The Dayton Masonic Temple in 720nm Infrared - a multi-image stitch

I’ve had several folks reach out to me to ask about shooting in infrared, so I thought I’d do a few quick posts about how to do it. Note that there are several ways to go about it, and this is my way. There are several tutorials about it out there and for the most part you can get good results with any of them.

First, a little about Infrared images and what they are exactly.

The human eye can see wavelengths from about 400nm-700nm (from purple to red); infrared is the light beyond 700nm. IR photography can be done with either infrared film, or a digital camera, and typically involves near infrared light in the 700nm to 1200nm range.

Pittsburg Glass Factory smokestack in 720nm near Mt. Vernon, Ohio

Infrared photography produces some very distinct effects depending on editing styles, light, subject, etc. The most striking look, and the one that most people associate with Infrared, is the “Wood Effect”, where leaves reflect light giving them a bright white look. This effect is named after the photographer Robert W. Wood, a pioneer in early infrared photography. This effect is often seen in landscape photography where it can be used to produce crazy color landscapes or high contrast B+W photographs.

“Seventeen” - 720nm image I shot near Mt. Vernon, Ohio

So that you don’t have to digest my methods all at once, I’m going to break it down into 3 parts:

Camera Set-Up
Capturing the Image
Final Editing

I shoot in 720nm, which is the “standard” infrared wavelength.

What I’m going to cover will be mostly associated with that, although it may apply to some of the other wavelengths out there. Second, this is based on having a camera that has been converted to that wavelength, rather than using Infrared filters on a standard camera. You can purchase converted cameras, or send your camera in to have it converted. I used the services of LifePixel Infrared but there are several other good companies out there. LifePixel did not sponsor this article in anyway and I am not being compensated by them.

Camera Set-Up part 1: White Balance

Infrared has a completely different white balance than standard light, which means you have to set the white balance on the camera to something other than the general choices you have like sunny, incandescent light, cloudy, etc. All cameras have a different way of doing this, but on the D2X that I use, the method is to get to the menu where it gives you the option to set a custom white balance, point the camera at green grass at your feet, then take an image. This tells the camera that the white balance is the grass and sets it. I then leave that setting on the camera, never changing it unless the main memory battery dies that powers the time/data/settings. Then I have to set it again. Which means I keep the same white balance all of the time unless something happens.

Camera Set-Up part 2: Display Settings

When you take an infrared image and the camera displays it on the back of the camera, the jpeg it shows is usually a red mess. It’s hard to tell what you are looking at and also if you’ve nailed exposure and composition.

That’s why I set my jpeg display mode for the back of the camera to be Black and White. This gives a more pleasing image, even if it is the (usually) poor straight jpeg interpretation of the scene. It doesn’t affect the final RAW or DNG image at all. It’s just a tool to use in the field.

I also set the display to show the histogram so that I have an aid in determining exposure. More on that in the next blog post.

B&W and Histogram go a long way to helping get the shot as best as it can be in-camera.

Camera Set-Up part 3: Creating a custom color profile for Lightroom

Now this could be considered to be part of editing, but to me this goes along with getting everything ready to shoot and process images. You’ll need to set up a custom DNG Color Profile for your IR-Converted camera.

Kolari Vision has a great tutorial on this, so rather than re-invent the wheel, I’ll reference it here. No, I’m not compensated by them either. :) Check out the article on how to set up the profile and follow it step-by-step.

Once you’ve done that, the profile is set in Lightroom, so that when you import your images after a photo session, all you have to do is go to the Color Profile Browser on the right to pick the Infrared Color Profile for your camera.

Camera Color Profile in Lightroom for my 720nm converted Nikon D2X

OK, that’s it. You’re now ready to get out and shoot images! In the next blog I’ll cover how to shoot in the field. This includes what scenes and light work best for IR and getting the correct exposure in-camera. Along with some other do’s and don’ts.

Stay tuned!

Jeremy