Reading mode: Light Dark

Infrared picture - First attempt - What am I doing wrong ???

Go to last post
Hello there.

many good responses already, however, here is a little summary of my IR experience:

1) WB is the key. You can use your patch of grass as many people suggest but what if you don't have one around? Simply use the gray card that comes with the filter and you can never go wrong!

2) Histogram behaves a bit differently and you can overexpose an image way before the graph hits the right side. That’s not a big deal, a few trials and you will get it right. My D70 settings, usually are EV+2 and then I can simply let my camera measure the exposure on its own.

3) The next one is very important. If you set your WB correctly, your image will look “grayscale” already in the viewfinder. No reddish tint!!!!

If you open the NEF image in Photoshop directly, it will again look “red” because the ACR do not take the file tag into consideration. Try to open the image in NikonView, for example. It will look “grayscale” again. Here is the trick! From NikonView export the image to the PSCS. Then, finally, you get your “gray” image into a Photoshop ready to be post processed.

4) Now, you have a chance to be successful with the famous channel swap.

Hope it helps.



LN

--
My Photo Gallery: http://www.limanovember.net
 
You would think so.

It was BRAND NEW from Pixmania. When contacted, I was told they just don't supply manuals, so I'd need to d/l from Nikon.

Still got to wait to enjoy the D50 though, as I've awoken to more rain this morning here in the UK !!!!!
 
Great looking photo! Can you verify a few things:

Is your camera unmodified?
Are you using an R72?
What brand and it comes with a grey card?
Shooting on a tripod (to get the image you posted)?
Can you provide some exif data for that photo?
What is the "famous channel swap" you spoke of in step 4?

Can you post a NEF you shot that has proper WB for us to play with PP?

Thanks!
Tengo said:
Hello there.

many good responses already, however, here is a little summary of
my IR experience:

1) WB is the key. You can use your patch of grass as many people
suggest but what if you don't have one around? Simply use the gray
card that comes with the filter and you can never go wrong!

2) Histogram behaves a bit differently and you can overexpose an
image way before the graph hits the right side. That’s not a big
deal, a few trials and you will get it right. My D70 settings,
usually are EV+2 and then I can simply let my camera measure the
exposure on its own.

3) The next one is very important. If you set your WB correctly,
your image will look “grayscale” already in the viewfinder. No
reddish tint!!!!
If you open the NEF image in Photoshop directly, it will again look
“red” because the ACR do not take the file tag into consideration.
Try to open the image in NikonView, for example. It will look
“grayscale” again. Here is the trick! From NikonView export the
image to the PSCS. Then, finally, you get your “gray” image into a
Photoshop ready to be post processed.

4) Now, you have a chance to be successful with the famous channel
swap.

Hope it helps.



LN

--
My Photo Gallery: http://www.limanovember.net
--
Click to expand...
--
http://encoding.n3.net
 
Dr Phibes said:
That expose seems about perfect.
Thanks for that Brad.
Click to expand...
You might try your camera's meter and see how that works out.
--
Stan ;o()



Life is the arch enemy of sleep
Photo's are a record of life
I need a record 'cause I tend to forget.
 
Tuukka said:
A-haa... So the purpose of setting the WB so that the green objects
appear as gray, not only "undo" the effect of the filer..

Thanks for clearing this up :)

cheers.
-T
Click to expand...
What do you mean by "undo the effect of the filter?" The filter removes spectrum, you can't undo that.
--
Stan ;o()



Life is the arch enemy of sleep
Photo's are a record of life
I need a record 'cause I tend to forget.
 
I've just taken this shot on my tripod, at 2" / F9 / ISO 200
(Forget composition, as I was just testing to get a decent balance !)

The point is, I have got a decent sky, but it's not blue. I'm a novice with photoshop but have done the channel swap thing and this is the result.
How do I get the sky blue ?

 
Doeesn't look to me that the WB is set correctly (I'm no IR expert) since the trees are somewhat grey. Also, you may want to shoot your IR stuff in RAW so you can losslessly adjust the WB after-the-fact.

Can you post the original image before you modified it?

--
http://encoding.n3.net
 
I've tested and noticed that the filter doesn't remove the all of the spectrum, as shown on this image in which I boosted the saturation.
WB was set from white/grey surface
D50 w/ Hoya (R72)



Anyway.. so, technically the green surface works for IR whitebalance..and that's enough knowledge for me.

-T
DStan said:
What do you mean by "undo the effect of the filter?" The filter
removes spectrum, you can't undo that.
--
Stan ;o()



Life is the arch enemy of sleep
Photo's are a record of life
I need a record 'cause I tend to forget.
Click to expand...
--

 
Hi Brad
The sky was pure blue at the time it was took, but not "deep" blue

WB was taken off sunlit grass with filter ON. I got the "GOOD" display in the LCD when I set the WB
The settings were 2 sec / F9 / ISO 200
 
I was trying to follow the instructions at: http://www.lifepixel.com/digital-infrared/digital-infrared-photography-instructions.html

to "process" this image, but I can't get any color info in the sky at all. Makes me think when you shot it, the camera totally underexposed the sky but I could be wrong here.

Can you shoot these in RAW? Doing so will give you the ability to change the WB after-the-fact in a lossless fashion (won't save under/overexposed shots too much but it can help recover some blown highlights).

--
http://encoding.n3.net
 
Tuukka said:
I've tested and noticed that the filter doesn't remove the all of
the spectrum, as shown on this image in which I boosted the
saturation.
WB was set from white/grey surface
D50 w/ Hoya (R72)
Anyway.. so, technically the green surface works for IR
whitebalance..and that's enough knowledge for me.
Click to expand...
I didn't say that it removes all of the spectrum, but suppresses much of the red end and most of the visible, but leaves enough behind for the false color effect. I also have a #87 IR filter that really clobbers the visible spectrum, so much that you're better oof forgetting about the false colors and go strictly for B&W. Here's an example - taken with the #87 using my Nikon D70



--
Stan ;o()



Life is the arch enemy of sleep
Photo's are a record of life
I need a record 'cause I tend to forget.
 
That's a really beautiful picture!

hmm.. I always just used grey card WB with IR , but maeby I'll do bit more experimenting now...

cheers.
-T

--

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top