Centralia
is a town of beauty. The gentle rolling hills and foliage make for a very
scenic place. However, as we all know, there is desolation in the town when
one considers photographs from 30 years ago to those taken recently. So for
my third trip, I decided to focus on the desolation and abandonment of the
town. Black and white tends to be well suited for conveying such a mood. But
I decided to further magnify the abandonment using the surrealistic
appearance of black and white infrared photography.
B&W infrared is not the band of infrared that shows up as heat. Rather these
frequencies of infrared are in the region of the spectrum just beyond red,
specifically in the 700nm-1200nm range. Infrared films are available, but
they are being discontinued. However digital cameras, with modification and
some without, can record in the aforementioned near infrared spectrum.
Digital camera sensors are highly sensitive to infrared and as such, an
infrared blocking filter is employed. In modified cameras, the IR blocking
filter is removed. The user then places a filter over the lens that blocks
visible light but passes infrared. For unmodified cameras such as mine, the
same filter used to pass IR while blocking visible light is also used. Only
the exposures are set to a very long
time
such as 8 seconds at f/8 at ISO 100 in bright sun. This works because while
the internal IR blocking filter does block enough IR at normal daylight
exposures of, say, 1/60 sec, it leaks enough through in broad daylight to
record IR when multiple second exposures are used. If a person has LCD
preview available, then they can get a good idea of the exposure. Otherwise,
it is trial and error when reviewing the images and changing exposures. The
metering systems in cameras really do not have total accuracy for IR so it
is pretty much guesswork. But digital IR is a blessing. For unmodified
cameras, this absolutely requires a tripod. And with such long exposures,
objects will be blurred in windy conditions. People and vehicles that pass
into the frame during exposure are often times not even recorded due to the
slow shutter. Lastly, infrared does not focus in the same plane as visible.
For SLR camera lenses, there may be a red line on the lens barrel next to
the main focus mark. That is where the lens must be refocused to in order to
keep the IR image in decent focus. For digital compacts such as my PowerShot
S70, the manual focus control is used to bring the distance closer to the
camera slightly. Apertures f/8 or narrower tend to greatly reduce the
difference in the focusing. Apochromatic lenses also keep the infrared plane
of focus closer to the visible plane of focus.
Anyway,
these are my black and white infrared images shot with my unmodified Canon
Powershot S70. Working with black and white images does take a bit of
patience as the contrast and tonality is really unique. This requires a bit
of post-processing to get a good image without blowing out the highlights.
And even then, it is not always possible. Certain sensors like the one in my
S70 show a central hotspot from the aperture that may or may not be possible
to correct. And if one shoots in RAW mode (as I did since the S70 supports
RAW) or does not have a black and white setting, they will need to convert
to black and white first when working with their images during
post-processing. Anyway, I hope you find these images a unique variant of
the many exceptional Centralia photographs on this site. And if one has any
questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at donald@neo.rr.com
Borehole along Apple St.
Eastern end of Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Driveway along North St between N Troutwine and N Paxton.
Location of the area where the sinkhole formed that nearly swallowed
Todd Domboski in 1982. It is on the west side of Apple St just north of
Wood St.
Municipal Bldg viewed from Laurel St.
Corner of Plum St and Main St looking north along Plum.
Abandoned stairs along Main St at the corner of Main and S Paxton.
Corner of Apple St and E Park St looking east
The burnt and subsided hillside off South St.
Northern end of closed section of Rt 61.
Corner of Troutwine St and W Center St looking south along Troutwine.
Corner of Apple St and Railroad Dr looking north.
Poplar St looking east from the corner of Plum and Poplar.
Location of the Former Coddington's Amoco station along S Locust as
viewed from South St.
The burnt and subsided hillside off South St.
Abandoned basketball court.
Abandoned basketball court.
Corner of Laurel St and N Locust looking north along Locust.
Corner of Paxton St and Walnut St looking east on Walnut.
Location of former McDonnell Dairy at the corner of Railroad Dr and Apple
St.
Subsided section of Rt 61 along fissure
Veterans Memorial along S Locust and W Park. The flag is present,
but due to a 10 second exposure combined with a brisk wind, the flag is
so highly blurred from movement as to not be visible in the image.
Corner of Troutwine St and W Center St looking east on W Center.
Corner of Apple St and Railroad Dr looking south.
For more in the Infrared
Check out Donald's 7 Part Video Tour of Centralia PA
Through the use of
Nitrogen-Enhanced foam the Pinnacle mine fire was extinguished by Cummins
Industries, Inc. Cummins proposes to tackle the Centralia Mine fire and
bring an end to the
40 plus year fire.
Photo Updates:
Centralia
is a town of beauty. The gentle rolling hills and foliage make for a very
scenic place. However, as we all know, there is desolation in the town when
one considers photographs from 30 years ago to those taken recently. So for
my third trip, I decided to focus on the desolation and abandonment of the
town. Black and white tends to be well suited for conveying such a mood. But
I decided to further magnify the abandonment using the surrealistic
appearance of black and white infrared photography.
time
such as 8 seconds at f/8 at ISO 100 in bright sun. This works because while
the internal IR blocking filter does block enough IR at normal daylight
exposures of, say, 1/60 sec, it leaks enough through in broad daylight to
record IR when multiple second exposures are used. If a person has LCD
preview available, then they can get a good idea of the exposure. Otherwise,
it is trial and error when reviewing the images and changing exposures. The
metering systems in cameras really do not have total accuracy for IR so it
is pretty much guesswork. But digital IR is a blessing. For unmodified
cameras, this absolutely requires a tripod. And with such long exposures,
objects will be blurred in windy conditions. People and vehicles that pass
into the frame during exposure are often times not even recorded due to the
slow shutter. Lastly, infrared does not focus in the same plane as visible.
For SLR camera lenses, there may be a red line on the lens barrel next to
the main focus mark. That is where the lens must be refocused to in order to
keep the IR image in decent focus. For digital compacts such as my PowerShot
S70, the manual focus control is used to bring the distance closer to the
camera slightly. Apertures f/8 or narrower tend to greatly reduce the
difference in the focusing. Apochromatic lenses also keep the infrared plane
of focus closer to the visible plane of focus.
Anyway,
these are my black and white infrared images shot with my unmodified Canon
Powershot S70. Working with black and white images does take a bit of
patience as the contrast and tonality is really unique. This requires a bit
of post-processing to get a good image without blowing out the highlights.
And even then, it is not always possible. Certain sensors like the one in my
S70 show a central hotspot from the aperture that may or may not be possible
to correct. And if one shoots in RAW mode (as I did since the S70 supports
RAW) or does not have a black and white setting, they will need to convert
to black and white first when working with their images during
post-processing. Anyway, I hope you find these images a unique variant of
the many exceptional Centralia photographs on this site. And if one has any
questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at donald@neo.rr.com
