$20 on his infrared nose

Last Saturday I tested my modified Nikon Df by photographing a park gazebo. And everything worked out well.

Now comes the next test. Can I use this to shoot infrared images in an area I previously couldn’t – action sports shots?

Let’s see. Saratoga Harness has the trotters running … I checked the lineup, and the horse I follow, Pay Me To Knight, will be #7 in the sixth race. He’s a 5-year-old horse with a ton of energy and enthusiasm. I’m friends with the people at the Checkmate Knight Racing Stables, where that horse (affectionately nicknamed “Junior”) calls home.

So I’m thinking … get some infrared test shots, and while I’m at the track, I’ll put $20 on Junior’s nose.

Unlike last Saturday’s infrared photo attempts, which had very little sunshine, I was able to get big bursts of sunshine throughout the first six races at the harness track. First I set up the camera with the 720nm black and white infrared filter. And if this works … I’ll be a happy man.

The field is in the hands of the starter. In harness racing, the horses get up to speed as they pass the start/finish line, so that’s why there’s a big truck with a folding gate on its frame.

Okay. Good start. I’m not thrilled with the motion blur, but look at the different shades of grey in the background forest, and the cotton-candy clouds in the sky.

Let’s see what happened after the race. Horse #1, Tranquility K, took the win. His trainer gathered the horse afterward, and the trainer and horse (along with the rider) went to the winner’s circle for the championship photo.

Yeah, if the subjects move slowly, I can get better images. But at full speed, black and white infrared will be a tough hurdle.

So let’s try the other filter in my arsenal. This is the IR Chrome lens, and if I use it in the right light, I should be able to replicate that Kodak Ektachrome EIR slide from from about 30 years ago.

The third race is coming up. And in this race, I actually played a “pick three” – choose the winners of the next three races. The horses for the final two legs were horses I knew could win; but how could I resist betting the first leg on a horse named Snowpiercer? Yeah, Snowpiercer, like the post-apocalyptic TV show.

Here we go.

And as you can see, Horse #4 won the third race. Horse #4 was Snowpiercer. Mr. Wilford will be pleased. Now give us a fourth and final season of Snowpiercer, TNT! 😀

Better. I can get action out of this filter, but I may need to boost my ISO and my shutter speed to get it as tack-sharp as possible. That, and I’m using my Vivitar lens, which can only open up to f/3.8.

I did eventually win my pick-three, so I now have $32 in my pocket. Oh yeah, you know what else is in my pocket?

This.

That’s $20 to win on Horse #7 in the sixth race. Also known as Pay Me To Knight. Even if he doesn’t win, I’m still at least $12 in the black.

Oh, here’s Junior right now in the post time parade, warming up like it’s just another day at the office.

Now I did adjust the ISO and the shutter speed on this – which gave me those magenta plants in front of the scoreboard, as well as the red stripes on the American flag. This camera is actually picking up the infrared sunlight that we can’t see and reproducing it in colors that we CAN see.

Oh, wait. Race is starting. Come on, Junior. Show these other horses who’s the king of this track.

At the quarter pole … he was in eighth place in an 8-horse race.

At the halfway mark … he’s still looking at seven sulkeys in front of him.

So … he’s still in last place. But the race isn’t over. And as the horses came around the stretch, Pay Me To Knight kicked in that extra bucketful of oats and grains, and went from last to first. He came down that stretch like there was a rat in his stall and he wanted to play toss-a-rat with it before it got away.

And I got the photo – in infrared – of that winning horse.

That’s right. Pay Me To Knight won the 6th race in a photo finish over a horse called Yucatan Party Man. 1:57.2. He won in a photo finish by his $20 nose.

And before I could put my camera away … the horse’s owners said, “Come on, you’re getting in the winner’s circle picture.”

And there I am. Look for the guy with the sunglasses and the Fonzie thumb’s up.

Okay. Let me assess everything.

If I take any more action photos, I need to do so with a different lens. While these images are nice, they’re too far away for me to even consider entering them in Competition Season. But … this does show that the camera and the filters (and the Vivitar lens) can replicate both standard black and white IR film AND Kodak Ektachrome EIR slide film. I’ll just need to get some step-down rings so that my 62mm filters will fit on my 52mm Nikkor lenses.

Now how shall I pay for stop-down rings?

I dunno … maybe with the $200 I made at the track yesterday? That’s right, my money don’t jiggle giggle, it folds, makes me wanna wiggle wiggle, ya know … 😀