Infrared

Culd someone please help,i have just got a 950nm infrared filter for christmas and i can not see a thing through it...is there some special setting my camera should b on...HELP!!!!

You can't see anything through it because it blocks out everything but infrared light.

Assumedly the filter you got attaches to whatever camera/lens combination you have?

YES...it is a 950nm cut off and i have it n a 75-300mm...i get better results in b&w...any advice

when i take the photo i cant see anything either..should i setthe camera to blk & white,what can help...

Calm down.

Focus then carefully put the IR filter on. Use a tripod and ISO 100. It'll be a long exposure, 20+ seconds at the very least.

Shoot in RAW. I'll find a tutorial for the rest in a minute.

Here you go. I couldn't remember where I found this at before.

Make sure to set your white balance when you start!

http://www.lifepixel.c​om …ography-instructions.html

For a 950mm you are going to need a 3 minutes exposure at ISO100 at least, probably more!
The picture will be in B&W because only infrared radiation will pass the filter no visible light at all.
Use a scene with foliage and plenty of sunshine for the shot, be careful to have the sun on your back or the flares will make it a disaster.

Luck!

thank you...i was starting to panic...do you think it is too dark..I'm not really sure what the white balance should b...

do you think i need a lower number filter like the hoya r72...

You'll have a difficult time with such a high cutoff in IR. Very little IR light at that wavelength will reach the sensor. You would have better luck with a Hoya R72 that is down at 720nm.

I have the tut now misskitty thank you so so so much....

The eye can only see to about 700nm. 950nm is good if your camera is modified with the ir block filter (stock in every canon and nikon digital camera) removed.

Shooting IR is going to be very frustrating if you don't do a lot of reading up on the subject, and even then there's a very steep learning curve in the field. You have to compose the shot normally (preferably on a tripod) then thread the filter on the lens. Then trigger the shot (which has to be in manual mode, as 15-20 second exposures with a 720nm filter are common with bright outdoor scenes). That, and set your custom white balance using brightly lit grass or leaves. Then after all of that, you have to do a good bit of post-processing to convert the RAW or jpeg files into the stark B&W or false-color winter wonderland looks that are so popular.

It's not easy. I've been working at it for the last six months pretty steadily, and only now is it starting to become intuitive.

I recommend you check out (either via the library or bookstore) "The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography" by Joe Farace, since it's fairly easy reading and will give you a bunch of tips you can apply right away, followed by "David Busch's Digital Infrared Pro Secrets" by David Busch (duh) which goes into more technical detail regarding Photoshop work and such. I refer to both fairly regularly.

The 950nm cutoff filter is really a specialized niche. Most enthusiasts who shoot IR go with the 720nm. The 950 blocks out a LOT of light, including a lot of near-IR. They're much tougher to work with, particularly if you're just starting out.

Without a full conversion of your camera body to IR only...this is what you will see through the viewfinder no matter what band pass IR filter you mount on the front of the lens. So little visible light is passed that the view finder is essentially "black".
Thus that also means longer exposure times, no implulse "point and shoot hand held" type shooting. You are on a tripod and more "thought and process" goes into your shot.

...see the shot
...frame your shot in the view finder
...pick your WB shot for metering
...setup your custom WB
...set your exposure or braket exposures
...re-frame the shot
...screw on the filter on the front or if you are using a Cokin/Lee type; "slide" the filter onto the holder.
...set your shutter speed
...click the shutter.
...chimp the shot and make adjustments as necessary.

OR:

Pick up a gently used body and have it converted with the IR blocking filter in front of the sensor removed and replaced with the equivalent of a Hoya R72 (or more severe filter if you want) of the right "thickness".

THEN you can see through the viewfinder like any regular D/SLR and point and shoot to your hearts delight. But then the body is IR specific.
There is another conversion where the body can be used for both visible and IR which requires another filter on the front which allows for visible light pass (not sure of the process here so don't take my comment as gospel on this type of conversion).
Various companies on the net do the IR body conversions.
Or a buddy of mine JIm Chen Photography does a fine job of converted and re-focusing of bodies for IR. For less $'s then most.