How to do IR ?

I love the look of IR photos. How is this done with a digital camera ? Can any camera do it ? Or does it take a "special" setting only available on upper-end cameras ?

I have been in the "digital world" for only about a month, so please excuse my ignorance.

Would appreciate any help. Thanks !

Not all digital cameras can make good IR images. This is because of a IR blocking filter all cameras have. Some are good to block out the infrared and others not. I suugest you type your camera brand + IR into google and check what people have to say about your camera and IR.

There are IR filters that you attach to your lens and there are IR filters that are just a bit of plastic that you can hold in front of your lens. Note that you will need longer eposures as the filters are rather dark. I tripod is recommended. There is also a matter of focusing that is a little different from normal.

-Pelle Piano
http://www.pellepiano.com
Gallery at http://www.modelmayhem.com/pics.php?id=92920

Thanks Pelle !

I'll do some searching on Google and see what I find.

Thanks again for your help !

I'd recommend searching DPR first, as there is a wealth of information here. I described my technique in this thread (link below), but note that the ability to do IR handheld is limited to a few Sony's, as far as I know. You can buy IR-modified cameras at maxmax.com, and I'd recommend checking out their website. My technique is at http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=18882520
Good luck and have fun exploring!
--
West



Quality is a word beginning with a Q, and ending with a Y

Thanks West !

I'll check it out and do some more searching. I have a Canon SD550. After some searching I'm getting the impression that IR is only for DSLRs, not P&S models. I'm new to digital and I'm probably wanting to do too much too soon.

Thanks again, I appreciate your help !

Many of the best digital IR images are taken with the old Olympus 2000 point and shoot, as it lets a bigger spectrum of IR light to hit the chip.

You can also simulate IR in PS by playing with the channel mixer, but it only works on some images unfortunately.



-Pelle Piano
http://www.pellepiano.com
Gallery at http://www.modelmayhem.com/pics.php?id=92920

Hi

An easy and cheap way to start digital IR is to simply use an IR asorbing filter in front of the lens. However exposures are very long and tend to be noisy.

Alternate method is to remove the IR blocking filter from an point and shoot and then place an IF filter in front of the lens.
I modified my Coolpix 995 to do just that.

go here http://www.clickondavid.com/garden/index.htm to see photos taken of a friends garden on a bright sunny day.

Thanks for your comments.

I have a point-and-shoot and have only had it for a few weeks, so I would prefer not trying to open things up and remove filters. I have a Canon SD550, does this camera definitely have an anti-IR filter ? If so, does this mean I can't take IR pictures without first removing this filter ?

If that's the case, I guess I'll have to wait to do any IR work.

Your gallery is awesome ! I particularly liked the rose picture. How did you accomplish that effect ? I really liked the "art" look for the rose with the rest of the plants in the background appearing unchanged. Great work !

All fdigital cameras will do IR. A simple check is to take a photo of an infrared remote and see if the small sensor lights up in the pic (you have to push a button while u are taking a pic). Much easier to do with a digital camera that has a real time lcd monitor.

Having said that virtually all digital cameras have an IR asorbing filter. I have managed to take IR photos with my Canon dSLR (without mods) by adding an 87a IR filter in front of the lens. Downside is long exposure and little or no visibility thru viewfinder since filter is so dark. Pics are also grainy.

as for the rose I opened ir black and whitr in photoshop. Put the roses on a separate layer and then colorized the roses in the forground read and the background green.