UV+IR…

This is a quick wrap for the last week, since I couldn't post back then. It was a time of problems, and this is usual around my birthday (August 17^th). Had to spend some days without AC in my room so I kind of moved to the guest room, and while at it I tried to work a bit with my camera and try new stuff. I couldn't complete the experiment in my room because of the heat (hotter than the outside even!). Under such annoying conditions I could do nothing more than taking selfies!

Selfies

It was an idle time which vexed me a lot. I got my camera and some tripods and other stuff down in the guest room (and they are still there as I'm typing this). I've read somewhere that halogen lamps are good sources for IR and UV beams, thus I decided to try this out. The idea was also to remove the protection in the front but I was reluctant to do that. Removing that cover from the front is supposed to raise up the level of IR and UV, even though it is a pretty dangerous business!

IR Selfie
Canon EF 50mm, f/5,
0.5s, ISO400.

The halogen light I own is about 1000W. To take this infrared selfie, I had to keep it closer than 50cm to my body (~ 20in); a serious business here! I almost got myself blind for moments after the picture was taken! As you can see from the image caption, it was barely half a second with ISO400 even (and the worst yet to come!). This selfie on the left is actually the final crop; the original was half of my body, yet taking a selfie without a phone is a tricky business! It's a good thing though that the lens (Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM) does have an infrared marker for re-focusing, which helped significantly in ensuring the sharpness of the image (adding some sharpness later on in the process). Beside fixing the white balance in the image here, I've reduced the Clarity to give out soft complexions in opposition to what I usually do with masculine faces. But seems the infrared atmosphere is in favor for such touch!

UV Selfie
Canon EF 50mm, f/2.8,
10s, ISO2000.

The next shot was more aggressive. I can call the Die Hard type probably! Using the UV is way too demanding than the IR filter in terms of exposure time and ISO value. As you can see from the image on the right, I tried my best to be both, stable and in motion, to create some effect in the image. I did like this one after all because of the foggy look after all because of the body shake. What amazed me here is the blue sparkle in the eyes which appeared naturally after fixing the white balance. Here, just as in the IR images that I usually take, I did use a special profile developed specifically to expand the range of the white balance for infrared images. The UV shots are reddish in looks (but lesser in saturation than IR images). The image you see here is done using the profile for IR. You can get a sense of the hardships here by looking at the info of the image (10 seconds to complete the exposure at f/2.8 and ISO2000!). It is about time to own a converted camera.

Finale

That's all for now. In hope that I would be posting some coverage from the expo which is going on right now and in which our group is rolled in. The expo will last for 7 days, so I might snap (or take snaps from other snappers!) and post them here by next week. Moreover, I'm working on plans right now as I'm trying to make a setup for an idea.
I think I need to give my camera more trust and let it lead me through some hard times for now, just to forget some of troubles. It had been some hard 2 weeks lately that got me even to lose my appetite at large. Many ideas had been visiting, coming and going, while some are progressive, yet some are destructive; and yet I'm trying to convince myself it is all nothing but a mood swing… I so need summer to be over with, and my vacation to begin… so badly…