The Cobb

[derekphil]

The Cobb is a very old (C14?) breakwater at Lyne Regis in Dorset.
This image is infra red, mid-evening, with the sun low in the sky to the right.

[pschlute]

I like it. Quite dramatic.

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed.

[Wavelength]

Waaw....faantastic!!!

[Manfred M]

Strong image, but I suspect there would be minimal IR impacting the scene that late in the day. The relatively low energy IR wavelengths tend to be absorbed by the atmosphere when the sun is low and has a lot more atmosphere to travel through.

It would be interesting to compare this with a shot from a "normal" camera take at around the same time.

[derekphil]

Strong image, but I suspect there would be minimal IR impacting the scene that late in the day. The relatively low energy IR wavelengths tend to be absorbed by the atmosphere when the sun is low and has a lot more atmosphere to travel through.

It would be interesting to compare this with a shot from a "normal" camera take at around the same time.

[derekphil]

Manfred,
Two images: one at the same time in the visible spectrum, plus the SOOC infra red image. The visible spectrum image has had minimal processing, and I suppose it would be possible to enhance the sky, but I think I would have difficulty in making it as dramatic as the IR one

[Manfred M]

Thanks for posting these two files. I think they confirm my suspicions.

Your IR camera seems to have a red filter, which blocks out the cyan wavelengths in the sky (cyan is the complementary colour of red). A blue sky has a very high cyan component. Pop a red filter, like a 25A ,on your normal camera and your sky will end up looking very dramatic for the very same reason. This was an old B&W film photography trick; a red filter (and to a lesser extent a yellow or orange filter) would knock out the blues and cyans in the sky and would darken it up and give you a very dramatic looking sky.

We used red filters (like the 25A) in B&W infrared photography as the filter would cut out the cyan, blue, violet and ultraviolet wavelengths and allow the red and infrared wavelengths through.

Evening skies, unless you are looking in the direction of the setting sun, are quite blue because the nitrogen molecules in the air absorb the red and infrared wavelengths, while letting the blues pass (red and IR wavelengths are lower energy than blue and UV). Colour temperatures are very high (10000K and higher) in the evening because of the absence of the red end of the spectrum.

Yes, the sky is dramatic, but not because of any IR.

Unfortunately, your IR camera appears to have a smaller focal length than the regular camera, so there is a lot less sky (top and both sides, so much of the drama is not seen in that shot. I can sort of emulate what a red filter does to that image by adding a red "filter" by adding a red layer on top of the image in Photoshop and using the overlay blending mode. See how the blues in the image go black?