Infrared Filter

Rooky007

Rooky007

Rooky007

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,638
Hi,

I just got myself a infrared filter after seeing some shoots done with them that looks soo cool.

But I dont know what i am doing wrong at all. All picture are Black. I cant even see through it either.

So what should I be doing or expecting to do?

What are the rules to use the Infrared filter?

Cheers
 
Human eyes can not see Infrared. Cameras are modifed to reduce infrared light through the sensor but a little does get through. This will require several seconds for an image to be exposed.

You will need a really bright/hot day.
A tripod
Patience of upto 30 seconds for an exposure at about F8
The correct lens that doesn't hot spot.
A custom white balance you will need to make yourself
A fair chunk of time processing your image afterwards.

I am not ripping on you or anything but you have clearly not researched infrared photography and you are going to need to take a small crash course in it to be able to shoot good Infrared Photography
 
Fstop11 said:
Human eyes can not see Infrared. Cameras are modifed to reduce infrared light through the sensor but a little does get through. This will require several seconds for an image to be exposed.

You will need a really bright/hot day.
A tripod
Patience of upto 30 seconds for an exposure at about F8
The correct lens that doesn't hot spot.
A custom white balance you will need to make yourself
A fair chunk of time processing your image afterwards.

I am not ripping on you or anything but you have clearly not researched infrared photography and you are going to need to take a small crash course in it to be able to shoot good Infrared Photography
Click to expand...


Cheers... What would you set white balance at? Also not too sure what hot spot are. But to let you know i be using it on the Canon 17 - 40 L should i be ok?

Cheers
 
Rookies said:
Cheers... What would you set white balance at? Also not too sure what hot spot are. But to let you know i be using it on the Canon 17 - 40 L should i be ok?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Hot spots occour in some lenses. You will be fine with the EF 17 - 40 L
have you gone and bought yourself a 77mm IR filter then? I use a 58mm one with the 17 - 40L with it blu tac'd to a spare UV filter. I bet that cost you a fair chunk if you did.

This is what you dont really want. Although it is recoverable at the cost of noise. Its underexposed and the white balance has not been set. You want to get a good exposure (use your histogram) and set a custom white balance (photograph of some grass using a good long exposure with the IR filter on in daylight) then set that in your options as a selectable custom white balance and move your WB to the custom icon)

example03.jpg


After correct exposure and processing you will end up with very nice photos.
Curve adjustments, red/blue color channel swap. hue/saturation adjustments

Here are just two of mine.

example01.jpg


example02.jpg
 
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Fstop11 said:
Hot spots occour in some lenses. You will be fine with the EF 17 - 40 L
have you gone and bought yourself a 77mm IR filter then? I use a 58mm one with the 17 - 40L with it blu tac'd to a spare UV filter. I bet that cost you a fair chunk if you did.

This is what you dont really want. Although it is recoverable at the cost of noise. Its underexposed and the white balance has not been set. You want to get a good exposure (use your histogram) and set a custom white balance (photograph of some grass using a good long exposure with the IR filter on in daylight) then set that in your options as a selectable custom white balance and move your WB to the custom icon)

example03.jpg


After correct exposure and processing you will end up with very nice photos.
Curve adjustments, red/blue color channel swap. hue/saturation adjustments

Here are just two of mine.

example01.jpg


example02.jpg
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thankyou for your reply, I spent £20 on a filter to slot into my Coking Holder :) Hope it as good as it should be?

As if I look through the glass without it being attach to the lens i can hardly see through it is that how it should be?

Has it got to be really bright out there for it to work? Also what white balance you suggest as it got to be ranked up?

I have tried some and cant get a single picture they are blank so i guess it got to be really bright out there?

Cheers
 
Its got to be a bright day with a Canon. Nikons are a lot more forgiving.

You wont get a good one now. Yes you wont see through it with your eye. They are very dense.

Infrared filters do not generate infrared the same way a star filter generates stars. They are designed to BLOCK out visible light. They will allow only infrared light pass through them. Your best shooting at between lunch time and 3pm for strong Infrared light. I can tell you now that your camerea wont see a thing unless that shutter is open for about 10 seconds. Probably more to get a decent exposure.
 
Sorry one more thing. Have you bought a solid infrared filter or a infrared gel.

You really need a screw in filter that fully covers the diameter of the lens as you will be allowing UV light fog your shot.

I think you might of bought the A007 Infrared 720 (89B)

You really need a Hoya R72 Infrared filter.
 
Fstop11 said:
Sorry one more thing. Have you bought a solid infrared filter or a infrared gel.

You really need a screw in filter that fully covers the diameter of the lens as you will be allowing UV light fog your shot.

I think you might of bought the A007 Infrared 720 (89B)

You really need a Hoya R72 Infrared filter.
Click to expand...

It is a solid one. Oh dear hope it be ok I give it a try tmr if it not good I take it back and get a screw in one :) How much is a screw in one normally? Bet ut be more than what i paid for this?

So I need to ajust the white balance or just select custom white balance. Is it easy to alter white balance can you explain this?
 
You want a screw in one regardless. Otherwise light will hit your lens. Think of getting an infrared shot in keeping water getting on the glass of your lens. You want it sealed and tight. A Hoya R72 58mm is going to cost you about £30. A 77mm one is going to cost you getting on for £100. A 58mm, a lump of blu tac and a UV filter will do the job just fine. I will explain that later.

Refer to your manaual on how to set a custom white balance. I can explain but you will probably understand a picture reference better.
 
Shoot raw, then you can play with the white balance later, that's what I did in these.
Frame the shot and focus with the filter off, then shoot with it on.

Then in a RAW processing program like Adobe Lightroom or RAWShooter play around with the white balance picker until you can see blacks, whites, reds and blues. Add contrast, saturation /other adjustments to taste.

Then open in photoshop and use 'brads IR action' to flip the red and blue channels.

Done :)


EDIT:
1 Just thought I'd show your this; an infra-red macro! Not mine, but a cool idea. http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53684657/
2 My IR filter isn't the official HOYA R72, but a random auction site one. I've just looked and a 77mm IR can be had for £25 from the Hong Kong
 
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Fstop11 said:
You want a screw in one regardless. Otherwise light will hit your lens. Think of getting an infrared shot in keeping water getting on the glass of your lens. You want it sealed and tight. A Hoya R72 58mm is going to cost you about £30. A 77mm one is going to cost you getting on for £100. A 58mm, a lump of blu tac and a UV filter will do the job just fine. I will explain that later.

Refer to your manaual on how to set a custom white balance. I can explain but you will probably understand a picture reference better.
Click to expand...

How about sticking my Filter i have now onto a UV filter as it can cover it flush just as you say you would put a 58 screw onto a 77 screw. So I would have though stick this one onto the 77 UV would do the same would it? Show us how you do it then i can see if i can do it.

Cheer
 
robertgilbert86 said:
Shoot raw, then you can play with the white balance later, that's what I did in these.
Frame the shot and focus with the filter off, then shoot with it on.

Then in a RAW processing program like Adobe Lightroom or RAWShooter play around with the white balance picker until you can see blacks, whites, reds and blues. Add contrast, saturation /other adjustments to taste.

Then open in photoshop and use 'brads IR action' to flip the red and blue channels.

Done :)
Click to expand...
True infrared requires more hands on that than I am sorry.

You would be supprised how off your exposure will be just relying on a auto white balance showing nothing but red. That wont give you good highlights at all.
 
Fstop11 said:
True infrared requires more hands on that than I am sorry.

You would be supprised how off your exposure will be just relying on a auto white balance showing nothing but red. That wont give you good highlights at all.
Click to expand...

Yeah true I guess. I forget; do you set the white balance on grass or white paper?
 
robertgilbert86 said:
Yeah true I guess. I forget; do you set the white balance on grass or white paper?
Click to expand...
You can do either. I do a custom white balance in each location. I like to take a real professional attitude towards my camera use. One really good CWB will do though. When you bring in a red covered IR shot and the shadow details vary, you click a WB point in RAW and the brightness is hugely increased (if this is the case then you have generated noise in processing and this will affect overal quality).
 
6.jpg


5.jpg


4.jpg



In these two images you will notice why this mod is perfectly acceptable without having to shell out on a 77mm IR filter. The actual 58mm is pretty much the radius of the front element in the 17 - 40 L. This gives full coverage when the IR filter is placed on the centre of the 77mm UV filter.

This only applys to cameras using a crop. The Camera isnt even using the entire portion of the glass anyway so you have plently enough coverage using a 58mm filter.

Full frame Dslrs will require a 77mm filter otherwise you will get a fisheye ring around your image.

3.jpg


2.jpg
 
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Also am i right for a IR Photo it will defo need to be edited to get the pictures that you guys are showing or can it come straight from the cam?

Cheers
 
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