Infrared Eijsder Beemden take 2

For my book-project I have been to the Eijsder Beemden again. These two times I went to the former Belgian part of the Eijsder Beemden to do some more infrared photography. Not long ago the Netherlands and Belgium agreed on some changes of the border so this part of the park became Dutch territory. Both days were excellent for doing infrared photography. Enough sun and clouds in the sky offering the chance to get beautiful dramatic compositions.

On my way to the former Belgian part I also photographed one on my all-time favourite locations of the Eijsder Beemden. Also, the more open part of the nature park looked really dramatic trough the viewfinder. When there is plenty of sunlight and clouds, really beautiful infrared image can be made. I have featured the image of this open landscape and included my all-time favourite location in this post. People who visit the Eijsder Beemden frequently will recognise both locations.

The former Belgian part of the Eijsder Beemden consists of wild and chaotic woodland. There are a lot of young and older trees randomly growing and only a few trails to walk on. Beavers live in this part of the park. Those beavers felled quit a few of the old trees.

When shooting infrared as always I have my full spectrum converted XT2 set to the “Monochrome +R filter” Fujifilm film-simulation and use the Hoya R72 infrared filter. This way I get a good indication / preview of the end-result in the viewfinder and on the screen. To me having an electronic viewfinder is the main advantage of using a mirror-less camera system shooting infrared. Most of the time it is difficult to see the composition on the screen, this is due to the harsh light. Most of the time I use my Fujifilm 23mm F2 lens. This lens does not show any hotspots when shooting infrared.

It was windy on both visits so the fast passing clouds did change the lighting conditions very rapidly all the time. In my experience, taking the right exposure is crucial to getting enough head room for shadow details when shooting infrared. Also you have to be really focused on how the sunlight hits the subject(s) in the composition. To many spots of highlights do make the photographs to complex to look at. So most of the time I take a lot of shots of the same compositions to choose the best of them during post processing. This time I did not colour-grade the images.

This time of year, there isn’t a lot of foliage on the trees. So, the branches of the trees are more visible. This gives an extra graphic and dramatic look to the images. I did shoot some beautiful compositions at the former Belgian part of the Eijsder Beemden. I have enclosed my favourites in this post. The changing season will give some extra creative possibilities for doing infrared photography and as always photographs for my book-project can always be improved on. So I will visit this part of the Eijsder Beemden some more.

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