Frankenstein lighting is not particularly flattering for human subjects, but I think that trees take on a new beauty when lit like this at night. The first image was shot on an old IR converted Canon 5D camera (the first model) using an even older apochromatically corrected 180 mm Leica lens. This lens is so well corrected that it has the same focal length for visible as well as near IR wavelengths, meaning it is easy to accurately focus the old 5D even at wide apertures close up.
I've heard that the Leica R 180 mm was designed to work best at longer working distances, near infinity in fact, but it seemed to perform admirably here as well. While I'm very fond of this image, frankly, I'm still trying to make up my mind about IR photography in general.
My son loved Woody the woodpecker when he was young, and he used to carry his Woody stuffed animal with him everywhere. In real life, my experience is that woodpeckers can do some serious damage to trees. At night, though, these scars are interesting to photograph.
The tree in this photograph is right next to our house, which means that I'm not doing a very good job of keeping Woody at bay.
