The Hulton Bridge in Oakmont, PA is due for replacement. It’s going to be a year or two yet until everything is done, but who knows when I’ll have another chance to capture it for prosperity before construction alters the view. The images are false-color infrared, except for one converted to black and white. All images were taken with a Fuji IS Pro full-spectrum camera, a Nikon 18-55mm AF-S kit lens and a 590nm infrared pass filter (Tiffen #25). This filter keeps some color, of a kind to make dramatic false-color images easily. I like using it because I can compose in camera easily. I have a 720nm filter, but its too dark to compose with it in place except in the brightest of light. Furthermore, the camera will autofocus with the #25 in place; it will not with the 720nm. Today, for instance, I was walking quite a distance and it was very hot. I was not interested in dragging around a tripod.

Post-processing was a three-step process. 1) Use ufraw gimp plugin to correct the white balance (I just let ufraw auto-correct); 2) Use gimp to switch the red and blue channels; 3) Use Aperture to decrease the tonal width via the Levels:Luminosity slider, plus various adjustments to get a pleasing result.

As a side benefit, I finally took the time to walk this wonderful bridge, too.

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