Infrared: Return to Flash Gordon's Garage

[Chris Dodkin]

Returned to the blimp hangers at Tustin today - and shot Infrared (Hoya R72)

Added a CPL filter as well - to really bring out the cloud detail.

X-Pro1 and 18mm Lens - PP in NIK Silver FX

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Wow. That's amazing. Great building. Great shot!

 

[Mike Webb]

That looks great, the tones, the sky the magnificent building and your own composition.

Will the IR have had a greater effect than a CPL and adjustments in PP?

Mike

 

[Dave Green]

Nice shot of an impressive looking structure!

Can you get in?

 

[Kev Pugh]

Nice Chris, Tonality and composure all work well imo, gives it a more surreal feel where as colour would lose that for me. now wouldn't it been nice to have had some big silver metal bird flying by in the top left

 

[Beth Carter]

looks like you could launch some rockets from that thing. love it, looks straight out of a scifi movie. perfect angle and perspective.

 

[Brian Moore]

Beauty! Ok, so you're using an 18mm lens. Were you able to get as close as it appears? I never saw any (legal) access that allowed such a close up. However, it's been a year or so since I was there I think so things may have changed. Whatever your viewpoint it's a great shot, Chris.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Thanks everyone.

Mike - I think the IR filter gives it a very different look - and the CPL just adds a little more contrast.

Here's the same building in visible light from last year.

Dave & Brian - no access, the site is surrounded by a 6 foot fence, which I was shooting over to get this shot! I had the camera on the tripod, at full height and maximum extension of the center column - shooting over the fence above my head!

The building is HUGE, and I am as close as I can get - i.e. right against the fence. There are actually two of these hangers on the old airfield, and the second one is used as a huge studio where they shoot car adverts for TV.

[video=youtube_share;aXT6S_sz3YM]http://youtu.be/aXT6S_sz3YM[/video]

You get some idea of the size when you see the car racing around inside.

Kev & Beth - the location is just so sci-fi - no idea why someone hasn't used it for a movie yet, it is just so retro futuristic.

The hangers may end up as part of a park, or one may be demolished to be redeveloped - not sure at this time.

The local city (Tustin) has a video on the history of the hangers on their website - worth checking out as you get to see the blimps inside the hanger.

City of Tustin, CA :: Homepage

 

[Beth Carter]

chris you're not my favorite person today. i'm off, i planned on doing nothing. now you're making me clean out my closet in search of my lost r72 filter.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

LOL - worth searching for I reckon!

 

[Brian Moore]

I read somewhere that these hangars are the largest wooden structures ever built. Or something like that.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

I read somewhere that these hangars are the largest wooden structures ever built. Or something like that.

Indeed they are - from the outside they look like concrete - but inside you see the wooden beams - crazy!

 

[Beth Carter]

sweet, the filter wasn't as lost as i feared. just need some stepping rings for 77mm filter down to 58mm lens..

are you able to shoot handheld with the r72 and x-pro 1 or do you need slower shutter speeds and the tripod?

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Beth - you can shoot ISO6400, f/2.5 handheld - gives you around 1/40 in bright sunlight.

I tend to go for the tripod, ISO200 or 400, long exposure option, at f/8. - typically 10 secs or so on the exposure.

X-Pro1 metering works it all out by itself - no need for any manual intervention to get the exposure correct.

AF is also fine.

 

[Beth Carter]

sweet, thanks for the info. nice to know about the metering, that was always a pain trying to guess. i got the r72 years ago for the canon 350d, ended up with a 5min+ exposure at iso 3200. don't mind using the tripod and use it pretty often for my photos, but don't want incredibly long shutter speeds either.

i keep coming back to look at this photo. really enjoying it.

 

[Mike Webb]

Thanks everyone.

Mike - I think the IR filter gives it a very different look - and the CPL just adds a little more contrast.

Here's the same building in visible light from last year.

Thanks - it seems the biggest difference is in the smoothness of tones or is your PP better on the IR shot?

I noticed this smoothness in some of your other IR work as well.

Mildly tempting ...

Mike

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Beth - worth setting WB to 2500K in-camera and then adjusting all the way to the green side - this gives you a close approximation to the final image look in the EVF or on the LCD.

I typically then use the WB eye dropper tool in ACR to point at a tree or grass, and tell the software that's 'white' - then import the file that way before converting to pure B&W.


Mike - bit of both I think better PP for sure, but also getting a very nice tonal range out of the IR files from camera. You'll need to see if a camera works with the R72, as not all will. X-Pro1 seems to be very IR friendly out of the box.

 

[Pete Askew]

Excellent Chris. Not only a more dramatic sky but the textures of the concrete and roof have more impact I think.

 

[adrian jordin]

I just wish we'd had some decent weather recently to justify using my IR filter.

Anyone know what rain looks like in IR?

 

[alfie Wright]

Lovely again!

The title great too, as it does have a real Sci-Fi feel to the image!