Gerald Chamberlin DPAGB EFIAP is a member of the Morton Photographic Society in Carlisle and is an experienced photographic judge and speaker. Members of the society again attended either in person at the meeting room or on Zoom.
Gerald started by explaining the science of Infra-Red (IR) and how it fits into the light spectrum, as ‘Invisible Light’, the history of Infra-Red photography and how it began in the late 1800s. It was used in both the First World War, for identifying trenches and gun emplacements, and during the Second World War. He showed how it was also used in the 1960s and 70s to produce ‘psychedelic’ photographic effects on record covers, etc. Originally the process relied upon film but nowadays digital cameras, which are a lot easier to work with, achieve excellent results. Gerald used to use a DSLR but now uses digital mirrorless cameras.
He explained how there are two ways to achieve IR by the use of external IR filters for the camera, which makes the process very slow, or getting the camera professionally converted by changing the standard filter in the camera to an IR filter, and the choices of different wavelength filters.
He presented his excellent digital images of very varied subjects, including the Harbour at Galston, Little Langdale, Carlisle War Memorial, Ferrybridge, Eskdale, Lowther Castle, Edinburgh Jupiter Park, Longtown Car Show.
The sitting man as Silloth, Threlkeld Quarry including Sir Tom, Beamish Museum, including some panoramas.
He described the complex and quite technical processing of the images once taken, including the stages of Custom White balance, Red and Blue swapping, Desaturation of colours, Clarity and Dehaze, using software such as Photoshop and Nik Effects. He also showed some excellent prints for members to examine.
Gerald then bravely demonstrated this workflow for post processing the images on his laptop, successfully detailing the various stages. Finally, Gerald showed a short video showing the subtle processes he had used on those prints displayed in the room. Members enjoyed the very informative talk and the excellent images and prints.
Gordon Train