Photoshoot: Sunflower + Project StL

The Sunflower+Project: StL is an urban renewal project In Saint Louis, Missouri designed to make productive use of previously developed urban lots through the cultivation and planting of sunflowers and winter wheat.

It is also a great location for an Infrared shoot.

Sunflowers and winter wheat reduce lead and other contaminants contained in previously developed urban soils.  Several seasons of these crops can return an area to normal.

The area I photographed was said have over 10,000 sunflower plants.

My plan was to capture images of sunflowers in Infrared, with attention to the beauty and interesting textures of the Plant.

I wanted to capture a slightly different view, rather than a standard “sunflower picture”

The shoot was completed with two IR converted cameras, one with an Enhanced Color Filter  and one with a Super Color Filter.  Most of the images were taken using a 50mm f1.8 lens, or a 18-200mm f3.5.  A 13mm extension tube was also used in several images, and white form core boards were used  to create a white background. Everything was shot outdoors.

Both cameras were white balanced prior to the shoot, using grass as a reference.  Images were captured using auto exposure bracketing at +/- 1 stop.  The RAW files were adjusted in Canon DPP, and a second white balance was preformed.  Many of the finished images are HDR.  HDR images were created using NIK HDR Efex Pro2, with NIK Color Efex Pro4, and Dfine2.  Monochrome images were created using Filter Forge4 White Photo.

Infrared captured the sunflowers in a very different way.  I hope you like the finished work.   If you would like to see the full series of 43 images, click here