So, I’ve just got my new Hoya R-72 filter for the Canon A-70, and I’ll be taking near-infrared photos. I really like the look that IR photos have - eerie, haunting.
My first test shots have come out well - but I’ll wait until I’ve improved before I put any online.
The plants, they do not so much like absorbing in the NIR, do they?
Those pictures are really cool! I’m going to have to keep this in mind when I get around to buying a digital camera.
I already do a lot of infrared photometry . . . in a sense . . . but my pictures usually aren’t as pretty as the ones you linked to. CCD cameras were used by astronomers a long time before they were available in consumer electronics, and their excellent response in the NIR did not go unnoticed.
My understanding is that they’re pretty much IR-transparent, and it’s only internal reflectance off the spongy leaf tissue that makes healthy deciduous plants so bright in near-IR. Pines and dead leaves, apparently not so much. I have yet to see for myself, but I do know near-IR aerial photography is used a lot in forestry work to detect disease etc…
read the FAQs, though - apparently, newer cameras have better hot mirrors and electronics to cut out IR contamination, so don’t do this kind of thing very well.
I know I tested mine before buying, by the remote-control test. Still am glad it worked…now I just wait for a sunny day.
Lots of stuff on the web about this. For digital cameras, some are better (more sensitive) at IR than others. You’ll need a tripod as many require long exposures.
I have a mini-tripod, but I’m taking 0.5 second exposures at F8, ISO 100. I’ve gotten some pretty good results just hand-held and braced against a fence, so far. When the sun is out again, I’ll take the triposd and go to the park.
Can anyone recommend a good free online place to put photos, so I can link from this thread next week? What’s this photobucket I’ve heard about?
You can use www.ofoto.com which is where I place photos for family to order prints. Otherwise, yahoo has a photosharing system. Do a google on photo forums and you’ll also find places to share photos that have forums related to the photos. http://www.wetcanvas.com is a good place for posting art for critiques and advice, but you can’t post extremely large files or large numbers.
IR is such a great medium. It’s so interesting how you can take a color photo of a scene and then an IR picture of a scene, lay then side by side, and see how much more drama or intensity (for lack of better words) are added to the sky and plant element of the IR photo.
There are a number of more examples of b&w and colored IR in my dailies that are not part of the gallery (been real busy )
Anyway, I’d love to see the results that any of you produce through IR. If you don’t have a website to post them on, you might consider http://picturedigger.com. This is a site I’m developing from a private following into a public area of image sharing. The site is under development, but you can sign up for the FREE package and post and share photos all you like!
Let me know if you have any questions. And again, I’d love to see your work as well.
Ah… silly me… I forgot to put in a link. I wrote a small tutorial on modifing your IR photo in photoshop. It’s for black & white only, but I’m working on a colored IR tutorial.
Woohoo - never thought I was looking at a Doper’s gallery - silly me, should have known we’re everywhere! Those are some great pictures - really atmospheric, and, to me, they seem very Rural American.
Am going to local park now to take some pics, it’s sunny but kind of windy, still we’ll see what comes up…
I’ve had most success with my test shots by running a noise suppressor (Noiseware Community Edition), then strengthening the blue channel preferentially, maybe doing a levels adjustment. Then desaturating or mode->greyscale. I’ve also tried swapping red and blue in the channel mixer.
CCD cameras were used by astronomers a long time before they were available in consumer electronics, and their excellent response in the NIR did not go unnoticed.