This is another view from the Asperitas event I witnessed on 2020-07-19. The photo was taken with my infrared converted camera with the false color from the camera’s sensor.
Not only does an infrared converted camera provide cloud images with high contrast it also has other idiosyncrasies that contribute to the view in ways that truly make an experience that is vastly different than what can be seen in visible light.
The “Stop Ahead” sign has a red octagon in the center when seen in visible light. It is absent in this photo, apparently the paint being transparent to infrared. Also on this sign can be seen the IR reflection from a dusk-to-dawn lamp about 200 yards distant. This lamp had come on because it sensed a low level of visible light due the increasing cloud cover from the storm.
In the natural world the greatest reflector of IR is the chlorophyll of living plants. In bright sunlight tree leaves appear white in a photo, the limbs and trunk are usually very dark. Here, the trees appear blue-gray because of the low level of sunlight illuminating them.
In fact, chlorophyll reflects IR so well I use green grass to set the white balance on my converted camera.
