Old House in Infrared

[psi4evaa]

Hi All,
This was one of my first infrared shots and after a bit of playing around in CS3 this is what I ended up with. More blue tones in the sky might have looked more natural, maybe. What do you think?

Cheers

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23354027@N07/2239285884/" title="White Winter by PSi4EVA, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2103/2239285884_7bf210b760.jpg" width="500" height="366" alt="White Winter" /></a>
EXIF
Camera: Pentax K100D Super
Exposure: 1.5 sec (3/2)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

[kimspics]

i love this- How did you do this? I wish more of the house was showing. Great pic!!!

[Matthew James Norman]

Wow! What an outcome. Looks like a winter fairytale. Perhaps a bit more contrast to make the house stand out a bit and define the individual trees?

[canugurl]

@psi4evaa

I love this photo...more blue in the sky to make it look more natural would be more to my liking. I like the sharpness and the fact that my eye needs to find the house in the frame. I feel like it adds good depth. Nice work.

[clockdoc]

Nice work! Did you try in in grayscale as well? Is your camera a converted model? What IR filter did you use here?

[Amigone201]

Wow! What an outcome. Looks like a winter fairytale. Perhaps a bit more contrast to make the house stand out a bit and define the individual trees?

I was thinking this too. Looks a bit like Narnia, actually :)

I don't really mind the darkened sky--it makes the whole thing look a little creepy and foreboding. Of course, if this isn't what you wanted, maybe you SHOULD lighten it up a bit :)

[peeperita]

this image is lovely with it's unnatural amount of detail and crispness....would you mind telling me more about the process?

thanks

peeper

[psi4evaa]

Hi All,

Thankyou for all your positive comments, I wasn't expecting that, maybe I'm just too critical of my own images.
To do the image I used my Pentax K100D Super (unconverted, straight out of the box) with a Sigma 18mm - 50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC lens. I used a 58mm Hoya R72 Infrared Filter (off Ebay $66 inc. post).

I custom set the white balance to the grass.

**after misreading the tutorial and learning more about Infrared, you need to set the white balance after the Infrared Filter attached.**

As this picture was one of my first, I made the mistake (not that it worries me now) of setting the white balance and then attaching the filter, which I believe resulted in the unusual sky colouring.

I used a tripod and a remote cable, which is a must for infrared as the exposure was 1.5sec.

Back @ the computer.

In CS3 I swapped the red and blue channels and then adjusted the Hue and Saturation and then fiddled around with the colours until I got what you now see.

This is what it looked like before processing.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23354027@N07/2241849578/" title="White Winter - Unprocessed by PSi4EVA, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2140/2241849578_0d10f21a77.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="White Winter - Unprocessed" /></a>

I agree with adding more contrast to define the trees and house. I'll play around with that tonight.

-kimspics I've got a nice closeup you may like, I'll refine it and put it up.

-clockdoc I've never really mucked around with grayscale or any b/w for that matter, I might try that aswell and see what it comes up like.

-Amigone201 It's funny you should mention Narnia, when I first finished it, that was the first comment, "boy it looks like something out of Narnia." lol

Cheers

[clockdoc]

Thanks for posting the details of your process. I am sure it will help many who want to try their hand at infrared. Be aware that not all digital cameras have the same IR response as your Pentax so don't be frustrated if your results don't come out the same. Also remember the key to white balancing on green grass.

I mentioned trying the grayscale conversion as that is what I was used to seeing way back when I first used the infrared black and white film. Green grass always looked like a fresh snowfall and the darkened sky produced a nice cloud background.

Did you use auto or manual focus? I recently experimented with my D80 and had to compose and focus the shot prior to adding the R72 filter. Either the IR filter caused the focus shift (IR doesn't focus at the same distance as visible light) or I moved the lens barrel to change the focus. I later experimented with composing the shot, adding the filter and then using the camera's auto foucus system and the results were much better.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8359753@N07/2229212645/" title="DSC_0087_G_res by clock doc, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2173/2229212645_4215c29ca2.jpg" width="500" height="335" alt="DSC_0087_G_res" /></a>
ISO 2000, 1 second at f/5.6 Red image converted to monochrome in PS. You can see the big difference in the Pentax response to IR in the EXIF details.

[psi4evaa]

I did try manual focus, but found the auto did seem to work alot better. I mighta just got lucky. Thats an interesting image of yours, the grayscale really does give quite a different effect. I'm not completely on the ball with the EXIF data, when you say the response, do you mean the difference in ISO?

[clockdoc]

Yes. Some may have thought the ISO 2000 was a typo but that is what I had to use to get the shorter exposure. I don't mind a little noise at that ISO as the original IR film was VERY grainy.

[Sleeping Gryphon]

I LOVE what you did here! Thanks for sharing how you did it... I now must obtain an infrared filter!!