Infrared Photography
The term “infrared” literally means “below red”, and without getting into science or color theory, that means we as human beings can’t see it. Yet even though you and I can’t see infrared light, most digital cameras can, and with the use of an infrared lens filter, infrared photography can bring that light within our visible range, capturing and creating images that have a truly unique, mysterious and otherworldly look to them. Fortunately, this same look can be created quite easily in Photoshop beside using camera. (scroll down for source for tutorial and video how to produce this effects).
In Depth
In infrared photography, the film or image sensor used is sensitive to infrared light. The part of the spectrum used is referred to as near-infrared to distinguish it from far-infrared, which is the domain of thermal imaging. Wavelengths used for photography range from about 700 nm to about 900 nm. Usually an “infrared filter” is used; this lets infrared (IR) light pass through to the camera, but blocks all or most of the visible light spectrum (the filter thus looks black or deep red).
When these filters are used together with infrared-sensitive film or sensors, very interesting “in-camera effects” can be obtained; false-color or black-and-white images with a dreamlike or sometimes lurid appearance known as the “Wood Effect,” an effect mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow. There is a small contribution from chlorophyll fluorescence, but this is extremely small and is not the real cause of the brightness seen in infrared photographs.
The effect is named after the ifrared photography pioneer Robert W. Wood, and not after the material wood, which does not glow under infrared. The other attributes of infrared photographs include very dark skies and penetration of atmospheric haze, caused by reduced Rayleigh scattering and Mie scattering, respectively, compared to visible light. The dark skies, in turn, result in less infrared light in shadows and dark reflections of those skies from water, and clouds will stand out strongly. These wavelengths also penetrate a few millimeters into skin and give a milky look to portraits, although eyes often look black.
Enjoy these amazing infrared photos below that I’ve gathered from the net (credits provided at the end of this post).
Infrared Tutorials
To learn more about how to produce Infrared Photos digitally (Adobe Photoshop), please click Tutorial A or Tutorial B and for those who prefer using camera, you may click Tutorial C.
Wish you guys all the best and keep on trying until you get the results that you wanted! And don’t forget to watch this simple tutorial video to learn how to do infrared in less than 4 mins! Enjoy!
Posted by Jeffrey on March 10, 2009 at 7:59 am
Nice post, and a well explained introduction to ir photos. Also thank you very much for the credit back to my site.
Posted by Aki on March 10, 2009 at 9:12 am
No, thanks to you Jeffrey. Your photos..they are amazing and brilliant! Really admire your works and looking forward for your IR Tutorial Part 2.
Cheers….
(Thanks for dropping by, btw)
Posted by kacang86 on March 10, 2009 at 11:46 am
wow… very infomational…guess what.. i want to try it to! the effect was real.. love it =)
btw: the pict was amazing…
Posted by Aki on March 10, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Thanks Kacang86…
Well, I agree, we all should try since infrared technique is doable and it is not that hard…First, I have to look for my old photos collection to find any suitable ones before I can apply this technique…good luck to u and me!
Posted by yunusismail22 on March 10, 2009 at 9:24 pm
awesome dude! nice IR photos
Posted by Aki on March 10, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Thanks bro Yunus. There are awesome indeed!
Posted by gerektua on March 10, 2009 at 9:58 pm
mantap bro… nanti blh touch up gambar2 gua huhuhu
Posted by Bayan on March 10, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Kena cuba ni.
Posted by Aki on March 11, 2009 at 1:02 am
Cubalah Bayan.. mana tau menjadik! Boleh kita kongsi2…
Posted by bain on March 11, 2009 at 1:55 pm
ooooo manga-ai! ini harus dipelajari ini! cantek banget komposisi dan warnanya Aki! study! study! study!!!!
Posted by bain on March 11, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Aki! dah cuba buat guna tutorial a ngan b tu, tapi, ntah macam mana ntah, jadi benda lain! jadilaa gak IR tu, tapi x sehebat-terbaik mcm gmbar dlm post ni! ngaangaaa!!!!
Posted by Aki on March 11, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Rasanya kene adjust ikut citarasa sendiri juga masa apply effects seme tuh…sehinggalah dpt hasil yg dikehendaki….
Posted by yunusismail22 on March 12, 2009 at 12:08 am
‘yg penting important’
Posted by bain on March 13, 2009 at 10:36 am
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hampeh ko Yunus!!! “yg penting important”???? ko ni bole jadik badut sarkas utk royal london nyer laa…ekekekekekkkk!!!!! ^_^’
Posted by kell on March 13, 2009 at 1:10 pm
a’kum aki sihat? wa udahlama ngak ketemu di alam cyber ni kan hihihi neway cantik gambar ni sumer memang cntik teruja kel lagi2 bile mggunakn technique infrared ini lagi cntik gambrnyer aki. pndai aki buat nnti ley ajar kel. & gmbar2 ni nmpak scary pun ader gak tapi ape apepun cantik tahniah aki
Posted by Aki on March 13, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Urm… ni bukan Aki yang buat Kell, cuma koleksi peribadi yang Aki dpt dari internet. Most of the infrared photos shown above were done by Jeffrey Klassen, the 1st commentator in this post. Cheers!
Posted by emila on March 28, 2009 at 1:40 am
aki!! thanks for the tutorial link!!! saya nak cuba juga!!
Posted by Aki on March 28, 2009 at 3:16 am
Urm… sama sama Kak Emila… Kalau dah cuba jgn lupa kongsi di blog ya!! Tak sabar nak tgk!
Posted by Acap Seman on February 23, 2010 at 7:53 pm
wow such a breathtaking aki…..lovely editing job, but mesti pening kalo wat walpaper kat dekstop….haha, any available pic to dl?gonna keep tryng~ (^(••)^)
Posted by Aki on February 23, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Kalau nak download… byk di net, just google.. mesti jumpa punya…..
Posted by Acap Seman on February 23, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Owh thanks….i hope ade yg high resolution punye