This is a New Year, and I have cleaned up my bits of data!
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See you soon with new updates and photographic adventures...
Yves Rubin
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Night lights with an Infrared filter
I have had a lot of fun recently doing night photography. I was intrigued by the prospect of doing the classical car light trails using long exposures with an IR filter (Hoya R72 Infrared). At night, there are of course not many sources of scattered IR light, but I was curious about the results.
The images in my Los Angeles gallery on PBase speak for themselves. Interestingly, the results are somewhat soft, probably through diffusion of IR light, compared to the same view seen without the IR filter. This provides an ethereal feel to the image, which I like. I have not tried really long exposures yet (longer than the 30 sec limit of a digital camera), but will soon.
The only challenge with IR photography when using an IR filter in front of the lens is to first prefocus without the filter on, and then make sure that screwing the filter back on does not disturb the lens focus. I used Canon's excellent 85 mm f/1.8 prime lens for this work (58 mm filter size), but any other lens would be fine too. The filters are not inexpensive, so if you are trying this out for the first time, it may be a good idea to rent the filter, or purchase a smaller filter on an appropriate lens.Los Angeles freeway IR photo
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| Los Angeles freeway traffic capture in Infrared I |
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| Los Angeles freeway traffic capture in Infrared II |
The images in my Los Angeles gallery on PBase speak for themselves. Interestingly, the results are somewhat soft, probably through diffusion of IR light, compared to the same view seen without the IR filter. This provides an ethereal feel to the image, which I like. I have not tried really long exposures yet (longer than the 30 sec limit of a digital camera), but will soon.
The only challenge with IR photography when using an IR filter in front of the lens is to first prefocus without the filter on, and then make sure that screwing the filter back on does not disturb the lens focus. I used Canon's excellent 85 mm f/1.8 prime lens for this work (58 mm filter size), but any other lens would be fine too. The filters are not inexpensive, so if you are trying this out for the first time, it may be a good idea to rent the filter, or purchase a smaller filter on an appropriate lens.Los Angeles freeway IR photo
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The technology present at the 2008 Beinjing Olympics in Beijing was certainly impressive. Here is a visual account (text in Spanish) and a good example of "bigger is better"...
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Here is a sensible look at the issue of ever increasing megapixels and the quality of images that result from packing more sensor sites on a surface. One of the points I like it that RAW files should be available on any camera, including point-and-shoot, to give more processing latitude to the photographer.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Epson Stylus Pro 4000 deflected nozzles
Hopefully you have not been in the same situation I was in 2007. My Epson 4000 printer suddenly showed a bad case of deflected nozzles in the matte channel. After the routine cleaning attempts, including the "windex" pool under the parking head, I had it checked by a repair shop. They concluded that the printhead needed to be changed, which would have cost between $700-900. As you can see from the images of the automatic ink check routine below, the effect of the deflected nozzles can be seen as gaps in the printed ink rectangles. What is clear is that the matte black, as well as the magenta inks, are the most likely to create troubles because of the larger carbon particles in the former. The magenta and yellow inks dry also easily and are the next likeliest to give troubles.
More discussion on this problem can be found here, but here is a summary:
In the end, after my many cleaning attempts, what worked best for all but the matte black channels came from the advice I received from a professional printer: To unclog the nozzles, his trick is to park the head on top of an absorbing pad of lint-free material (Trader Joe's sells a lint-free cleaning viscose pad that works great for this). I cut a 2x3 inch piece and placed it over a larger double layer of Saran foil to stop any ink from leaking to the rollers. Then, slowly move the head from left to right to cover the pad until you see a piece of pad on the left edge of the head. By parking the head over the pad overnight, a good amount of ink will seep through the nozzles, keeping them wet and dissolving most of the troublesome deposits. You may need to do this for up to 5-7 days, changing the pad every day. The head can be parked off the middle of the carriage without problem. If you don't know how to unlock it, there is a lever near the top front of the head, next to the cutting blade; it needs to be slightly depressed to free the head. To find the lever, you will need to go under the plastic cover to the right of the rail system to find it. Don't worry, nothing will bite you! ;o)
I hope this will help as well as it did for me. I ended up doing exhibition prints on Epson Luster paper after this procedure. On the other hand, I was never able to recover the matte black channel, which I gave seldom use at the time. The 4000 and 4800 series of printers (as well as the all the larger series like the 9800) is very susceptible to clogging if the printer is not used regularly. Some professionals advise to print a sheet every day; this can be done easily by going through the automatic cleaning routine that can be setup from the main menu on the printer (rather than having to go through the software routine on your computer).
More discussion on this problem can be found here, but here is a summary:
In the end, after my many cleaning attempts, what worked best for all but the matte black channels came from the advice I received from a professional printer: To unclog the nozzles, his trick is to park the head on top of an absorbing pad of lint-free material (Trader Joe's sells a lint-free cleaning viscose pad that works great for this). I cut a 2x3 inch piece and placed it over a larger double layer of Saran foil to stop any ink from leaking to the rollers. Then, slowly move the head from left to right to cover the pad until you see a piece of pad on the left edge of the head. By parking the head over the pad overnight, a good amount of ink will seep through the nozzles, keeping them wet and dissolving most of the troublesome deposits. You may need to do this for up to 5-7 days, changing the pad every day. The head can be parked off the middle of the carriage without problem. If you don't know how to unlock it, there is a lever near the top front of the head, next to the cutting blade; it needs to be slightly depressed to free the head. To find the lever, you will need to go under the plastic cover to the right of the rail system to find it. Don't worry, nothing will bite you! ;o)
I hope this will help as well as it did for me. I ended up doing exhibition prints on Epson Luster paper after this procedure. On the other hand, I was never able to recover the matte black channel, which I gave seldom use at the time. The 4000 and 4800 series of printers (as well as the all the larger series like the 9800) is very susceptible to clogging if the printer is not used regularly. Some professionals advise to print a sheet every day; this can be done easily by going through the automatic cleaning routine that can be setup from the main menu on the printer (rather than having to go through the software routine on your computer).
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