Morgan Fire Hike, Three of Four

I was curious about how the fire damage would look in infrared. I expected it to be extra black (it was) and the foliage to appear even whiter than normal (some did and some didn't.) I have a few infrared filters. Actually, they're visible-light cut filters that remove all light wavelengths below a certain point. With my K-7, the 720 nanometer filters work the best. These images were all taken with the 720 filter on and at apertures between f11 and f16. This led to exposure times up to 30 seconds, capturing cloud movement -- exactly the effect I wanted.


The Mount Diablo summit (observatory on the right peak). The darker area to the middle-left is part of the burn scar.


This tree's base and half f the needles burned in the fire. Those that remained were mixed between burned (brown) and healthy (green.) All the remaining needles reflected infrared light in the same manner, making the damaged and healthy needles hard to detect in this image. This shows that the infrared images with dark areas indicate heavier fire damage where more foliage was removed by the fire.



Here's the side of North Peak. The dark area is the burn scar; most of what remains there are charred, defoliated trees and shrubs. Note that the infrared images also allow much deeper shots that visible light. Infrared light blasts through pollution, haze, and ultraviolet light diffraction. Note mountains in the far background -- they're something like eighty miles away, I think.



I found that I really like the 77mm FA Limited for infrared photography. It lends itself well to sharp, deep-field images.