A favourite place I like to go to take photographs for myself is Nostell Priory. I thought I would take some images for my Digital Photo Training section of my website, and explain the thought process behind each of the finished images.

About the camera 
All images are taken on a Canon 20D camera. This camera is quite old now and has been discontinued from the Canon range. When I bought this camera new in 2004, I always had the intention of getting it converted to an “Infrared” only camera. No company offered this service in the UK for an affordable price, so I packed it up and sent it off to Australia! I was fully aware that what I was doing would invalidate the warranty should things go wrong, but after an agonising two months  wait, I got the camera back and was thrilled with the results.

Because of the conversion, this camera no longer takes colour images. If I were to use an auto white balance I would get a very red monotone image. However, this post is not meant to be about the camera, but I just think it will help you to understand the images better and explain why they look so different. If anyone wants to know more about the camera and conversion please message me and I’ll be happy to help!

The Photo shoot
I decided to go out with just one camera and one lens with the aim to produce some infrared landscape images. The first image I took was overlooking the middle lake at Nostell Priory. The view is back towards the road bridge with the arches across the lake.

This image is the infrared effect I was looking for when I had the camera converted. It is reminiscent to the old style of infrared film which I absolutely love. I waited for the sun to be fully out, knowing that the green leaves on the trees would absorb the infrared light giving an almost white glow in places which at times is commonly mistaken for snow on the ground. This image was taken on a tripod at 1/800th sec at f/11. iso 400  at 24mm.

Arch road bridge over the lake

Next up, a very moody photograph taken from the far end of the middle lake, looking back towards the road bridge. Keeping a warm highlight at the converging point of the lake with light rays coming through the clouds helped to give the image a real stormy look. This image was taken on a tripod at 1/200th sec at f/11. iso 400  at 24mm.

Middle lake Nostell Priory

My next image was taken on the lower lake showing the stepping stones across the lake. There is a bench near by which says;

“Katauta slab rests against slab, the earliest built crossing place: Beautiful simplicity Margaret Rippon”

Wonderful!

Here I have used the tree on the left to draw the eye into the main interest of the picture – the stepping stones! Using the tree at the far right helps to stop the eye from wandering away from the image. This “false colour” infrared is created through channels in Photoshop. I kept a warm highlight at the centre of the frame to hold interest for a moment. Once again, this image was taken using a tripod at 1/160th sec at f/11. iso 400  at 24mm.

Nostell Priory lower lake. Stepping stones

For my next shot, I stepped onto the bridge looking down from the middle lake onto the stepping stones on the bottom lake. Using channels in Photoshop, I have kept the sky and its reflection in the lake. Using a wide angle lens helps to draw the eye along the lake. This image was taken on a tripod at 1/160th sec at f/11. iso 400  at 24mm.

InfraRed photography of the stepping stones Nostell_Priory

The next shot is the main house. Once again I am using a tripod, this allowed me to wait for the right moment when the main building was in the full light of the sun. I knew the grass would take on its luminescent infrared look, so I used the dark path  to draw the eye into the main part of the building. Hopefully the group of visitors at the centre of the house will hold your gaze a little and draw your eye up to the splendour of the main house. The main house at Nostell Priory was shot at 1/800th sec at f/11. iso 400  at 24mm.

Main House Nostell Priory

Next on our image journey we have the beautiful St Michael and Our Lady church Wragby, in the grounds of Nostell Priory.

At the end of my journey, I wanted to include the church in Nostell Priory’s grounds with simple framing from the trees at either side. This Infrared image has been Cyano-split-toned, which brings out the details of the stone work of this church. The camera was pointed up to include the tower which resulted in converging lines which I corrected in Photoshop. I would have been able to do this in camera if I was using the Canon 24 mm shift lens. This image was shot at 1/500th sec at f/11. iso 400  at 24mm.

Wragby Church in the grounds of Nostell Priory

Thank you for reading my new post! If you require any help with your photography, whatever your skill level please use the contact us section on our Digital Photo Training page.