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For the enthusiastic amateur photographer digital infrared photography has opened up a whole new world of imagery. The peculiarities of infrared photography lie in its ability to record what the eye cannot see. Infrared photography captures radiation wavelengths just beyond those of the deepest reds of the visible spectrum (700 nm). The unmistakable characteristics of an infrared image are deep black skies, bright white foliage and that magical, sometimes eerie diffused glow. Many scenes, which under normal lighting conditions maybe considered ordinary to some are often transformed when captured in infrared. With digital infrared there are a number of different ways in which the final image can be processed and presented to the viewer, giving the photographer complete artistic control.

The images contained within this website have been taken with a standard, off the shelf, Nikon D50 DSLR, using the supplied AFS ED 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G EX lens. I wanted a camera, which was small and light, would work equally well with normal photography or infrared. Last, but by no means least, I wanted something that wouldn't break the bank - the D50 delivers on all counts. It's 6.1 megapixel censor produces excellent 16" x 12" prints, the large LCD screen makes for easy viewing and the battery life from the EN-EL3E is phenomenal.

At the end of the day the camera is but a tool, a means to an end. The most important criterion is being able to see the potential in a shot, envisage the final print before you trip the shutter.

Because infrared radiation contaminates images taken under normal conditions modern day digital cameras are fitted with a cut filter, placed in front of the censor to filter out most, if not all infrared wavelength's. However, some digital cameras are still quite sensitive to IR even with this cut filter firmly in place, notably the Nikon D50, although exposure times will be quite long, even under bright conditions.

If you only ever use your camera for taking infrared images you may  consider having the cut filter completely removed and an infrared filter put in it's place. The benefit of this procedure is two fold, first, exposure times will be greatly reduced, from seconds to fractions of a second and secondly, you will be able to see the scene before you,  in the camera's viewfinder window, all be it slightly reddish.

If like me, you are happy enough to leave your cut filter in place and not have your camera modified you will have to place an infrared filter across the front of your lens. The filter I use is made by Hoya, an R72 type. The R72 will block out normal wavelength's below 720nm.

Composition of your subject is made without the filter in place, for the simple reason, the filter is opaque and you can't see though it. With your camera firmly fixed to a tripod, compose your shot in the normal way and refit the filter before making your exposure.

In order to get the best possible results from your camera and the infrared images you take, you will need to shoot everything in RAW (NEF), this is not an option, but a necessity. Why? because you have better control over the final exposure and complete control of your white balance settings, which when shooting in infrared is vitally important, as you will see later in this section. My preferred to let Nikon's 3D-Matrix II metering system take care of my exposure, it's not that often it gets fooled. Your main consideration, when shooting infrared images with a non-modified camera should be that of camera shake! always use a good study tripod, again this is a necessity, not an option!

Some photographers prefer to select a white balance point by photographing an 18% grey card, with the IR filter in place, or if you don't have a grey card photograph a patch of grass  and set this as your white balance point. My preferred method is to use your RAW conversion software and leave your cameras white balance setting on Auto.

By spending some time with your RAW conversion software and understanding what tones give you the best white balance settings will undoubtedly pay dividends in the long run. With practise selecting your white balance point will become second nature and have a marked improvement on your infrared images.

Fig:1 shows the .NEF file straight off the CCD. As you can see the image is very red, but at the same time showing a full range of tones. To correct the cast we need to select a white balance point from a mid-tone grey. For this image I made my selection from the barrel timbers. Selecting a mid-tone brick from the wall would have given a similar pleasing result.

Fig:2 shows the image after the white balance point has been selected and the exposure re-adjusted to stop the whites from blowing out.

You now have a basic infrared image from which you can work on. You may wish to convert your image to monochrome, add a touch of grain, maybe a little Gaussian blur to give it that authentic Infrared Photography look and feel. Click Here to see my finished image.

Although I personally prefer to process my digital infrared images to have a similar look and feel close to what was achieved when using conventional High Speed Infrared Film. There are those infrared photographers who wish to display their work, having included the colour that the censor captures, some photographers go further by swapping one colour channel for another, usually the Red and Blue. This technique is covered in the next section.

Fig:3 shows the image recorded by the censor, after having selected a white balance point from a mid-tone grey. Fig:4 shows the image after the red and blue channels have been swapped.

  Fig:5

      Fig:6

For the infrared photographer using Photoshop™ as their preferred image editor here are the instructions for swapping channels.

With Photoshop™ running and your chosen image open select Image> Adjustments> Channel Mixer. This will open the Channel Mixer, the default setting should read, Red 100%, Green 0%, Blue 0%. Change the Red Source Channel to 0%, Green 0% and Blue to 100% as shown in Fig:5

Without leaving the Channel Mixer dialogue box change the Output Channel to Blue and set the Red source channel to Red 100%, Green 0% and Blue 0%, as shown in Fig:6.

Click the OK box when done.

Why not download our FREE infrared-action set. There are 2 actions in the set, one to convert your image to the more traditional Black and White infrared image, the second automates the channel swapping technique as outlined above.

Note: This action set has been designed to convert images that have been taken with an infrared filter in place and with a white balance point already selected. The action set will not convert normal colour images into infrared ones.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

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