Infrared Adventures Part II

I started getting into infrared photography a couple weeks ago. While this big wave of COVID and the restrictions and lockdowns which came out of it have prevented me from actually going out to do much with my little infrared full-spectrum camera, I've been really excited about it.

When my camera arrived in the mail last month, three filters were on back order. They came this week, and I decided to shoot the same scene from my balcony as I did in my previous post to show the capabilities of three additional IR filters.

https://michaeldesrosiers.blogspot.com/2021/05/infrared-adventures-part-i.html

Blue IR

The first new filter is the Blue IR filter by Kolari. Like the IR Chrome filter, it's designed to be used with photos taken right in the camera without any sort of digital development or postprocessing. The Blue IR - as its name suggests - allows in blue light along with light from the infrared spectrum, which creates incredibly colorful images with indigo skies and alien-looking leaf tones.

This color palette is a bit specific, but I think I could take some interesting photos with this one.

I played around with channel swapping the Blue IR photos, and I think I like this style even better. The first one is a red/blue exchange. In the second picture, I knocked out the green channel completely. Both are super weird, but more interesting (in my opinion) than the original Blue IR. This one is cool because it actually gives me quite a lot of room to play around with the colors.

550

Next up is the 550nm filter. I've already tested out the 590, which (when r/b channel swapped) creates photos of dark blue skies and orange foliage. The 550nm filter allows just a bit more light in, and thus allows for more vivid colors. Out of the camera, the photos look very weird - hazy yellow-green skies and bright blue leaves. However, once you channel swap the red and blue...

... you end up with something looking like this! I don't know why, but these colors make me think of Miami. Do you know what I mean??

This is a very cool Aerochrome-looking filter, and I love it! It looks super weird and alien, and I am especially excited to shoot some temples or waterfalls in Thailand using this one.

850

Finally, I've got the 850nm filter. This one is the "purest" IR filter. It allows only infrared light to hit the sensor, and blocks out all color wavelengths. That means that the images shot in 850 can be used right out of the camera without any channel swapping. It creates a really dark and moody black and white image without the use of any digital editing or desaturation. 

Unlike a typical greyscale or black and white photo, black and white infrared does some really cool things with light and sky. In fact, a lot of infrared photographers end up desaturating their colored infrared photos because they like the sharp contrast so much! 

850 gives us a dark sky and vividly white leaves. It's one of the most "classic" infrared filters, and mimics the look of black and white infrared film. Specifically, photographers like the famous Ansel Adams (who took incredible pictures of America's national parks) and Sir Simon Marsden (whom a listener of my podcast recommended to me) shot in black and white infrared film.

I wasn't sure I'd be too fond of the 850. I thought that I would favor the weirdly colored filters, but after just testing it out, I have to say, I like the look. 

Full Spectrum

There's one more type of IR photography that I'd like to mention here, and that's full spectrum photography - using a converted full spectrum camera without any filter at all. In this case, the sensor picks up all bands of infrared and visible light, and creates photos which look sort of natural, with blue skies, muddy purple leaves, and drab brown grass. It's an interesting look, and one I wouldn't mind exploring further.

I shot this picture out of my balcony, but was surprised when I closed my glass balcony door to find that the window somehow functioned as a "hot mirror", and restored some of the natural color to the scene! I guess the glass in my door must be treated with some sort of UV or IR filter to keep the room cool or protect us from the sun, or something. 

I have no idea exactly how it works, but I made a little GIF to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Weird, right?

I will need to do some sort of infrared photo walk soon and see what all of these filters are capable of. Stay tuned!