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February 3, 2025

Behind the Image Weekly - Night Vision

Night Vision-110px.jpgBehind the Image - Night Vision by David Soderlund (DaveSoderlund)

This photograph is from a IR photography workshop in Joshua Tree National Park led by Penelope Taylor. One of her specialties is night (actually, very early morning) IR photography of the desert under moonlight. Accordingly, we were on the road into the park by 4:30 am for three consecutive days.

Photographing the desert under moonlight was extremely challenging because it is impossible to see what you are shooting through the camera. Penelope would say "There's a composition over there" and we'd set up our tripods, choose an arbitrary (long) exposure, shoot, and then review the image to figure out what we'd actually photographed. Achieving some sort of acceptable composition was an iterative process of shooting, reviewing, and changing the camera position, focal length, and settings -- all while hoping that the pre-set manual focus of the lens was accurate. Needless to say, "keepers" were few and far between. By the time this photograph was taken (not long before sunrise) the stars had faded and there was enough light to see, more or less, what I was doing.

Here is the original image, with minimal processing in Lightroom: application of a custom camera profile to achieve correct white balance; adjustments to highlights (set to 0) and shadows (set to 100); and small amounts of clarity and dehaze.

Z5 (720nm IR), Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 s @ 27mm, ISO 200, f/11, 1/15 sec.
raw-Night Vision-800px.jpg

I developed the image using a Photoshop workflow taught by Penelope during the workshop, which involves three successive adjustment layers: (1) Channel Mixer (red and blue channel swap); (2) Black & White (no adjustments to this layer at this point); and (3) Gradient Map (selecting "Classic" under Method and "Black and White" from the Basic options under the gradient pull-down menu). After that, I returned to the Black & White layer to make minor adjustments using the color sliders. (This is also part of my basic B&W workflow in Lightroom for both visible light and IR images.)

After these Photoshop adjustments I returned the image to Lightroom for further processing. I applied a tone curve to increase contrast and cropped the image to a square format (the left side of the image was boring!). To finish the image I applied two masks: (1) Select Sky (reduced Exposure, boosted Whites, added Clarity); (2) Radial Gradient on the large foreground rock formation (increased Highlights and Texture). The final touches were selective sharpening and a slight vignette. Here's the final image:

Night Vision-800px.jpg

Posted by dm1dave at 2:00 AM

February 2, 2025

Weekly Update 02-Feb-2025

This weeks Editor's Choice images and top discussions at Nikonians - 02 February 2025

You'll find more, excellent images on the Editor's Choice page

An Eclectic Mix
An Eclectic Mix by HoratioH - Show in galleries
Editor: Very well executed water drop collision. I love the reflection and the golden tones. Nice work, Patricia!

Cedar Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing by epathoward - Show in galleries
Editor: Joyful capture of this Cedar Waxwing with good timing!

portraits
portraits by jacquesniset - Show in galleries
Editor: Awesome use of light and color.

Kitchen Faucet Closeup
Kitchen Faucet Closeup by AUMike - Show in galleries
Editor: I love the color graduate background and the minimalist composition.

Day before the festival
Day before the festival by JiangMX - Show in galleries
Editor: Wonderful composition. Appealing muted colors in the early morning fog. A beautiful portrayal of life.

Ice Storm Birds
Ice Storm Birds by natpat - Show in forums
Editor: Beautiful, icy image of this female Cardinal. She looks very cold Nathan!

A yawn and show of teeth.
A yawn and show of teeth. by Gaduf - Show in forums
Editor: Nice lighting with perfect timing, Gavin. Well done.


This weeks top posts in the "Want to Sell" section

I Want to Sell: FOR SALE: Nikkor AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm f2.8 ED lens by telee
FOR SALE f/2.8 to f/32 • One Extra-Low Dispersion Element • Nano Crystal Super Integrated Coatings • 1:1 Magnification, 1 Minimum Focus • Silent Wave Motor AF System • VR Image Stabilizatio...


This weeks top forum postings

Nikon Z9 / Z8: Z8 and 70-200m AFS f2.8 by geneluck
I still have most of my AFS lenses and not many Z lenses yet. I wanted to try the Z8 with the FTZ converter and 70-200mm F2.8 AFS as I am not sure if I want to sell it Not sure how much better the Z e...

Wildlife: Ice Storm Birds by natpat
As 2025 has started out with a mixture of rain, sleet, snow freezing rain and then back to ice in Kentucky it left some chance of getting those yard birds close by our home. Using the Z6iii, combined ...

Landscape: The Forest Road on Mount Sheba by Louieb_images
The winding forest road on Mount Sheba, Mpumalanga province, South Africa ... Nikon D90, F11, 1/2 sec, ISO 200, -0.7 exp. taken at 65mm (APSC). ...

Glamour & Portrait, Studio & Still Life: My Grandaughter by rmigliaccio
Z9, Z50 f1.2 @f7.1, 1/160, ISO 400. Converted to BW in Nik. Softbox with Nikon wireless flash at camera left and umbrella with grid and Nikon wireless flash at camera right Comments, critiques, etc. w...


PJ, PR & Street: Street Photography in London with Lucy Hamidzadeh by GBaylis
On Wednesday I spent an afternoon in Covent Garden and Chinatown, London, being instructed, motivated and inspired in the art of street photography by Nikon Ambassador Lucy Hamidzadeh together with Ri...

Sports: BTS Overhead Remote Camera Installation by RobertEdwardsMedia
Here is my standard rig for using remote cameras in overhead overhead-offset positions for indoor sports like basketball and ice hockey. Camera Lens CH 14fps mirror-up, pre-focused manual, fixed ISO...

Stage, Clubs, Concerts & Nightlife: Dave Hinson at Lone Star Roadhouse by Glenn_K
Dave Hinson, the owner of Killer Vintage Specialty Guitars, playing at Lone Star Roadhouse, Dallas, Texas. D780|105/1.4E @ f/2.5, 1/250s, 16000...

Micro, Macro & Close-up: Flourescent Ink Drops in Olive Oil by gwolosh
Experimented with UV fluorescent ink in a Petri dish filled with olive oil. The ink forms small, coherent droplets that sink to the bottom. The only lighting in the shots comes from the fluorescence o...

Panorama: Factory Butte and North Caineville Mesa by Lomcevak
Caineville Utah - 10 shots merged in Photoshop....

Underwater & Aquatic Life: VANCOUVER / SAN JUAN ISLANDS TO PHOTO ORCA WHALES by dkelly
I'm in the initial planning stages of a trip to the Vancouver / San Juan Islands area off the coast of Washington to photograph a variety of whales though the primary interest will be Orca whales. G...

Travel: Easter Island part 2 Exifs have data by Regor10
Lots of horses roaming the island. This group, including this foal were grazing right outside our lodge. Local Rapa Nui dancer modeled for us. Moon and clouds More Moai Noddy We took a small fishing b...

Infrared & Ultraviolet: Lily Pond by rbaskin
A mid-fall visit to Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers, NY. Nikon Z6ii full spectrum Kolarivision conversion with a 665 filter. The pond is behind the pillars in the 2nd image, made up of several sections t...

Astrophotography: Occultation of Mars by elec164
For those interested there will be an Occultation of Mars by the Moon tonight around 9:15P.M. Eastern Time. This is a shot of the Conjunction just a few hours before Occultation. ...


Post for Critique: Exploring a style by LPR
Ive been trying for a while to find my style. This is the closest Ive gotten so far. Would be curious to get some input. These are from a series I call Ethereal Equus. ...

B&W / Film & Digital: Cape cod in winter by labtrout
It's a very different place without the crowds and I thought this scene of the beach huts near Nobska Lighthouse in Woods Hole lent itself to black and white. ...

A Picture I Took: Peles Fury by Dawnacious
We made the executive decision, with a bad clutch, to go and check out the erupting volcano Kilauea. It was well worth the 9 hour tour, there and back, although we were the walking dead when we got ho...


Behind The Image: Behind the Image: EC Glittery Boxes by bnuber
Im grateful to the editors for this EC selection, a terrific way to cap my first year of Nikonians membership! This was a classic Chicago weather transition day in early November, with swirling squall...

Color slide & print film: Camera? Technique? Film? by CaptRonaldo
Hello all- I developed an interest in photography as a diver. My first cameras were digital cameras. I was not much of a film user prior to getting into digital photography. Topside, I shoot with a D8...

Digital Artistry Contest (Monthly): Vote now - Hot or Cold by dm1dave
Images from our January Contest - Voting continues to the end of the month....

... and, that's it, folks!
Your Nikonians Team

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Posted by newsmachine at 5:40 AM