World In Infrared

I've been searching for IR filter from early this year, but had no luck. Luckily I managed to get one recently, but it's 850nm IR filter which resulting in B&W image.

What I did before taking shoots in IR is to make the WB preset. In the beginning I'm doing the preset with the filter unattached, which I found later as a mistake, resulting in the purple 'ish images. So a day after I made the correction of the step which to attach the filter during the preset. All shots were done during afternoon ; the best time for infrared photography since the main source of the IR light comes from sunlight / heat.

Before taking any shots, I did pre compose the picture first, making it in focus before turn to the manual focusing and attaching the filter. Then, there's the tricky part where I have to try n error with the settings to get the correct exposure. I used slow shutter speed around 10-13 second and ISO 400-800, plus f/8 all time.

Post processing was done with Nikon Capture NX2 (adjusting contrast and exposure compensation) and Adobe Photoshop CS5. Since there is not much change between red and blue channel (in channel mixer in photoshop) during swapping, I have skipped this part and proceed with selective colour menu and made some adjustment, mostly with black slider. Also not to forget, adjustment were being done using level and curve. And lastly, I used Noiseware Pro to reduce the amount of noise due to the high ISO and long exposure used. And these picture are what I got :

Manawatu Riverside in Infrared

Rose Garden, Esplanade in Infrared

Manawatu River in Infrared

The Centennial Lake, Hokowhitu in Infrared

Fitzherbert Bridge in Infrared

I'm still looking forward to find and using R72 filter, which can produce colored IR images. But that one is not easy to find here. Or even better, buy an old Nikon DSLR and modify it into fully IR camera.