infrared – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

July 9, 2023July 9, 2023

2023-07–9: Infrared Landscapes

These infrared landscape images I took in Zimbabwe caught my eye as I completed the process of moving back to Lightroom and reorganizing the images that I have left to edit. They look rather strange scrolling past unedited, as they are almost a neon red/orange tone, but once converted to black and white, offer a different look than a typical monochrome landscape.

These were both shot near mid day, and the infrared filter requires a long exposure, providing some nice movement in the foliage, like this palm tree.

A lone palm on the banks of the Zambezi River. Zimbabwe, November 2022.

This second image was shot by the waterhole at the camp we stayed at in Hwange. The pair of marabou storks were almost motionless with their wings outstretched, making them look almost fake in the long exposure image. The sky looks extra dramatic in black and white, and later in the day, we had a spectacular thunderstorm with torrential rains.

Marabou storks with wings outstretched. Hwange, Zimbabwe. November, 2022.

December 28, 2020December 28, 2020

2020-12-28: Monochrome Monday

I’ve had a lovely five days off of work (and school) which has given me a great opportunity to dig into a bit of editing. I found a few images that I had shot with my infrared filter to work on, which has been a lot of fun. These were taken on different days, and I didn’t try to make things consistent between the images, but instead just edit them how they felt right to me.

October 26, 2020October 26, 2020

2020-10-26: Monochrome Monday

This image was shot with an infrared filter as a long exposure while staying at Lion Sands Tinga Lodge in South Africa last year. I hadn’t experimented with the filter too much before that, and it was a fun project to do during the middle of the day. I personally love how the fluffy clouds pop against the inky sky.

July 22, 2019July 14, 2019

2019-07-22: Monochrome Monday

I spent a bit of time playing with my infrared filter while traveling, and while it is a style I definitely need to explore and practice more, I am quite pleased with how these images turned out.

I actually remembered to do the custom white balance before taking these images, which made editing them a more straightforward process once I got home. I’m actually considering having one of my cameras converted to infrared sometime in the future, to make it a bit easier to explore this genre of photography.

DSCF2905 — This beautiful tree is at the edge of the river, seen from the main deck at Lion Sands River Lodge.

DSCF3350 — This is the river view from the main deck at Lion Sands Tinga Lodge. The long exposures that are necessary when using a traditional camera with IR filter showcase the movement of the water, and the breeze playing with the leaves and the grasses.

DSCF3358 — Another river view from Lion Sands Tinga Lodge.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my selections of the day.

Wishing everyone a great week ahead!

June 3, 2019June 2, 2019

2019-06-03: Monochrome Monday

I’ve just got a single image today as I try to ease my way back into editing, posting etc. etc. after holidays.

I took along my tripod and my new infrared filter, and played around a bit during the down time in the middle of the day. This was taken from the back deck of my room at Lion Sands River Lodge. There were often nyalas grazing in the tall grass, but here, just a few trees and the river in the background.

Have a great week everyone!

March 4, 2019

2019-03-04: Monochrome Monday

This is one of a few images that I took while playing around with an infrared filter that I bought during my trip to California last October. I only spent a brief amount of time reading about shooting with one of these filters before getting out and trying it, and as such, forgot about a few things, such as setting a custom white balance before starting shooting. Even though I didn’t follow through with all the steps that you should be doing, I am still happy with the results; editing just took a bit longer than it would have otherwise.

I am excited for spring to arrive and have the chance to get the filter out and work with it some more. I don’t think infrared images of snowy fields and trees would have much impact!

Wishing everyone a great week ahead.

Some of the beautiful boulders in Joshua Tree National Park. California, October 2018.

January 7, 2019

2019-01-07: Monochrome Monday

Good Morning everyone! I just have a single image to share today for monochrome Monday, as trying to export this one was an immensely frustrating process. I’ve been working with the new On1 Photo Raw 2019, and there are some serious export issues with the program. In reading some online forums, it seems to be an issue that a lot of people are having.

It took me 5 tries to export this image and have it resemble the image on my screen. The first was incredibly dark, a second version very light, one version everything was tinted red. I wish I would have saved all these junk exports to share, but I deleted them in frustration.

At this stage, I am actually contemplating switching up my workflow again and going back to Lightroom, as I really don’t like wasting a bunch of time doing things over and over again. So far there have not been any updates to the program that have addressed these issues.

This image was shot at Joshua Tree National Park in California, back in October. I was playing around with an infrared filter that I had purchased. I have much to learn about properly shooting with this filter, but I am happy with the result I got.

Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead.

November 5, 2018November 4, 2018

2018-11-05: Monochrome Monday

For this week I worked on a few images from my time in California. Compared to my trips to Africa, I took relatively few photos, but I have a good number that I am interested in playing around with to see what happens.

DSCF1473 — I spent a lot of time outside relaxing with my camera nearby in case any interesting birds popped into the yard, but found myself also being drawn to the beautiful shapes of the palm fronds.

One of the things I picked up while away was an infrared filter for my camera, and I took it out and started playing around in Joshua Tree when my photo workshop was over. I have so much to learn about all the nuances of infrared photography, but even without doing the proper things, like setting a custom white balance, I am still happy with what I was able to come up with when converting the images to black and white.

DSCF1799 — I wish I would have written down which of the stops through the park this was; I was drawn to the wonderful boulders and all the desert plants and cacti that surrounded them.

DSCF1800