Tse Tong.
Here, is the great man himself in 535nm.
535nm on Lensbaby f/5.6... in a small fishing village in Batam.
Recently got back from a small trip to Batam and had a chance to visit a couple of small rural fishing villages to shoot.
It was a totally different experience, a different part of Batam that is usually not frequented by visitors.
Here, is a totally busy photo, with too many distracting elements in it.
But as I stood at the wooden plan platform, I saw a villager walking across his plank on the other side so steadily.
I thought the Lensbaby with its selective focussing and some post processing vignetting could help bring him out a little.
Just thought I'd share it.
Looking at Tanjong Uma from high up the hill...
My 'Secret Frequency' IR Camera on the Lensbaby
Still in Batam.
Still on the 535nm IR (Sorry fatigue, leaked out your secret frequency again...) with the Lensbaby.
We looked afar at that small little fishing village which they called Tanjong Uma, meaning kind of an 'in-between' village.
It was apparently so called between in those days, this little fishing village was a resting place for the fishermen, their sampans, and for them to trade.
The Return of The Mummy.. in 535nm IR.
Had an opportunity to visit the Universal Studio in Resort World.
An outing like this deserves as many camera bodies as possible.
Here is one of my humble 535.. on Lensbaby f/5.6.
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