My first try at infrared

[kdenkers]

So I don't have an infrared filter or lens... but thats a topic for another tread will post in a moment..

I did this effect in CS3.... my question is... is this the same effect you would get with a dedicated camera/filter or lens?

Anyway, any tips, tricks, ideas, opinions are welcome... as Ross told me... ahh young grasshopper... yup that's me and I would LOVE any advice!

I am going to only add a few shots in this post.. but I did upload a total of 12 in the gallery here.

[Orgnoi1]

Well... lets elaborate on my "young grasshopper" comment with something much more in depth...

To the untrained eye these could easily be IR shots... but for someone that shoots IR you can tell they are post-process manipulated only... and here is why...

IR is a form of light that a human cannot see... so it makes it a little harder to duplicate without having shot or studied its uses and effects...

IR light on a technical scale is any light above 700nm... 700 to around 1200 is near IR and above that number is far IR or thermal... a DSLR actually is fairly sensitive to near IR which is why shooting with a converted camera allows the use of almost the exact shutter and apertures as a visual light camera would allow for. A non-modified camera will still produce an IR image... but will take a fairly long exposure on a bright day... usually around a few seconds or so... the reason for that is the band-pass filter that manufacturers put on to block both UV (below 400nm) and IR (above 700nm)...

Now on to your images... both have parts that truelly DO look IR... and parts that dont... keep in mind that a non-colorswaped IR image is inherently red... not blue or white... when you set a custom WB on a converted camera whatever reflects IR will be white... and the skies will still have a tint of red... then in the post process you color swap the blue and red channels which is what can give you a blue tinted sky... it never looks like a "real" sky though...because the more blue the sky the more dark it will become... so ideally the sky in the first image looks right... and the land features in the second picture look more IR'ish...

The converted cameras come in 4 different forms... a clear glass conversion (full spectrum <400nm to >700nm), an "Enhanced IR" conversion (>650nm), a "Standard IR" conversion (>700nm), or a "Deep B&W IR" conversion (>750, >830nm, and >900nm).... the higher the number you go the less faux color you will achieve so more contrasted B&W....all of the conversions are fun to use... but I wouldnt suggest a full spectrum conversion on a DSLR as you have to still add filters to your lens to get your IR shot... which you cant set up the shot as they are opaque....

Theres your $1.02 worth of information...

[adkwalker]

May not be true IR... but you get an A for creativity... Great job, Kris....

[zacker]

............but wow, that second one rocks.

[oldnavy170]

Real or not they are really cool looking! I like how you did part IR look and part real photo look. Nicely done!

[kdenkers]

Yes thats what I thought as well.. I just used a tutorial I found for IR in CS3.... I was anxious to start work in IR so this was the way to satisfy me for the time being. I do like the effects even though they are not true IR.

I have no real idea on how to even go about shooting in IR either.. such as equipment and such. I see some have filters all the way to dedicated cameras for IR.

I do understand what you are telling me here.. and I want to thank you for this explaination.. I do understand more now! So thank you again.

*off to write this down in my little book*

Well... lets elaborate on my "young grasshopper" comment with something much more in depth...

To the untrained eye these could easily be IR shots... but for someone that shoots IR you can tell they are post-process manipulated only... and here is why...

IR is a form of light that a human cannot see... so it makes it a little harder to duplicate without having shot or studied its uses and effects...

IR light on a technical scale is any light above 700nm... 700 to around 1200 is near IR and above that number is far IR or thermal... a DSLR actually is fairly sensitive to near IR which is why shooting with a converted camera allows the use of almost the exact shutter and apertures as a visual light camera would allow for. A non-modified camera will still produce an IR image... but will take a fairly long exposure on a bright day... usually around a few seconds or so... the reason for that is the band-pass filter that manufacturers put on to block both UV (below 400nm) and IR (above 700nm)...

Now on to your images... both have parts that truelly DO look IR... and parts that dont... keep in mind that a non-colorswaped IR image is inherently red... not blue or white... when you set a custom WB on a converted camera whatever reflects IR will be white... and the skies will still have a tint of red... then in the post process you color swap the blue and red channels which is what can give you a blue tinted sky... it never looks like a "real" sky though...because the more blue the sky the more dark it will become... so ideally the sky in the first image looks right... and the land features in the second picture look more IR'ish...

The converted cameras come in 4 different forms... a clear glass conversion (full spectrum <400nm to >700nm), an "Enhanced IR" conversion (>650nm), a "Standard IR" conversion (>700nm), or a "Deep B&W IR" conversion (>750, >830nm, and >900nm).... the higher the number you go the less faux color you will achieve so more contrasted B&W....all of the conversions are fun to use... but I wouldnt suggest a full spectrum conversion on a DSLR as you have to still add filters to your lens to get your IR shot... which you cant set up the shot as they are opaque....

Theres your $1.02 worth of information...

[kdenkers]

Nope not true IR but I did have fun figuring things out and playing in photoshop

Thanks for the reply

May not be true IR... but you get an A for creativity... Great job, Kris....

[kdenkers]

Hahaha Thanks Zacker!

............but wow, that second one rocks.

[kdenkers]

hey thanks! It was a lot of fun.. and will have to try this effect more on things.. just playin around.. you know what i mean?

Real or not they are really cool looking! I like how you did part IR look and part real photo look. Nicely done!

[Orgnoi1]

When you would like some hands on let me know.. Trish and I can meet up with you and you can check out a few different styles of shooting IR... both of us have dedicated cameras plus I have the filters for shooting with my full spectrum camera...

Yes thats what I thought as well.. I just used a tutorial I found for IR in CS3.... I was anxious to start work in IR so this was the way to satisfy me for the time being. I do like the effects even though they are not true IR.

I have no real idea on how to even go about shooting in IR either.. such as equipment and such. I see some have filters all the way to dedicated cameras for IR.

I do understand what you are telling me here.. and I want to thank you for this explaination.. I do understand more now! So thank you again.

*off to write this down in my little book*