Anyone doing infrared photography ?

Markoneswift

Quartz locked n ready to rock
IR became a fascination of mine a while back when I learned that with a bit of DIY I could repurpose an old digital camera for IR photography. I remove the internal IR cut filters and then use an external IR pass filter such as the Hoya R72. Sometimes, I add false colour by flipping the channels in Photoshop, but other times high contrast b&w is more effective. Here's a few samples :-

Landmarks in IR - Looking from North Elmsall by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr

Pontefract Castle in IR by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr
 
Longer exposures. I don't do IR enough to justify getting a modded camera. Those were shot with a stock Nikon D3300 DSLR.

update: I've been playing with a cheap little point & shoot that's been converted to full spectrum. I'm seriously thinking of getting a nicer modded camera, whether its a P&S or DSLR.
 
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Longer exposures. I don't do IR enough to justify getting a modded camera. Those were shot with a Nikon D3300 DSLR.

Mod your own, that's what I do. A tip, if you're interested to give it a try, is to get one of the older Olympus Camedia models like a 4000, 4050, 5000, 5050 etc. These are clunky old models that are easy to work on - all you need to do is remove the IR cut filter from within and grind off the reflective coating with an abrasive compound (I used auto paint restorer that we call T-Cut). Once the coating is gone, refit the filter to preserve infinity focus and use an external IR filter. The shot of Pontefract Castle, above, was done with such a camera. You can then do IR work hand held with the convenience of a modded camera.
 
All I did on that was swap the red & blue channels. The foliage turned that color as I didn't get the WB set quite right. Kinda like it that way better.
 
All I did on that was swap the red & blue channels. The foliage turned that color as I didn't get the WB set quite right. Kinda like it that way better.

Yep, pretty cool. If you use Photoshop you can select the foliage colour using the colour picker and then desaturate, giving you bright white grass and leaves.
 
Ahhh, I remember the days of Ilford SFX and having to remember to adjust your focus to the "ir" mark on the lens.
 
A few more, some shot with a 720 & some shot with a 760 filter (don't remember)
 

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The railroad car looks great, really like that shot. Cool how it's out of place too, adds to the 'other worldly' look of IR. I really recommend trying some IR portraits - you can get some really cool effects on eyes and skin with IR.
 
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