(home)

This technique is very simple and easy to do. I use a HOYA INFRARED R72 filter on the lens of my Nikon D70

    Camera Exposure Techniques

• Set Image File Format for RAW or NEF capture.

• Set ISO at 200

• Set Exposure mode to Manual.

• Place camera on a tripod.

• Compose scene without the filter on the lens. The filter is extremely dark and you will not be able to see the image.

• Carefully meter the scene in the Manual mode. As a rule of thumb, I have found that a good starting point on a bright sunny day is about 1/5th of a second at f.3.5. Interpolate these numbers to decrease aperture opening as necessary.

• On a bright sunny day, the exposure I have worked with in the field has been approximately 1 sec. @ f13. Use the camera Histogram to confirm the exposure. Bracketing may be helpful.

• Make final exposure when you're satisfied with the results.

    Computer Workflow

• Download images to selected file.

• Open RAW images in File Browser and select desired image.
  Note: Infrared images will appear as an orange tinted image. Do not be concerned with this, it is normal.

• At the bottom of the RAW Adjustment dialog window you'll see, "Saturation."
  Move the slider all the way to the left to -100. This will Desaturate all color cast from the image.

• I will make minor adjustments to Exposure, Shadows and Brightness in the RAW Window

• At this point, I will save and rename the image.

• From this point forward I will work on a Duplicate of the Infrared file as a .psd format

• My first step is to add an Adjustment Layer and adjust the Levels of the image. This step will add the snap that's needed for an infrared image.

• Resize the image as needed.

• My final step is applying an Unsharp Mask.

    The images below were a quick shot to use as examples of the technique

 

Recently we attended the PSA International Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Following the conference we drove down to Moab and Arches National Park. The images below demonstrate the Before and After of the technique.