8th Annual Fine Art Photography Exhibit

8th Annual Fine Art Photography Exhibit

ArtSpace Herndon is pleased to present the 8thAnnual Fine Art Photography Exhibit featuring finalists in the annual Fine Art Photography Competition. Renowned photographer and competition judge Carla Steckley chose 37 photographs from nearly 225 submitted to the competition by 75 professional and amateur photographers in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and West Virginia. These photographers show how a group of artists with a range of themes and skills can be brought together to exhibit work ranging from whimsical digital collages to realistic black and white prints to colorful abstract images, into one spectacular exhibit.

The finalists' photographs will be on display in the Post Gallery February 14 through March 11, 2017. Carla Steckley will announce the winners during the Awards Reception on February 25, 2017, 7 to 9 p.m., when $800.00 in cash prizes will be awarded. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served at the reception.

We welcome Carla Steckley as our judge for the annual ArtSpace Herndon Fine Art Photography competition and exhibit. She has been a serious photographer since the late 80's. She remembers the traditional wet darkroom in her home, where she produced Illfochrome and black and white images. Her specialty was Infrared Photography, leading to numerous lectures on the subject and writing a book about the process. She now happily embraces the benefits of the digital world.

The finalist photographers are:

Thomas Brett, Kathryn Mohrman, Mary Ann Setton, Mark Chen, John Petro, Meryl Silver, James Diedrich, Robert Pierce, Ron Taylor,

Peter Foiles, Andrew Rhodes, William Toti,

Judith Guenther, Joanne Rojcewicz, Jim Turner,

Nicol Hockett, Gerard Rugel, Charles Walker,

Joshua Katz, Sarah Salomon, Ginger Werz-Petricka,

Robin Kent, Tracy Sarang,

Greg Knott, Lori Saunders,

For more information on the exhibit and artists or to purchase sponsorships please visit our website at ArtSpaceHerndon.com.

Arts Herndon is an independent 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization and serves as the official arts agency of the Town of Herndon. We operate ArtSpace Herndon, the Art Gallery and Performance Space at 750 Center Street, Herndon. We also provide arts education, arts scholarships, works of public art and grants to small arts organizations and artists. All Arts Herndon programming and exhibits are made possible in part by generous contributions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Town of Herndon, the Arts Council of Fairfax County, the Nelson J and Katherine Friant Post Foundation, Steve and Pat Macintyre, and by our generous sponsors, supporters and volunteers. Visit us on the web at www.HerndonArts.org or ArtSpaceHerndon.org.

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Source: 8th Annual Fine Art Photography Exhibit

Infrared Photography - Travel Photography Tip

If you are looking for a slightly different way to record your travels photographically, I recommend infrared photography.   There are several ways to obtain an infrared image, from filters to a full permanent conversion of a camera to infrared photography.

Some details from Wikipedia:

In infrared photography, the film or image sensor used is sensitive to infrared light. The part of the spectrum used is referred to as near-infrared to distinguish it from far-infrared, which is the domain of thermal imaging. Wavelengths used for photography range from about 700 nm to about 900 nm. Film is usually sensitive to visible light too, so an infrared-passing filter is used; this lets infrared (IR) light pass through to the camera, but blocks all or most of the visible light spectrum (the filter thus looks black or deep red). ("Infrared filter" may refer either to this type of filter or to one that blocks infrared but passes other wavelengths.)

When these filters are used together with infrared-sensitive film or sensors, "in-camera effects" can be obtained; false-color or black-and-white images with a dreamlike or sometimes lurid appearance known as the "Wood Effect," an effect mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow.  There is a small contribution from chlorophyll fluorescence, but this is marginal and is not the real cause of the brightness seen in infrared photographs. The effect is named after the infrared photography pioneer Robert W. Wood, and not after the material wood, which does not strongly reflect infrared.

The other attributes of infrared photographs include very dark skies and penetration of atmospheric haze, caused by reduced Rayleigh scattering and Mie scattering, respectively, compared to visible light. The dark skies, in turn, result in less infrared light in shadows and dark reflections of those skies from water, and clouds will stand out strongly. These wavelengths also penetrate a few millimeters into skin and give a milky look to portraits, although eyes often look black.

To get started, try one of the available infrared filters that you attach to your lens.   Be sure to purchase the correct size for the lens you want to use or buy step-up rings so the filter can be used on any lens.  There are a variety of wavelength filters that give different effects.

I was so taken by this type of photography that I had a spare camera permanently converted.  I sent my Nikon D200 to Life Pixel to have it converted to their Super Color IR that is equivalent to a 590nm filter.  This conversion allows some color through so the above images are possible.   Check out Life Pixel's website for all the available filter types, cameras that are convertible and what is required for the conversion.

Images with a lot of green leaves are the most dramatic as they come through white or very light.   Many people think it is snow or ice when they see these striking images!

Due to the contrasts that are produced by the filter these images also give us some amazing black and white images.   Even with the color available I still find I like the B&W more, with some images.

By far, my favorite subject for infrared photography is trees.  Because the leaves are white or lighter, the structure of the tree trunk and the branches are more visible than in a regular color or black & white image.  Palm trees end up with a bit of glow in the fronds.

Some times a bit of color is interesting too!

You can also get down to just a leaf and it's structure.

Landscapes are also a great infrared subject!

The only caveat to making false color infrared images is that they need to be converted in Photoshop to swap the color channels so your skies are blue!   Life Pixel has set up tutorials to help with all aspects of processing.

Many photographers get hooked on this different way of seeing our world.   Give it a try, see how you like it!

Please visit my infrared gallery for these and other images.

That is all for now.

Lynn

Source: Infrared Photography - Travel Photography Tip

Watch the Trump Inauguration in infrared

An invisible force is arguably what propelled Donald Trump through this controversial, tumultuous election, landing him in the Oval Office to lead the entire nation of America as its 45th President.

The unexpected and shocking force that swept the country into a populist fervor culminated on January 20th, 2017, Inauguration Day, and I was there to capture it with the help of a unique and similarly silent force–infrared wavelengths.

When traveling to photograph an event of this magnitude, there is always one guarantee: you will be jostling with hundreds of photographers for the exact same scene. By necessity, you are forced to think outside the box.

I knew that to represent the weekend in a way I felt accurately represented 2016 as a whole, I needed to go further. I needed to visualize that invisible force and look beyond the reach of a traditional lens.

On January 20th I set out to make the invisible visible. I grabbed an older DSLR camera I had converted to be able to photograph infrared light and embarked on a journey of mental visualization.

When I arrived in Washington, there was definitely a stark difference between those there to attend the inauguration and those there to protest it. It was as if I was in two different worlds when I reached the National Mall. The park was full of supporters gathered for an inauguration, but outside the celebration area, it was a totally different atmosphere.

At one point I sat down to eat and realized that I was surrounded by people who were on dates, getting a bite to eat with their families and going about their business. Yet just around the corner, a limo was set ablaze. It reminded me that regardless of what's happening, or who is president, the world won't stop spinning.

Infrared light is invisible to the human eye. Infrared photos show specific wavelengths of light that are just beyond what the human eye can see and like thermal vision, infrared photography captures infrared light reflected off of objects like buildings, trees and people.

Using this technique showed Washington, D.C. in a new, surprisingly symbolic way. Suddenly, if only in a photograph, the various tones and shades of orange, yellow and green brought a sense of unity to the city, reconciling protesters and supporters — groups that quite often, especially in the context for this election, disregard each other.

Photographing protests and demonstrations in infrared was just as symbolic as photographing the supporters in infrared. The images show characteristics of the people and their environment in a way that you will never be able to see with the human eye. They camouflage clothing color and hair color, offering an opportunity to see commonality throughout all of the subjects.

At the same time, on a more introspective level, the photographs highlight the fact that while many of Donald Trump''s supporters felt invisible to the concerns of mainstream politicians, those who oppose Trump and are protesting in the streets now feel that same invisibility.

Truly capturing the forces that brought so many people together, on either side, might not be possible, but looking at the world through the filter of infrared helped me see things I might have otherwise missed.

Johnny Milano is a photo photojournalist from Babylon, New York. Among his clients are Reuters, The New York Times, Newsday and Polaris Images. You can see more of his work on his website and Instagram. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

Source: Watch the Trump Inauguration in infrared

Sciences for art: Preservation and protection of cultural heritage objects

Conservation and preservation of historical monuments as well as of single artworks of our cultural heritage are receiving increasing attention. In the online magazine ChemViews, Austrian scientists take a view on the current technologies used for scientific analysis and documentation. Portable instruments, a combination of noninvasive spectroscopic techniques, and especially designed weathering cells will provide the data needed to develop strategies for better artwork preservation, they propose.

In artwork analysis, noninvasive techniques such as X-ray radiography, infrared photography and X-ray fluorescence allow the detailed investigation of the chemical composition of, e.g., historical paints. Knowledge of these data surely satisfies our curiosity—is this blue color made of Prussian Blue or indigo? How much lead white was used in historical pigments? It also enables the scientists to assess the deterioration paths of the pigments and materials over time, an issue that has gained increasing attention in recent times.

Manfred Schneider, Rita Wiesinger, and Wilfried Vetter from Vienna University of Technology and the Institute of Science and Technology in Art (ISTA) in Vienna, Austria, have reviewed the state-of-the-art technology used for the documentation and analysis of pigments and dyes in paintings as well as of metals and their alloys or stone in sculptures. They conclude: "Scientific investigations are indispensable for studying material degradation processes on heritage objects."

Especially designed weathering cells enable the scientists to monitor the dynamic degradation of metals and polymers in time-lapsed mode. For the observation of long-term atmospheric corrosion, racks are used with the model samples mounted on it, which will be exposed to the ambient atmosphere. This analysis still needs observation times of years. Apart from the characterization of historical pigments and paints, a recent focus has also been laid on modern paints such as the widely used acrylic colors.

Photographic techniques using X-rays and infrared reflectance technologies nowadays enable scientists to visualize underdrawings and retouches in valuable paintings without any physical sample taken from the object. These technologies are also used for noninvasive material analysis. However, compounded pigments and organic dyes are still difficult to detect with the standard techniques. The authors therefore promote "Science for Art" as a growing research area with the need to develop advanced analytical tools for better assessing the long-term dynamic behavior of the materials. This will provide us with the clues of how to preserve the objects of our cultural heritage.

Explore further: Nanotech tools offer affordable, accurate historical paint analysis

More information: Manfred Schreiner et al, Identification and Preservation of Cultural Heritage, ChemViews (2017). DOI: 10.1002/chemv.201600066

Source: Sciences for art: Preservation and protection of cultural heritage objects

DunJon eZine (Issue 23

Perhaps the World's finest fantasy art and cosplay magazine.

DunJon Fantasy Femme Fatale eZine as it names suggests is fantasy art magazine that primarily focuses upon femme fatales. (Beautiful, yet dangerous women.) It is also a print collection. (All buyers of this pdf may print images for personal use.) It is also a Stock Art Catalog, all images in this and other DunJon eZines are up for sale. (Those who want to buy a professional license agreement may purchase HD images to make book/album/game covers, posters, and/or calendars see license agreement section of this eZine for pricing and options. )

This well-book marked, fantasy art eZine features images of beautiful women dressed in interesting, often sexy outfits in exotic locations doing amazing things. (Think Super heroines, Steam Punk Fatales, Tomb Raiders, Zombies Killers, Chain Mail Bikini Warriors, Vampires and more!)  Other fantasy style images such as dragons, monsters, male heroes/villains, and otherwise interesting images have also been included. These images are presented in variety of styles, that include pure photography, Infrared photography, Surrealistic glow, and/or comic style dark lined impressionism.

This eZine contains dozens of printable 8.5x 11 images, plus bonus material to entertain and amaze you. 

All issues now on sale!

Source: DunJon eZine (Issue 23

Modify a Cheap Action Camera to Add Night Vision

You can easily modify just about any camera to get a lightweight night vision effect, but it's not useful for much more than playing around with a crazy view. Over on NODE, they make the same idea a bit more useful by also adding an infrared LED.

Essentially, this is a cheap action camera with the IR filter removed and a high-powered infrared LED added on. There's also a lens attachment added on to give the viewfinder a bigger screen. The end result is a super cheap camera that can see surprisingly well in the dark. Head over to NODE for the full guide.

Cheap and Small DIY Night Vision | NODE

Source: Modify a Cheap Action Camera to Add Night Vision

Commercial drone operator in New Plymouth captures (near) infrared photography

Near infrared captures more detail than a normal lens or the naked eye.

At first glance, the picture above looks like a typical aerial shot of the Taranaki coastline taken using a drone aircraft.

But by using a near-infra-red lens, commercial drone operator Bevin Lealand has brought out detail that an ordinary camera, and the naked eye, would not have seen.

The red land is actually dirt and the pattern of delicate swirled lines is actually the result of a tractor planting cow feed, he said.

Bevin Lealand builds and modifies his own drones. He has about 14 that each do their own job.

"You can see things you can't see with your eyes."

READ MORE:* New Plymouth drone developer's flying success* Camera drone can follow you* Infrared yoga heats the body from the inside out* New smartphone can analyse any material

The New Plymouth man has spent 30 years taking photos, a hobby he said has a never-ending learning curve.

A sky high photo captures tyre tracks on a farm in Warea, Taranaki.

"It's a whole other skill to work a drone," Lealand said.

"I think I took maybe 1000 photos before I could wrap my head around the idiosyncrasies of it all."

​Lealand often worked within the oil and gas industry, taking aerial snapshots to map land, called "orthomosaic".

"It's sort of like Google Maps. The images are stitched together like a jigsaw puzzle."

With an integrated camera and a micro four thirds near infrared lens, Lealand flies high snapping pictures with the touch of an iPad.

The farm photo was taken after he had finished a mapping job off Stent Rd, in Warea, about three weeks ago.

He explained the near infrared lens captures "significant detail" that would normally go unnoticed.

Lealand is one of just 60 New Zealanders to have a drone licence, allowing him special privileges to capture photographs beyond the usual limitations.

Everyday drone users must avoid parked cars, animals, parks, sports fields in use, flammable vegetation and private properties.

But Lealand's permit allows him advantages, including nighttime photography.

"It's [licence] worth thousands and thousands," he said.

"But high-end photography has helped me produce some absolutely stunning stuff."

The "stunning stuff" included shots Lealand took just for fun.

"I remember once I was mowing the lawn and I left a heart in the grass," he said.

"And then I flew up the drone and took a photo. It came out really cool, actually."

 - Stuff

Source: Commercial drone operator in New Plymouth captures (near) infrared photography

Hack your own DIY night vision action camera for under $100

Being able to see with a camera in complete darkness is a challenge. For stills we often have to resort to long exposures. For video it can be virtually impossible. Thankfully, the megapixel race is all but over, and camera manufacturers are focusing on high ISO capability. There's a couple out there now that can get fairly decent results in near black conditions, but they're not cheap.

The folks over at N-O-D-E, however have another option. Hacking a cheap action camera to give it some basic night vision ability. The cost in the video says it can be done for around $40, but this will depend where in the world you are. The particular camera he used seems to be much less expensive in the UK than it is in the USA. But, I'm sure pretty much any action cameras can be modified the same way.

The camera used in the video is the Kitvision Splash HD 1080p, which is available in the US for around $65. I would bet that many, though, have other old action cameras laying around doing nothing that they could hack apart to try something like this. If not, you can always hit up eBay to see what used bargains can be had.

Essentially, the process involves removing the filter that blocks infrared light. He doesn't go into the details of removing the infrared filter, as there's already quite a lot of information out there on how to do that. It's what he does next that I found interesting. And that's strapping a 5 Watt high powered infrared LED to the top of it.

At night, there's almost no light at all, visible or otherwise. So, bringing your own infrared light to work with the camera is a great way to "see" in the dark without visibly lighting up the whole space. The LED used here isn't going to project very far, though. Even the "high powered" infrared LEDs are generally only designed for giving a slightly longer range for remote control signals.

But, it proves the concept, and seems to work rather well.

He also added a 10x loupe at the back allow for a viewfinder. The built in screen is obviously quite easy to see already, but blocking it off with an eye piece means light's not going to spill out and potentially affect your shot. Although, I imagine it probably wouldn't actually make that much difference. I can't find the loupe he used, but this one should work quite well. You'd just need to construct something to wrap around it.

While it looks like it would work well for close up subjects, the video's conclusion suggests that they would go with a much more powerful light next time. And it's easy to see why. Perhaps if you're trailing night time bugs in nature then a small 5 Watt LED might be enough. But if you want any kind of distance between you and your subject, you'll definitely want something more powerful.

Looks like I might have an experiment to try out on the Elecam that's been sat in a box for months.

Have you done infrared or other conversions to action cameras? Have you used infrared or other lights to help them see at night without producing visible light? Let us know in the comments.

[via ISO1200]

Source: Hack your own DIY night vision action camera for under $100

R.I. photography gets new downtown showcase

The nonprofit collaborative Providence Center for Photographic Arts will show the work of area photographers and help nurture new talent.

Andy Smith Journal Arts Writer asmith651

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — There's a photo exhibit opening Thursday, called "New Year, New Beginning" at the new Providence Center for Photographic Arts on North Main Street, which is also an apt description for the center itself.

What was once the Peter Miller Fine Art Photography Gallery has become a nonprofit collaborative, with plans to function not only as a gallery, but as a resource for photographers in the state, with workshops and lectures as well as exhibits.

Miller, who moved to Rhode Island from Boston in 1997, started planning the gallery in 2014 and opened it in 2015. In 2016, between family health issues and his wife's new job in California, Miller found it difficult to keep operating the gallery on his own. And now he is relocating to California.

But, he said, he didn't want to simply close the gallery doors, and after talking to lots of photographers in the area, he came up with the idea of forming a nonprofit membership organization.

For the opening exhibit, each of the eight founding members of the Providence Center for Photographic Arts has invited five other area photographers to contribute work. (Providence Journal photographer Steve Szydlowski is one of the founders.)

David DeMelim, a Rhode Island photographer and artist who functions as acting director for the center, said the idea behind the opening exhibit is to mark the transition of the gallery.  By asking the founding members to invite five additional photographers to contribute, he said, the exhibit will showcase the diversity of photography in the area.

"The concept is to provide a diverse and open view of all the things photography can be," he said. "We have included some very well-established photographers, along with some who might not be as well known."

Most of the contributors are from Rhode Island, he said, with a few from surrounding states. Beyond that, DeMelim said, there's no particular theme, style, or subject to define the show.

"It's meant to be eclectic," he said. "We just asked [contributors] to send us the work they're most excited about today."

DeMelim said the center now has about 48 members. (Memberships are $50, $150 and $300).  "We've had a tremendous response in just a few weeks," he said. "There's no shortage of interest and support for a photography center in Rhode Island."

He said the center plans open houses and workshops for all levels of photographers, as well as more specialized sessions. Coming up April 22-23, for example, will be a workshop on The Art and Technique of Infrared Photography with Laurie and Kyle Klein.

— asmith@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7485

On Twitter: @asmith651 

IF YOU GO

What: "New Year, New Beginning"

Where: Providence Center for Photographic Arts, 118 N. Main St., Providence, second floor.

When: Opening reception is 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday. Exhibit runs until Feb. 11, 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Information: petermillerfineart.com

Source: R.I. photography gets new downtown showcase

Magnificent Angkor in infrared photography

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Source: Magnificent Angkor in infrared photography

London-Based Photographer Creates Super Impressive Infrared Photographs

Have You Ever Seen Infrared Images This Cool?

Infrared photography gives photographers the opportunity to explore an unseen world. It is nothing but capturing the invisible Infrared light (light that lies beyond the red end of the visible spectrum) contrary to normal photography where one captures the visible light.

All objects emit infrared radiation (heat) but this is not visible to the human eye. Cameras used for infrared photography have the infrared filter in front of the sensor removed and replaced with a filter that allows only infrared light through it.

This modified DSLR can be used just like a normal DSLR to capture infrared images.

For those who are worried about the costs involved in modifying, there are options to buy and attach a circular Infrared filter, to the front of your lens, just like you would attach any other filter to the lens. The downside to this is, motion blur as the infrared filter allows very little light to pass through it, as a result, the images must be taken using long exposure techniques.

For those of you who are interested in Infrared photography, here are some images created by Photographer James Zwadlo who is a freelance director and designer based in London, UK, working across art-direction, design, animation and direction. 

For James, photography was a hobby he was increasingly becoming involved in last year as he made a conscious effort to travel the globe more. With this he thought to learn about cameras, lenses and photography in general, could only benefit his directing career.

James has a fascination to create unique infrared photographs where he makes photos that have colors very different from the traditional two-tone infrared photographs so that his photos look and feel unique.

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

When James talks about his experience in creating infrared photographs, he says:

"Like many people I first got turned into the possibilities of infrared by Paolo Pettigiani's photos of Central Park last year and thought it was a cool idea, but, being a designer, I was curious to understand the theory behind it more and how it could be pushed to its limits.

Later in 2016, a designer who I admire greatly, GMUNK, had also started to take some infrared photos and was testing the possibilities himself as a designer. I was super-inspired and got in touch with him about his process, for example, how to get a camera modded to do infrared photography and the workflow itself. He was super patient and open about getting into it and was a great help!

A month later I modded my 7D and although it is quite an average DSLR by today's standards, I feel learning the basics with a more mid-low priced camera has thoroughly helped me hone my technique and workflow to the point where I can squeeze out every last bit of juice from the RAWs.

I had to figure out a workflow by trial-and-error as there's a lack of 'proper' guides to how it's done from the research I did, but managed to pick up enough to figure out a workflow that worked for me. Once I got that down I've had more fun in playing with color relationships, compositions, and ways of further manipulating the information.

At the end of the day I see it as a technique and learning about it more is what I intend to do, and then how to apply it back to my work. The main thing I try to do above all else is, take a good picture, then the style lends itself better to certain scenarios than others, so I take those into mind and try and make a nice shot."

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

 

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

 

Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

 Image by James Zwadlo

Image by James Zwadlo

Further Resources

James intends to extend this technique of his this year, into videos and also to photograph more countries in infrared. If you like James's work, follow the links below to see more of them.

Further Learning

We've got some excellent "Lightroom Tutorials" in easy-to-follow Videos here.Learn how to use Lightroom to "Transform Your Images Into Powerful and Share-Worthy Works of Art."

The following two tabs change content below. Dahlia is a physicist and self taught photographer with a passion for travel, photography and technology. She can sometimes get obsessed trying new photography techniques and post processing styles using Lightroom or Plugins in Photoshop. She occasionally writes articles on topics that interest or provoke her. You can check out her photography on Instagram, 500px and Flickr Latest posts by Dahlia Ambrose (see all)
Source: London-Based Photographer Creates Super Impressive Infrared Photographs