Its always fun to see the world through light that our eyes
can't see...
Visit the Penguinslab IR photo gallery:
Lets
first define infrared photography and how it differs from normal colour
photography.
The infrared light spectrum fits
in just below visible light. That means that infrared is INVISIBLE.
The human eye is generally insensitive to wavelengths longer than 700nm,
although some people are able to see up to 740nm.
The "IR" band has
longer wavelengths than the visible light spectrum (Image
courtesy of www.handprint.com)
Infrared reflectivity off
different surfaces
(Image courtesy of J. Andrzej
Wrotniak 2006)
Digital cameras are actually sensitive to IR light,
but most cameras have an internal IR filter to stop the IR mucking up
your photos. This filter can be removed, but it also kind of screws up
your camera if you aren't careful (like me). So I left the filter in there,
it doesnt matter though, because the internal filter only filters out
SOME of the IR light.
Whats needed, then, is a visible light filter, which
gets rid of all the visible light, letting only the IR light into the
camera. Visible light filters such as the Hoya R72 are available on the
market.
So what does the world look like
through infrared?
Well firstly IR light reflects
differently to visible light, and as a consequence, trees appear white
and the sky appears black. Keep in mind that IR photos contain no real
colour information.
I took this photo on a sunny day.
Notice how the sky is dark red, while the trees appear white.
IR photos give a kind of an 'eerie' feel. Let me show you a
comparison between a normal colour photo and an IR photo..
Corner of a house viewed through
visible light
The same shot viewed through
infrared light
Here is another comparison... this time at the park:
The park through visible light
The same park through infrared
light
Sometimes I think IR photos make the world look as if it is
about to end. Imagine taking a stroll through the park and being able to see
only IR light....
It doesn't snow
in Darwin, but here is the closest you'll get to seeing 'snow'. I love
this one, the contrast is pretty good, and the trees look so completely
crazy!
I call this one 'the long road'... The exposure is
a bit saturated, and isn't entirely clear because of a slight wind on
the day, causing leaves to move and effectively blurring the 1 second
exposure.
Here is one with a touch of
false colour. Nuclear apocalypse anyone?
The cliffs by the sea. I've found that I need to
take IR photos when the sun is right above, otherwise the exposure times
get too long. When I get a new camera, I'll remove the IR filter in this
one to dedicate it to IR photography.
But thats not all thats awesome about IR. With IR you can see
through things you might not normally be able to see through. Take this pair
of dark glasses for example:
The sunglasses viewed through
visible light. The lenses block out most of the visible light, leaving
a dark patch which we can't see through.
The same pair of glasses viewed
through IR light. The IR light passes through unhindered, and the trees
in the background can be seen.
The key here is that sunglasses block
out UV and visible light only. Infrared light passes straight through. There
are many other things you can try this with, such as red wine. I didn't have
any wine handy though... You might have noticed that all the IR photos on this
page have a red shade on them. Thats due to my IR filter, that lets in a tiny
bit of red light. If you get one with a heavier shade, you'll get almost no
red light at all.
Want more IR photos? Visit the Penguinslab
IR photo gallery:
