08 Seeing red
Capture otherworldly shots with an infrared filter on a bright, sunny day.
While digital cameras have some infrared protection on the sensor, they still let a portion of infrared light through, so you need an IR filter to capture shots like this. An IR filter such as the HOYA R72 simply screws onto the end of your lens – no camera tinkering required. It removes all of the colours of the visible spectrum apart from the wavelengths at the extreme red end, including infrared.
The filter will only let a small amount of light through, so to achieve an adequate exposure you’ll need to set an extended shutter speed. Unlike many types of outdoor scenes, the bright midday sun is your friend when shooting infrared shots. Aim to head out when the day is bright and clear – think blue skies, white fluffy clouds and strong sunlight. These will enhance the infrared look.
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SET UP A bright day is best, plus a scene with green foliage. Exposures will be longer due to the density of the IR filter, so you’ll need to mount your camera on a tripod to avoid blur. Frame and focus before mounting the filter, then switch to Manual focus.
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SCREW ON THE IR FILTER Switch to Manual or Bulb mode to allow an extended shutter speed – an exposure of 30 sec at f/8 and ISO 250 on a bright day isn’t unusual. Use a cable release or self-timer to fire the shutter and review your shots for sharp focus.
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INITIAL EDITS IN ACR Infrared images straight out of the camera will look reddy pink – nothing like the dynamic images you’re used to seeing. Open the image in Camera Raw first and tweak the Shadows, Highlights and Contrast sliders.
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CONVERT IN LIGHTROOM Try Lightroom’s Black and White IR preset. Other colouring treatments include Split Toning to change the balance of highlight and shadow colours; and swapping colour channels in Photoshop’s Channel Mixer.