Start here for you 101 in infra red digital photography
Your route to infra red digital photography - a filter for your existing camera or to use a converted camera?
Infra red photography can be great fun, with results adding a completely new dimension to your repertoire. Infra red photographs have a characteristic look, with foliage often acquiring a luminosity that contrasts vividly with their normal dark green or reddish hues. Midday skies can darken to near night-like blackness, and the form and detail in clouds can be brought out to sharp relief. Ordinary looking scenes can be brought to life.
This article looks at what infra red photography is all about, how to take infra red photographs with your standard digital camera or a specially converted camera, and how to get the most out of your images through post processing, to get results like these:
(Click on above image for larger view in a new window)
What is infra red photography?
Above is a black and white infra red photo, processed from a colour infra red original. Compare it with a visible light view of the scene below:
As typical humans, we see light in the range of wavelengths from around 380 nanometres (violet) through to around 750 nanometres (red), with blue, cyan, green, yellow, and orange in between. Light of shorter wavelengths than 380nm enter the ultra violet portion of the spectrum and we can't normally register this with our eyes, although many types of animal can. At the other end, light wavelengths longer than 750nm range into the infra red portion of the spectrum, and are also invisible to humans.
Incidentally, we aren't talking about thermal infra red imaging, which is in the long wavelength infra red range (sometimes called 'far' infra red) between 8–15 µm (8000-15000nm). We're talking about 'near' infra red, which is a similar range of the spectrum covered by typical night vision cameras and goggles.
Once again, compare the normal visible light scene in colour (above) with the infra red view below, this time taken in colour and un-processed:
Infra red photographs will show brightness where infra red is reflected to the camera most. Most things that are naturally red will reflect infra red well and appear as light tones on an infra red photo. Instantly, that's weird because red in a normal photo is actually a dark hue. Foliage, especially in sunlight, which is again normally a dark hue, comes out almost white in infra red and can be spectacular. Other areas can become darker in an infra red image, like the blue in a clear sky. As many normally dark areas of a scene can become light and others can become darker, you can end up with a pseudo negative effect, which can be very surreal.
Depending on the infra red range your camera is sensitive to, you maybe able to produce false colour infra red images like this:
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An introduction to infra red photography
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Patrick Re: An introduction to infra red photography
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Patrick Re: An introduction to infra red photography
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Ian Re: An introduction to infra red photography
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