Infrared Imaging
by Paula Showen
With today’s digital technology, the novice photographer can now perform digitally many of the enhancements that were formerly created “in camera”. With the combination of digital cameras and photo enhancing software, creative photography is readily available to a wide audience.
Personally, I find it very helpful and informative to perform many of my enhancements “in-camera” and then reproduce the desired effects using software such as Adobe’s Photoshop or Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro. My latest adventure is in the art of Infrared Photography.
Infrared imagery can be accomplished using any one of several techniques; infrared film, infrared filters or via software enhancements. I will describe the processes of using a filter and and then of using software. Once you understand the techniques, I encourage you to try both and see first hand, the differences between them. If you want more information regarding infrared film, here is a link to Kodak’s film specifications:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f13/f13.jhtml
Ok, on with the discussion!
Infrared Filter:
I use a Hoya R72 filter. There are several, very good infrared filters on the market, but I selected this specific filter because I have seen many beautiful images produced with it.
Once I made the purchase, I attempted to use it with no research or training. Imagine my surprise when I looked through my lens into a black abyss. I was very puzzled, I definitely wasn't expecting that to happen but then, I don’t know what I was expecting. It was perfectly obvious that the filter is deep red. I decided to compose my shot and then put the filter on, at least then I could see what I was trying to take a photograph of. I also surmised that I needed to use a slow shutter speed to allow the light to penetrate the dark red filter. Still, I was doing this with no reading or research what-so-ever. I dropped my shutter speed to 1/20th of a second, put the camera on a tripod, and began shooting. When I examined what I shot, it was black!
After several hours and many futile attempts, I finally decided that I needed to do some research. I surfed the net, looking for anything that might shed light on this issue.
I did find several articles that indicated a problem with this particular filter and the Canon Digital Rebel, my camera of choice. Refusing to believe that I just wasted about $50 on the filter, I continued my struggle to get past this hurdle. After much experimentation, let me assure you that there is no problem with this combination of equipment! I highly recommend, however, that you research which infrared filter is best suited for your camera and lens. I have found that it may vary depending on your camera’s built in UV protection.
Here is how I finally got the results I wanted:
I mounted the camera on a tripod and then composed the image. The shutter speed was 30 seconds and the aperture as open as possible (f3.5 to f4.0 worked for me). I used a remote switch reducing the risk of camera shake. Hope that no wind blows the leaves during the 30 second exposure! That’s it. That’s all there is to it. You would now end up with an image that looks like this:
Since this scene is not particularly attractive in red and white, there are several choices for digital enhancements. I chose to de-saturate the image by using Jasc Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop’s function “HUE/SATURATION/LIGHTNESS" and move the saturation lever all the way to -100, so that the image is now black and white.
I prefer to change the hue on the image. It gives the image a different look from the more common black and white version. For this particular image, I decided to use the image hue blue. To accomplish this tone, move the Hue lever to -180. The result should be something like this:
If you prefer sepia tones, I find the easiest way to achieve this is by using the “colorize” tool and moving the color bar to a nice golden tone and reduce the saturation to give it a more natural sepia tone.
Software Enhancement (no Filter):
Now, let’s look at the software enhancements that can be used to create this effect! I use both Jasc Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop. Both software packages include similar functions, however for this example, I’m using Photoshop.
The image used for this process was taken at the same location and time as the infrared version.
Upload your image and perform the following steps:
* HUE/SATURATION/LIGHTNESS
* Adjust your hue lever all the way to the left to achieve a sepia tone.
* INVERT
* HUE/SATURATION/LIGHTNESS
* Move the hue lever to -180
* Move the saturate lever to +40
* Gausian Blur
* Radius 1.2
The image you produce will look similar to this one:
If you prefer to reduce the image to a duo-tone, the “colorize” function in Paint Shop Pro, setting Hue to 151 and Saturation to 96. Your image will look like the following:
As you can see, there are several differences. The water in the image produced with the Infrared filter is smooth, due to the 30 second shutter speed. Also, the dock on the image produced with the sequence of software settings is dark, where the image created with the filter is white.
The steps are pretty easy and the results so interesting. Once you get the hang of it, you may come up with your own set of software adjustments to produce your own version of the Infrared image.
Paula Showen is a photographer living in Florida who likes to experiment with various techniques and artistic endeavors involving her photography. Her work is both beautiful and intriguing, due to her sense of vision and interpretation. Paula is a regular contributor of articles to Scenic Sensations, and discusses various topics. If you wish to see more of Paula's photography and interests, be sure to visit her web site at www.showmarphotography.com
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Material contained within this article may not be sampled, duplicated, reproduced, redistributed or re-transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of Paula Showen or her agents.
The material is published on Scenic Sensations with permission.
