Infrared Leg Stretch in Tehama County

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While driving along State Route 36 a few miles east of Red Bluff, California, at around 1pm a couple weeks back, I noticed the conditions looked very nice for infrared photography. The clouds were streaky and wispy and the sun was bright but somewhat filtered by the high haze. As I drove by the Sacramento Riverbend Area I could see the snow-covered Mount Shasta in the distance beyond Hog Lake. That clinched it, and I pulled in to stretch my legs, break out my full spectrum gear, and try for a shot or two. I captured this image with my 830 nanometer filter which is completely outside the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. I greatly enjoy this infrared “cut” as it can produce some very dramatic black and white imagery. I almost always think of the late great Ansel Adams when I shoot landscapes at 830nm. Ansel did in fact shoot some infrared film, although it is cause for some debate how much he took to it. Most information I can find suggests he preferred visible film with a deep red filter — similar, but more subtle result.

While driving along State Route 36 a few miles east of Red Bluff, California, at around 1pm on a sunny February day, I noticed the conditions looked very nice for infrared photography. The clouds were streaky and wispy and the sun was bright but somewhat filtered by the high haze. As I drove by the Sacramento Riverbend Area I could see the snow-covered Mount Shasta in the distance beyond Hog Lake. That clinched it, and I pulled in to stretch my legs, break out my full spectrum gear, and try for a shot or two. After capturing a wider view looking across the Sacramento Riverbend Area toward Mount Shasta, I moved closer to the shore of Hog Lake and recomposed around one of the larger volcanic boulders that litter the foreground. Shasta is still on the small side in the frame here, but a bit more prominent above the lake — its snow-covered summit catching the light while the dark infrared water creates a strong horizontal divide between the two halves of the image. The 830 nanometer filter renders water almost completely black due to its near-total absorption of infrared light, which gives the lake a graphic, almost inky quality that I find really satisfying in compositions like this. The foreground rock, by contrast, picks up texture and detail beautifully at this wavelength. Ansel Adams comes to mind — that kind of extreme tonal separation between a dark sky, bright foliage, and a strong foreground element is very much in his wheelhouse, even if he got there with a deep red filter and Kodak rather than a modified Canon 6D. The Sacramento Riverbend Area is BLM-managed land with documented human presence going back 6,000 to 10,000 years, sitting at the old boundary between the Yana and Nomlaki peoples. It is a genuinely underrated spot.

The Sacramento Riverbend Area is BLM-managed land sitting at the historic boundary between two native groups — the Yana to the east and the Nomlaki to the west — with evidence of human presence going back somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 years. I try to get there at least a couple of times a year to enjoy some of the trails and views. Mount Shasta, the 5th highest peak in California, rises to 14,179 feet and sits roughly 75 miles to the north-northwest as the crow flies from this vantage point — yet on a clear day it dominates the horizon in a way that makes the distance hard to believe. The snow-covered summit is visible from a surprising range across the northern Sacramento Valley, and that combination of massive elevation and relative isolation is exactly why it photographs so well even from this far out.

This image is roughly the same composition as the first but with my 720nm filter which lets just a bit of visible light at the red end make it to the sensor. After swapping the red and blue color “channels” in post production the sky that is rendered very red in-camera appears blue, more like us feeble-eyed humans are used to seeing, although the image still maintains a rather surreal appearance.

Mount Shasta and Hog Lake at Sacramento Riverbend Area near Red Bluff in 720nm false color infrared, volcanic boulders foreground

I moved closer to the water’s edge and grabbed one more 830nm image. Mount Shasta is still smallish in the frame but a bit more prominent than before.

830nm infrared view of Mount Shasta beyond Hog Lake from Sacramento Riverbend Area, large volcanic boulder foreground

I hope to get back down that way when all those oaks start leafing out to get some nice “glowy” IR images as the chlorophyll in new deciduous growth very dramatically reflects infrared energy.

Stay tuned.

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