New River Gorge Bridge in Infrared

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

6-8-21 Infrared New River Gorge Bridge DSCF0257 large in color.jpg
6-8-21 Infrared New River Gorge Bridge DSCF0257 large in color.jpg2448×1632 1.25 MB

6-8-21 Infrared New River Gorge Bridge Ver 1-DSCF0257 large in b&w.jpg
6-8-21 Infrared New River Gorge Bridge Ver 1-DSCF0257 large in b&w.jpg2448×1632 1.05 MB

New River Gorge Bridge in B&W Infrared

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Photographed in June 2021 in infrared. I’ve seen a lot of photos of the bridge, but not many in infrared. The sky was pretty plain, but I left it in to include the tree branch.

Specific Feedback

These are both the same photograph in infrared, processed differently, one with added clouds and the bridge and tree in “color”, the other in B&W. Would love to know (1) your thoughts on which one is “better”, (2) should I take out the clouds on the color and leave the sky plain, (3) any suggestions on processing to get a better look.

Technical Details

Fujifilm XT1 converted to Infrared, Fuji 18-135 lens, 18mm, 1/7 sec at f 8.0, ISO 200, 732pm 6/8/21. Processed white balance in Silkypix, and processed infrared channel swap in Photoshop and other effects in Nik, clouds added from luminar

2

Interesting use of IR! Channel swaps can be very intriguing. I think the clouds add to the scene but you might consider a tweak to the cyan to pull it a bit more toward blue (maybe add magenta to cyan in Selective Color).

The white balance issue can also be addressed with a custom profile made with Adobe DNG Profile Editor. I’ll have to check out Silkypix – that’s new to me. It’s unfortunate that LR doesn’t allow enough WB adjustment for IR. Canon’s DPP does go far enough, but then you’re stuck with its tonal limitations in the TIFF it returns.

3

@Diane_Miller thank you Diane for your very thorough and thoughtful feedback. I haven’t worked on Infrared in a while, so I need to practice on it more. There are ways, like you said, to fix the tonal and color problems, and I will work on them. Jamie Konarski Davidson had a workshop on IR which I attended a few years ago, and I have her instructions to make a dng for IR, so I definitely need to play with it more. Thanks!