Hi all


I attended Brooks Insitute of Photography in Santa Barbara Ca. I learned some techniques that i would like to pass on to all of you. It is expensive even to test. And you will have to test you own equipment.


Its is possable to take a photograph at night using Irfra-red film and a opaque Intra-red Gel over your flash. No visable light is emmited by the flash because it is absorbed by the gel when the light passes through it. Only the invisable Infra-red light is transmitted. Green vegetation will glow white.

This way the Sasquatch will not even know it was photographed, this technique used with a camera trap and a laser or motion detector trigger would prove quite productive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you use B&W IR (infra-red) film from kodak it will cost $25. Rate the film @ ISO 200 to 320 and you must load/unload it in complete darkness, also You must use a 25 red filter over the lens ( 3 stops of exposure compensation). Also it is very inportant to rate the intensity of your flash's output at 10 ft' this is called a guide number (testing should start at 100 ISO at 10 ft" and then take a reading of your flash with your light meter(set @ the ISO on the meter) this should give you a good starting point for a proper exposure at that certain distance. Use the opaque gel over the flash when you are metering this is very important or the photos will not be properly exposed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Therefore, I would advise a opaque gel ( 87 IR or 89 IR) over the flash that WILL ONLY TRANSMITT INFRA _RED LIGHT. This makes the light INVISABLE at least to our vison and most likely a sasquatch's too. It is reasonable that they have more rods to allow then to see in the dark: but to see the infra-red spectum, I really doubt it.

The Sasquatch will not see the flash even in the middle of the night.

This thread has been up a while and i thought i should clairify the technique

Good luck,

Ken Ken Ken Ken Ken Yielding
Photographer



PS. you can buy the stuff at www.calumetphoto.com they deliver in one or two days. 1-800-calumet.

PSS. if you bag a photo of one with this method please send me a copy & and a technical advising credit.

So true! Thank God for people like you! I am glad you decided to join us here at bigfoot forums Ken.

Ken,

I removed the poll from this topic because they didn't have anything to do with each other. I recommend starting another post with the poll in General Discussion.

Thanks!

I thought i would up date this thread to share my testing of this technique.

All went according to plan. I expected the results to show the the flash during darkness operation is not powerful enough to record a subject at more than 10 ft. (Buckshot 35 camera) The flash is to weak and the lens is very limited.

The key to this technique is to have a very powerful flash(S) and a fast lens in which the buckshot lacks in both aspects.

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Another way to illuminate the subject in a night time shot is to do what they call painting with light. In this situation you would want to set up multiple flashes in the area you expect the sasquatch to walk or be standing when it sets off the trigger. Be sure to point the flash heads away from the lens to avoid Flare.

Using the Gelled Flash technique.

The implimentation of radio master slave units that come with some flashes would be needed for syncrozation(all the flashes poping at once). i use the canon 550ez the guide number is around 120 (which means f/12 @ 10 ft. away with out a gel. you change the exposure when you add gels to the flash (89 or 87) the opaque one, and a 25 red(3 stops) over the lens and be sure to compensate for the loss of light from both. Test the infrared gels each one is different. :wink:

:!: :!: :!:
INVERSE SQUARE LAW
As with any electronic flash the light emmitted falls off at a certian rate.
As the distance from the flash increases to the subject the light is the most intense near the souce and radiates outward losing intensity as it goes. The flash is half as intense as you double the distance.

Anyone the knows photography will tell you the not compensating for a gel or filter properly will produce crappy results consistently. Test the film and the flash together.

Basic Photography--

Exposure Index Test(film test)
Buy your self a grey card and have a friend take your photo with it in your hands once during the day time (in direct sun at f/16 and then stop down bracketing exposures all the way down and then go to f/16 and go up in f-number or aperture( this is an Exposure index test) (transparency film). Record each shot on a piece of paper exposure shot #. Have a reading made of each frame of film of the grey card on a densitometer, your local pro photo shop should have one. the reading you are looking for is a density is 0.80 That is properly exposed for the speed of the film. Each film batch is different so buy in bulk and test it only once. what you are looking for is what frame f/16 exposed on a bright sunny day and how many frames is the proper supposed speed of the film is off from the 0.80 density frame. This is for more traditional film really.

Guide # Test (flash test with a given ISO from EI test)
Then get out you grey card again and do it again at night with your subject holding your greycard at 10 ft and take a roll bracketing each time all the way up or down. Always wait for the flash to charge up to have a consistent output on the flash. Then bracket your exposures with the aperture or f/number. Whatever the proper f/stop (move the decimal point one to the right one spot ie. f/11 = GN 110) is for the 0.80 density with the flash at ten feet is called the guide number of the flash.

I dont know if these traditional ways in testing is going to apply to infrared film. I am testing it.

:wink:

I am still looking for the best trigger system for the camera. The one i am working on is crude at best. Anyone with a interested in electronics can help me if you want in on it. :wink:

Now that You have your camera system set up, in your field of view (in the lens of the camera) you set up you remote flashes over your bait spot. Having wireless slaves allows you to set them up up to 60 ft away from the master flash on the camera. Set these flashes in the trees above the trigger or bait spot from different angles. dont point them towards the lens. Use the opaque gel as discussed earlier on all the flashes so to not spook the animals. If it cant see it go off it might stick around.

Ken Ken Ken Yielding

In about 2 months, it may be warm enough to start setting out cameras again. This post gives me some serious things to consider, Thanks!

Hello all,

These are some examples of what Infra-red film looks like.

These are the Chimpanzee at the Oregon Zoo in Portland.


http://www.geocities.com/kenyielding/prima...ateinfrared.htm

Take a look it is worth it.

Thanks,

Ken Ken Ken Yielding

Cool images Ken!
I do a bit of pen/ink art, and the textures created by the infra red film are amazingly similar. I am going to purchase some for use in taking image bank photos, after seeing your work.

Thanks for the update, Ken.