- This topic is empty.
valleymount in IR
-
Hi all, my first attemp at IR with an unconverted 20D and hoya R72 filter, and colour swapped in PS. It was late in the evening just before sunset, would the foliage come out whiter if it was earlier in the day when the sun is higher or did I do something wierd during processing :? C&C welcome. :D
sharon
Hi Sharon,
From what I know of IR, the best time to shoot is middle of the day on bright sunny days,
I don’t think late in the evening is very conducive to IR.
Someone on here will probably explain why that is in a more technical sense then I can.
The image itself is maybe a little dark, but I’m not viewing it on good monitor right now.
What settings did you use as a matter of interest?Hiya Sharon,
looks a bit dark, although well composed … perhaps a levels adjustment, and use the grey point dropper to adjust the colours ?
It’s moreso a post processing issue than anything else, but I would recommend shooting during the earlier hours of the day when the sun is high in the sky and at it’s brightest.
The Channel Mixing technique isn’t always easy to get right, you’re often left with tinges of other colours in the foliage. I did a quick, quick edit:
* Levels – Auto Levels
* Hue Saturation – Set the saturation on Red and Magenta to 0Looks much better now methinks.
Thanks for the feedback all, I was a bit dark alright, thought it might be more effective earlier in the day, It looks much better with your edit nfl-fan, I’ll try again and mess about with the levels and saturation, didn’t do much with them at all if anything in the original doh! :roll: don’t know why I didn’t think to adjust the saturation after the channel mixer. Hope its a sunny day this weekend for attempt 2. :D
sharon
It possibly has something to do with the amount of atmosphere the light has to travel through to reach its target, during the day it’s coming from straight-ish over head whereas, as it begins to drop down and set, the light has more atmosphere to travel through which does funky stuff with the light waves, not least of which is give us lovely red sunsets. I’m sure there’s someone emminently more qualified in physics that could explain it properly but I’m sure that’s what’s influencing the light in this shot.
But then, as John as shown, there are ways of getting the most out of it. Nice lead in and reflection from the lake though.
When working with Digitial I.R. photos conversion to B+W is a lot simpler and easier to get right than the Channel Mixer approach (for reasons already mentioned).
The post processing required isn’t excessive, but can be tricky to get right. The first thing I always do is either:
Curves – Auto Curves or Levels – Auto Levels (more or less the same thing)
Once this is done you can then follow the B+W path or the Channel Mixer (to retain the blue sky) approach.
B+W is simpler because unwanted tinges of colours are no longer an issue.
If you want to retain the Blue Sky using the Channel Mixer approach then you’re going to have to mess around with the Hue/Saturation adjustments to get rid of unwanted colour in the foliage.
I usually add some extra contrast before sharpening too.
This video describes the Channel Mixer approach:
Few tutorials here – http://www.lifepixel.com/digital-infrared/instructions.html
Looks good for a Hoya R72 shot. I’ve tinkered about with one from time to time and I’ve always been disappointed with the sharpness of my results. Infra-red focuses a bit differently to visible light and I’ve never been satisfied with what I’ve got. This looks much better focused than anything I’ve ever managed.
fmoore on the photography BB forums does some stunning IR work, but he’s using a converted camera. I mostly used the Hoya R72 on a Fuji S5000 and on an S7000, I haven’t tried with my S3 Pro. Must give it a go. The silvery foliage effect comes from converting your capture to Mono. Colour IR effect comes from swapping red and blue channels (I think). A moment or two’s googling should turn up suitable tutorials. Keep them coming, Alex.Not a great man of science but as far as I know I.R is better during the day due to the sunlight, plants photosynthsise and this is the light that I.R picks up in the foliage…….thank god the leaving is over and I can forget that biology stuff :)
As for I.R processing, I don’t have a clue
Tried it again with the auto levels and a little tinker with the saturation and it looks much better. Thanks a million all for the tips and comments, will give it another go in the middle of the day. Roll on the day when I can afford a new camera and get this one converted 8) I definately like IR and could probably get a better exposure earlier in the day. The shutter speed for this was around the 30 second mark I think, at ISO400 with aperture wide open. Hot spots weren’t too bad and could be generally dealt with in PS, so nice to know it works anyway with a 20D, someone else had told me it probably wouldn’t and hotspot would be to bad with this camera but so far so good. :D
sharon
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
