Photo by J. Andrzej Wrotniak
I just ordered a Hoya R72 IR filter so I can get my feet wet with infrared photography. I like the different look and the extreme contrast between black and white tones you can get with IR. Here are some Web sites I’m bookmarking for reference.
- Infrared Photography with a Digital Camera – The photo above came from his gallery. Includes this caveat: “Never, ever view the sun directly through an IR filter, however black it may appear. The transmitted near IR can permanently damage your eyes in a matter of seconds before you know it!” IR photography – beautiful and dangerous.
- Infrared (IR) basics for digital photographers—capturing the unseen
- IR post-processing in Photoshop – darned useful info
- Thom Hogan – Shooting Infrared with Digital Cameras
- Infrared camera videos on Google
- Bjørn Rørslett’s IR Colour Photography – Really outstanding, and his excellent Nikon lens reviews have useful notes on suitability for IR and UV photography
- Take Infrared (IR) Pictures With Your Digital Camera – A DIY resource. “This rough test is done by pointing a TV remote control at your digital camera and pressing a button. You should be able to see the IR LED on your remote (the white light here). The brighter, the better (different digital cameras have different IR sensitivities).”
- Lifepixel and MaxMax are two companies that convert digital cameras for dedicated IR use. Everything I’ve read says that dedicated IR cameras produce better results than IR filters. The downside is the price – $300-500 for the conversion and you have to supply the camera. Or you can follow Lifepixel’s DIY instructions.
Books?
Any recommendations on IR photography books appreciated. Amazon has a 99 cent Kindle book I’m going to buy for starters.
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You are fortunate that you have a D40. I have a D90, which is far less sensitive to IR. There’s a person that posted the same picture twice on Flickr: one taken with a D40 and the other with a D90. The D40 exposure time was 1 second. For the D90, it was 56 seconds. The reason for this is that, as cameras advance, so do the layers they use to keep infrared from reaching the sensor.
As for the IR conversions, the biggest reason they take better IR pictures is that the exposure times increase enough to no longer need a tripod for them.
The picture I mentioned is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsuello/2951435210/
and another good digital IR site.
http://www.nature-photography-central.com/DigitalInfraredPhotography.html
LD: You mentioned that the D40 was a great IR camera in a comment a while back. I stumbled across that comment again this week, and that’s actually what got me thinking about IR. So really you were my inspiration for pursuing IR.
I actually got my step-father a D40 for Christmas. I didn’t mention to him that one consequence of that is that I intend to finally get a Hoya R72 for one of my lenses, and then play with digital IR if I’m at my parent’s place and it’s sunny. Then I can decide on whether to get a second camera and have it converted.
Seeing how I tend to dabble with things rather than master them, I expect messing with his will probably be the end of it.