Infrared Processing Technique

[Evn1ngStar]

I was asked by a fellow member JustinC if I would explain the post processing steps I did to convert my recent cemetary infrared shot into the final image so here goes;



Starting with my straight out of the camera shot, since I use a point and shoot that has been modified for infrared and the camera only saves in jpeg format I use the "open in camera raw" option in Photoshop Bridge so I can adjust the white balance.



When I am sure the white balance looks good I proceed into Photoshop where I always duplicate the image and work on the duped image so I always have my original. Then I make the following series of adjustment layers (for which I have made an action since I do the same set of layers every time)

1. Create a levels layer and use the sliders until I am happy with the image.

2. Create a channel mixer layer, swapping the values of the red, blue and green output channels. In the red output the 100 red value becomes 0 and 0 blue value becomes 100 (vise versa in the blue channel). In the green output channel I usually 0 out the green and split the difference in the blue and red, giving each 50, although depending on the image I may juggle the values to 30/70, or 40/60 or sometimes even 20/10/70. Each infrared image is different and you adjust to your liking In this image I went with 30 in red, 70 in blue and 0 in green.



3. Create a hue/saturation layer. Here is where I adjusted the yellow cast the leaves and grass had by moving the saturation tab in the yellow hue to -52 and the lightness tab to +49.

4. Create a levels layer, I usually click the options button on the right and choose one of the auto colour correction options, again depending on how it makes the image look I may go with any one of the three. In this image I chose the "enhance per channel contrast".

5. Create a curves layer, and again I usually hit the option button, although you can also play with the presets in the drop down box and sometimes get interesting false colour images. Again in this image I chose the "enhance per channel contrast".

I then group these five layers (just makes it less cumbersome over on the layers palette) and will do a copy all and paste as merged in a new file, this way my main body of work is still accessable and adjustable if I choose to make any changes.

This new copy (file 2) is where I cloned out the couple of small headstones on the left of the image, straightened the horizon line a bit and cropped a little of the foreground out. I then did a copy and paste of file 2(new file 3) and played with the desaturation as I decided I liked the image more as a B/W rather than a false colour.



I then copied the desaturated layer (file 3), put it over the false colour (file 2) layer and changed the blend mode on the desaturaed layer to colour at 100%, duplicated the desaturated layer and did another blend mode, this time multiply at 20%. When I was happy I did a merge all layers.

Finally, depending on how much noise is in the image I may run it through a program to remove some of that. I use Topaz DeNoise, but Noise Ninja or Neat Image will work just as well.

While I do use Photoshop CS3, this process can be done in Gimp as well.

See the final image below.

[Evn1ngStar]

And there you have it. Any questions I'd be happy to answer if my "how to" isn't clear enough.

Enjoy

Yvonne

[r.uin]

Thanks for the share... its so lovely.. but i'd rather like the third photo.. the color is amazing.. it feels like in the other world.. it still have the blue color of sky or clouds..

[JessicaO]

What a neat process! Definitely looks infared, although I agree too that the third and fourth images by themseves could be nice photos. I wonder if there's a way to imiatate infared w/o the infared setting on your camera? I'm guessing it would involve a lot of color switching?

Thanks for sharing!

[Mezz]

Originally Posted by Evn1ngStar

And there you have it. Any questions I'd be happy to answer if my "how to" isn't clear enough.

Enjoy

Yvonne

WOW what a great photo, I just got my self a IRF a cupple of days ago and was wondering how to transform my photos, thanks for shairing. now I just have to work out how to use photoshop hehehe

[jgomez65]

I do have a question. When you said "Create a huge/saturation layer" do you dupllicate the original layer or the layer that you just adjusted with the red, green and blue?
(If the layer is blank, it won't allow you to do work with the saturation/hue)

[RecurrentNerve]

Originally Posted by jgomez65

I do have a question. When you said "Create a huge/saturation layer" do you dupllicate the original layer or the layer that you just adjusted with the red, green and blue?
(If the layer is blank, it won't allow you to do work with the saturation/hue)

The OP means a hue/saturation adjustment layer, I believe, which affects all the layers below it. It isn't a layer with any contents per se. Create it by going to Layer menu > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation.

[tinton14]

I have been trying to get this with my image but cannot seem to achieve the white leaves, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, I end up with blue image in the end (or any other color except that white) and it is extremely grainy. Any suggestions to what could be done?

[japicha]

Awesome work. I think I like the fourth pic best. Its kind of morbidly cheerful! Big question for me is; How do you modify a camera to take infrared pics?