Moon rising over the Pine Log Mountains - Infrared Photography

in GEMS5 years ago

My friend and I went Turkey hunting in a nice spot we found. We decided to camp one of the days while it was Turkey hunting season. As I set up camp the sky was going from partly cloudy to a near completely clear day in a few hours. It was in the late after noon, I could see the moon up in the sky. As the sun went down the moon became more apparent. I was glad I brought along my camera that can see in the infrared spectrum. I took a few pictures, below is one cropped. I kept the radio tower and another tower to the left of the photo in the cropping.

Camera ModelLumix GH3, modified by LifePixel for Full Spectrum
LensOlympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12mm-50mm
Filter720nm Infrared Passthrough filter
Aperturef/5
Shutter Speed1/640 sec
Film Speed400
SpectrumInfrared (IR)
Wavelength720 nanometers
LocationPine Log Mountain, Georgia USA.

There was a wispy cloud right in front of the moon in my shot. It added a touch of white to the orange sky besides the moon. The sky is this color due to how the sun reflect infrared light off the atmosphere. Giving it a rusty orange to yellow color when seeing it in the 720 nm range.

The trees all along the mountain range were reflecting infrared light making them appear bright white. Spring time many of the trees have fresh leaves giving them a great ability to reflect light.

I was standing in a harvested cotton field. It was about 20-30 acres I believe. Pretty cool to have the place to ourselves. Though the walk to the site along with the drive is probably too rough for most people to want to deal with.

I turn back to the camp we set up, it was in the woods. My tent can barely be seen. My cart was also out in the path of where we set up our camps though the shade makes it hard to see.

When we first got to the camp site I snapped a picture, amazing how quickly the clouds cleared up from the first picture I shared.

This cotton field we camped right next to was a nice visit. Due to the moon, we could walk through the field at night without needing our head lamps. Late at night the moon got so bright it started to keep my friend up and he had to shift how he slept due to the bright full moon shining into his hammock. With no clouds it was pretty intense. We could hear Coyotes throughout the night and even had a show of lightning bugs throughout the forest we were camping in.


I take pictures with a special camera. Its a Mirrorless DSLR that has been modified by Life Pixel to see light in other wavelengths. This allows my camera to see light in the Infrared [IR] around 1300 NM wavelength, through the visual spectrum and into the Ultraviolet A and B wavelengths roughly into the 300 NM wavelength.

I carry many filters on me to make the photos you see in my blog, these filters screw on my lens and help me isolate certain wavelengths for certain scenes. These filters can be IR / UV pass-through filters to assist me get a natural photo taking out the UV and IR light. Or I may use a Infrared pass-through filter capture just IR light. I can do the same with UV light as well, though I need some better filters which they can cost a few hundred dollars for true Ultraviolet pass through filters. So for right now I have B + W 403 bandpass filters that still allow some IR light in, due to their cheaper material.

There are also exotic glasses made of sapphire and germanium I am open to working with to replace my silica glass hot mirror with a material that allows even longer wavelengths of infrared to enter my cameras sensor. Special sensors, lenses and filters of that material would be needed as well, so it would be a big project but one that may give some even more unique photography results.

Addresses below to help me buy better camera equipment and support me to travel to locations to do photo and video and overall great blogs in new places. I would be happy to list some of the contributors in my posts for donations that help me along the way.

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