The Dreamy World of Infrared Photography

By Ahmed Kassim
December 30, 2012

Four years ago I became passionate about photography, in particular panoramic and infrared photography. In this short article I would like to share some of my favorite infrared photographs with you. Infrared photography is a unique kind of photography that lets me convert what seems like ordinary views into something that resembles art. Infrared Photography depends on the light that you cannot see, but you can record this invisible light using an IR filter on the lens of the digital camera.

 

 

San Diego Infrared photograph from the Air

 

 

The Infrared Light (IR) light is electromagnetic radiation with longer wavelengths than those of visible light, extending from the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum at 0.74 Micrometers (µm) to 0.3 mm.

 

 

Church, road and trees in color Infrared

 

 

Colour Infrared Photography of Trees and building

 

Palm Trees and building in colour infrared

 

 

Methods by which one can record or simulate Infrared Photography

1. Shooting normal photographs and then post processing them in photoshop to get an infrared effect
   
   
2. By using infrared filters that you can put in front of the lens that needs customing the white balance to get infrared effect and one needs to use tripod as the filter will block the view finder for the photographer. This technique it needs lots of experimentation.
   
   
3. Customising the camera for infrared and this also requires customising the white balance of the camera, There are 4 kinds of filters you can purchase.
   
   
4. Use an 87C nm which gives deep black and white the cutoff point for visible light is higher producing an image that has more contrast in IR 2-R72nm this mean that the cutoff point for visible light is 720 nm.
   
   
5. The 665 nm filter is often referred to as the enhanced color filter that filter allows the most visible light to reach the camera sensor.
   
   
6. The 590 nm filter offers the maximum enhanced color filter that gives the most visible light with very creative effect in the post processing I usually play with the mixer channels in Adobe Photoshop to get the infrared end result.
   

 

Rural scene showing how the trees and plant leaves become white in infrared photography

 

 

Palm tree and sky in Infrared

 

Fisheye image of Lake Louise in infrared

I am sharing these photos with you to show you the dreamy world of infrared photography.