I was scrolling the world wide web, as one does, and I came across a very inspiring set of images shot in Congo by Richard Mosse. They are these incredible vibrant images with pink and magenta foliage, surrounding soldiers and rebels and all sorts. I had admired those images before but hadn’t gotten around to reading about them until know.
I found out the vibrant pinks shown in the photoraphs is not the actual colour of foliage we see as humans, nor is it photoshop. It comes from the infrared wavelenghts that is not visible to our mortal eyes, but can be captured on specialised film.
The film in question is called Aerochrome, and it was developed back in the 1940’s by Kodak, together with the US military, but has been since discontinued. It was originally designed for aerial surveillance to spot camouflaged troops and vehicles hiding in forests. Infrared light reflects from the chlorophyll filled foliage, and since camouflage clothing or paint doesn’t contain chlorophyll, they will be revealed more easily when captured on this special film. Genious.
Since I don’t have access to discontinued infrared film but I desperately wanted to try the look, I found a tutorial to replicate it on Photoshop. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty into it.
Here is an interesting test because it makes a common landscape strange by revealing details not perceived by the eye.
I really like the surreal character of the forest. It looks like a forest from an AVATAR type movie.
There is on Hive a French artist photographer specializing in infrared light. Take a look at his work, it might help you think about what you could do with this process.
https://hive.blog/@dawnoner
Voici un test intéressant car il rend étrange un paysage commun en révélant des détails non perçus par l'œil.
J'aime beaucoup le caractère surréaliste de la forêt. Cela ressemble à une forêt d'un film de type AVATAR.
Il y a sur Hive un artiste photographe français spécialisé dans la lumière infrarouge. Jetez un œil à son travail, cela pourrait vous aider à réfléchir à ce que vous pourriez faire avec ce processus.
https://hive.blog/@dawnoner
I usually try to find the beautiful in reality but I think it's sometimes fun to play around and technically these are real too, we just can't see it like this because we can't see the infrared.
Thank you so much for the tip, @dawnoner has some amazing photos. It's been forever since I last saw someone new (to me) and interesting on Hive.
That building in the water photo. Top notch. So good that I probably said the same thing when you released the original. Not sure which version I like better but it doesn't matter.
https://hive.blog/travel/@eveuncovered/at-the-abandoned-rummu-quarry
The original post from three years ago, no comments from you but now you can go and compare :)
Well that's a trip. I know I've seen that building in water before but it wasn't that time. So you made me think harder and it smells like wires burning. At some point you may have put a collection together and it might have had something to do with your classes. I could be wrong, I don't know. I just know I like it.
Very cool, love the lake pic with the building.
Thanks! That picture is all thanks to @greddyforce who took us to the abandoned quarry in Estonia :)
My ultra-professional photographers mind [read: nutbag who can't take photos for shit] always wondered how they did this...I thought it was photoshop. Clearly yours are, as you say though, and the effect is pretty damned good. I'm with nonames on the building in the lake image. Top notch. Although the last one with the mist rising off the water is pretty good too. Fuck it, they're all good.
It's fun to go into a sort of dream land every once in a while eh? :)
Agreed.