White skin, studio, infrared

arigram · Mar 6, 2008

I have this model who is quite ginger, with long blond hair and very fair freckled skin (she's Greek too) and on my first photoshoot I realized that she glows!
Black background, softboxed strobes, PanF+ 120 at 50iso, developed normally with Ilfosol S.
Her skin glowed like a fairy and I want to take advantage of that.

I thought of using Softar filters and Red #25 on my Hasselblad, strobes and Infrared film. Unfortunately I don't have an infrared filter.
I have an old Macophot IR820c and a few Rollei Infrared.

What are your suggestions?
Will strobes work with infrared?
How should I rate and expose the film?
How should I develop it? (I have D-76, Ilfosol-S, Rodinal, Perceptol, Microphen)

cowanw · Mar 6, 2008

Flash units have Xenon gas and are designed to output at 5500 wavelength.
I suspect the infrared wavelengths are much less present. Apparently Krypton puts out more IR. Still you never know till you try. Maybe test shots with the # 25 filter and IR film to determine the output of the flash at that wavelenght?
Good Question!
Regards
Bill

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 6, 2008

IF you want to do infrared in the studio, your best bet will be 3200K hot lights. Strobes do have infrared, but not so much.

Don Dudenbostel · Mar 6, 2008

I used to shoot Kodak HIR in the studio with a 29 filter and strobes. I found I could rate the film at 200 and got excellent results. Exactly the effect you're looking for. Maco / Rollei I have no idea so try a roll and see. I think you'll find there's more IR than you expect.

smieglitz · Mar 6, 2008

Though I've never used studio strobe with IR, at one time I used a Vivitar 283 portable flash with Kodak's HIE IR film. I used an opaque IR gel filter (#89 IIRC) on the flash (and a #25 or #29 over the lens) and it worked fine. The flash even worked on automatic well with this arrangement. I think the auto sensor was IR sensitive.

I'd be interested in seeing results with the 820 film as I'm thinking of trying it in LF.

Joe

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 6, 2008

Just bear in mind that with a proper IR filter, the Maco IR has a speed somewhere around ISO 6-12. The new Rollei may be faster, around 25-50 ISO, after filtration.

arigram · Mar 6, 2008

So, I guess I will add a roll or two along "normal" film during the shoot and use it an an experiment.

Robert Hall · Mar 6, 2008

Not terribly germane here, but I used to shoot strobes with an orange filter and HIE in the studio. (looking for an image here) But I found the results to be very good. I shot at 250ASA.

I had used candle light as well with a much more pronounced IR look (of course) and I liked that as well.

With the low ASA of the Maco film, I have been afraid to shoot it in the studio.

Best of luck, Ari.

arigram · Mar 6, 2008

Thanks Robert, developing won't be easy.

I also thought of something else:
I will be using white fabrics and have the idea of adding a black light to the scene.
Do you think that will work?

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 6, 2008

If you want to see an IR effect, white fabric as a backdrop will prevent you from seeing much of an IR effect. Also, blacklights are UV rich, IR poor.

arigram · Mar 6, 2008

TheFlyingCamera said:
If you want to see an IR effect, white fabric as a backdrop will prevent you from seeing much of an IR effect. Also, blacklights are UV rich, IR poor.

White fabrics won't be used as a backdrop, which will be black, but as pieces of the set, including clothing.
As for the blacklight, I thought of it in regards to enhancing the glow during the normal film exposures but I am afraid that strobes will overpower it.
There isn't something like this to "enhance" the IR effect, is there?

Robert Hall · Mar 6, 2008

Ari,

Think more of synthetics of nylon, polyester, etc. I think this would give you a better shot at an IR effect.

mikeklensch · Mar 10, 2008

Also keep in mind that Efke IR820 does not do well with #25 red filters. You'll need a darker filter like the Hoya R72 to really bring out the IR effect.

Mike

arigram · Mar 10, 2008

Hmmm... maybe I should refrain from using infra red then until I have a proper filter.

RoBBo · Mar 11, 2008

If you're just aiming at moving around the way her skin looks, a red filter over the lens and normal pan film will be just fine with most strobes.
Examples of what I've done with just that...
http://flickr.com/photos/falcon_awesome/496643520/
Now, the infared 'effect' is a different story, but for just that nice glowy skin, red+pan will do great.

White skin, studio, infrared

arigram

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White skin, studio, infrared

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