David Krooshof

3D photography, Moonlit infrared

It was a full moon and I went into a forest that I do not know so well, and shot several IR stereo pairs. I used a focus rails perpendicular to the viewing direction to shift the camera from left to right. I could not do this by eyeballing the image, because I cannot see anything through this camera at night. I just know my lens so well that I know how to point it and what will be in the frame, but shifting a tripod reliably sideways can't be done in the forest.

I spaced the camera locations about 65mm apart (normal for human eyes) for trees that were within 10 meters distance to the lens. But to gain a sense of depth beyond 20 meters I exaggerated the spacing further than human eyes are apart, some up to 100mm, the limit of my rails. This produced images that are hyper real.

These images are best viewed on a phone, with a Victorian, or Brian May style stereo viewer. Try to find the distance to the screen in which they work for you. You will see an image with depth, an image that will be about 6cm wide. Like a little object, that resembles reality a bit. There is a poetic contradiction that the image looks like a small object, though the realism of the moonlit forest is striking.

make the window about 14cm wide and bring out your viewer, because here are the results:

  • Black and white photo of two apple trees in an orchard that lets everybody pick the fruits. Backlit in moonlight. The grass looks very bright because live green plants reflect lots of infrared light, and the moon does so too. There is a very romantic bench too. It's noticeably further away from the camera than the trees. The trees are on a hill, so the ground has a slight slope to the left. The trees in the background are behind this hill a bit.
  • Black and white photo of four apple trees in an orchard that lets everybody pick the fruits. Backlit in moonlight. The grass looks very bright because live green plants reflect lots of infrared light, and the moon does so too. Between the trees, the grass is lit brighter than elsewhere in the frame.
  • Black and white photo of one little apple in the orchard. Side in moonlight. The grass looks very bright. The hill slopes, and the sharpness is running through the edge of hill that can be seen, like a local horizon, but on ten meters distance. There is lots of detail in the photo. Also the trees of the forest in the far background are in the shade, but still textured. Some spooky lights are visible. They were deep down in the forest, but still manages to pierce through between the trees. One eye sees a different set of light than the other because the trees eclipsed some of them. I do not know what the lights were.
  • Same path, but here the light shines on the way the path continues to run further down into the image.
  • A detail of the brances of trees. Same location as the other one, but shot lower. One still runs from right to left through the frame, making a ceiling to the composition. The sky is bright, due to the moon, but it is off frame now. The leaves make a glittery display, around a window into the valley. At some depth, there is enough shadow detail to see the forest continues across the valley. On our side, a neatly cut hedge shows the Dutch approach to nature. Nature is nice, if kept tidy and neat.
  • A detail of the brances of trees. They run from right to left through the frame. The sky is bright, due to the moon. The moon pierces through the branches on the left. The leaves make a glittery display.
  • A continuation of the path. It is a little wider here. The composition is that the brightly lit undergrowth forms a zigzag along the imaginary line at 1/3 of the height if the frame, across from left to right. Black trees stick out of this zigzag chaotically, but mostly pointing up and to the left a bit, where the moon light is coming from.
  • Black and white photo of a path that runs parallel to a valley on the left of the image. The path runs deep into the photo, away from us. Moonlight from the left hits the foliage at the roots of the trees left and right of the path. Shades of the stems of the trees cross the old path, and show it is hollowed out over the ages.

Photographing in the forest at night, in full moonlight, in infrared, in stereo.

As per this site's convention, the alt texts are descriptions for the visual impared. I point out photographic details and choices. A screen reader can read the texts for you, out loud. Or, if you do not have a screen reader, do click on the images to read some details using a eyeball or two.

I am totally happy with the results. Especially taking the photos along the trail was a special moment. I felt at peace, enjoying the light and the sound of buzzards. Infrared is like a super hard filter to remove the light pollution of sodium lights and other industrial lamps that make the sky above Nijmegen an odd pinkish yellow.