Infrared Photography

Hey all been playing around with my new G3 and seen some infrared pics and thought dam i have learn how to do that. Now here i am trying to learn it.
Ok now my question is what is the best infrared filter to use?
Also i want to get a wide angle and telephoto lens and macro lens but don't know which ones to choose. Any help would be very grateful.
Also whats the highest .x telephoto lens that you can buy. What i mean is whats the highest zoom that you can get.
Thanks for all your help
skyeman

I just got my IR filter the other day and have been doing some test photography with my G3. From what I hear, the Hoya R72 is most recomended, both for quality and price.

Here's a link to 2 of my test IR shots with the G3 and R72 filter. So far, I'm having a blast. The hardest part is the post processing work.

http://www.pbase.com/i​mage/17700105

http://www.pbase.com/i​mage/17701302

Here's a few tips.

-Try to take IR photos on calm days. Wind is the biggest enemy since you will be using 1.5 seconds or more exposures.
-Definitely use a tripod and your remote to take the pictures.
-Don't forget to play around with the different white balance options as each yield a different hue for your photograph.

One of the best things about this Forum is picking up on great ideas such as Infrared Photography! With 35mm, all my bodies could never accept the IR film and my G3 carries all of my filters within and now I can explore the wonderful Arizona desert with Infrared. Now, all I need is Cross-Processing and Photo-Nervana wil be mine!

IR photography just looks SO neat!!! I looked up filter prices, and they're in the $250 range!!! Anybdy knows of cheaper options? After all my other spendings on the G3, I just don't dare at this point...

I just deleted the 2 photographs I posted above, but I just got done creating a G3 IR gallery at pbase, here's the link.

http://www.pbase.com/p​olloloco81/infrared

Feel free to let me know what you guys think.

38.95

lensmateonline.com

polloloco81 wrote:
I just deleted the 2 photographs I posted above, but I just got done creating a G3 IR gallery at pbase, here's the link.

http://www.pbase.com/p​olloloco81/infrared

Feel free to let me know what you guys think.

Jesus.... those are simply amazing. Care to share what settings you used etc...? I just got a Hoya filter.

I messed with my filter last night and noticed that the LCD was completely black due to the darkness of the filter. I think I have a lot to learn. Know of any good tutorials?

Also, what kind of post-shot production should be done if any?

Is it possible to do an Infrared effect using a software package like Photoshop/Paintshop Pro rather than buying more filters?

I've been trying to figure out how to achieve IR effects with just photoshop too. I believe it is possible, but very hard to accomplish. All of my tries have turned out to look very synthetic and not natural at all. If anyone can accomplish this task, please share with us your process

Thanks for the comments. Here's an excellent link that teaches about IR photography that I thought helped me out a lot.

http://www.cliffshade.​com/dpfwiw/ir.htm

Anyways, here are some of my tips, and know that I'm still figuring out IR photography too, so some of the things I post may not turn out to be the best sollution.

-Always use a tripod or something to keep the camera stationary (as IR photography requires at least a 1.6 second exposure). I have also tried up to 8 seconds but it was very windy so everything turned out very blurry at that long of exposure. To even be more careful, I would use the remote control that comes with the G3 to snap the shots.

-Definitely mess around with the white balance settings, and I highly recomend using the custom white balance. This entails just sellecting it, and then aim at a white piece of paper and press the * button.

-On my photographs that I took, I generally used apertures ranging from 5.6 to 8 to get the maximum depth of field and ISO 50.

-I also use manual focus, and I have not tried IR pics with autofocus yet. I just have this feeling that AF doesn't work as well so I don't bother.

-So far of all the modes I have tried, I still find Manual mode to be the best.

-One thing that I do that helps make the photograph even better is to compose your shots with the filter off, and then put it on when you are ready to snap since there is so little infomation on the LCD when the filter is on.

As for post production, you definitely want to use photoshop and go to Adjust>auto levels. This will separate the different IR colors. Usually, you will get the folliage to look white-blue while the sky to be dark red. If you like it like this, then you're done, but if you're like me, then you go to image>adjustment>channel mixer. You then swap the red and blue channels with each other and leave the green alone.

Ok, I am still lost on this subject. I have tried, as the directions have stated, yet I don't get anywhere near those colors as everyone else...I don't think I have ever seen those greens and blues on my pics! Please help me and tell me where I am going wrong, here are my examples, thank you!

Shannon

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Howdy,

Just got back from Costa Rica, and was able to take some infrared pictures in one of the cloud rainforests. Let me know what ya think.

http://buckjackson.fot​opic.net/show_collecti​on.php?id=31016


Buck

Those are excellent!!! Great job. I am still lost as far as mine goes, after processing the auto levels in Photoshop I still have the purples, I never have any other colors. Will you share your secrets?
Shannon

hi,

try using a gray card and set the custom white balance using this. it gets rid of all the color tho so you end up with purely black and white shots.

the alternatively is choosing a specific white balance point before converting from raw to jpg or tiff. the advantage of this is you slight get some color - and you can also alter the color as you like it.

hope this helps

do you want other colours or are you attempting black and white infrared?

lara