The Path to Infrared

[JimFox]

Part of my trail running route runs right through here, so I always have my eye as I like the way the path meanders through the trees. I have been wanting to shoot it in IR now for a few weeks, but I usually get there too late and it's getting dark. The one issue I have with using the 720nm filter on my D850 is that it's like at least a 10 stop ND. So it gets dark, the exposures start getting to be 30 seconds, and things just fall apart fast. But this day I got there early enough in the afternoon to setup and shoot.

I am getting better and quicker with the IR processing. I still have to follow along Amy's excellent IR tutorial https://focalworld.com/threads/basic-infrared-ir-processing.12952/ but I almost have all of the steps memorized. Basically it's about 4 steps to get it to looking like this, so that's not bad.

All comments are welcome,

Jim

 

[AlanLichty]

This is looking pretty good - much better than I expected from a screw on filter.

 

[Amy Nelson]

Looks like a lovely place to do your trail run on, judging by the path it gets a lot of bike traffic on it too.

You've really go the initial processing down, looks great. What lens did you use here? Looks like you have a bit of a hot spot in the center of the front tree. If you notice the color is a little off from the rest of the tree and the details are muted out. This is easily fix in Adobe Camera Raw, use a large brush or radial filter. Place a circle over the affected area, then adjust your color temperature (remember this slider works the opposite on IR). Move the slider to towards the yellow/warmer temps which will introduce more blue into that area, this will help bring back the correct color of the tree. Still in the filter you may have to tweak some of the other slider to get it just right (increase the contrast, decrease the highlights, maybe play with the shadow and white slider, also the Dehaze slide might lend some help). Again this has to be done with ACR, it's much harder to do in Photoshop.

You've definitely got the hang of this, great job Jim.

Have you though anymore about a conversion? IR is definitely addictive, I love the challenges and many directions you can go with processing.

 

[Ben Egbert]

I like everything about this but not the blue tint of the path. I can't say why, just that it does not seem to fit the rest of the colors. ,

 

[JimFox]

This is looking pretty good - much better than I expected from a screw on filter.

Thanks Alan. The filter is turning out good, at least temporarily. I wouldn’t want to do it permanently.

 

[JimFox]

Looks like a lovely place to do your trail run on, judging by the path it gets a lot of bike traffic on it too.

You've really go the initial processing down, looks great. What lens did you use here? Looks like you have a bit of a hot spot in the center of the front tree. If you notice the color is a little off from the rest of the tree and the details are muted out. This is easily fix in Adobe Camera Raw, use a large brush or radial filter. Place a circle over the affected area, then adjust your color temperature (remember this slider works the opposite on IR). Move the slider to towards the yellow/warmer temps which will introduce more blue into that area, this will help bring back the correct color of the tree. Still in the filter you may have to tweak some of the other slider to get it just right (increase the contrast, decrease the highlights, maybe play with the shadow and white slider, also the Dehaze slide might lend some help). Again this has to be done with ACR, it's much harder to do in Photoshop.

You've definitely got the hang of this, great job Jim.

Have you though anymore about a conversion? IR is definitely addictive, I love the challenges and many directions you can go with processing.

Thank you Amy!

I appreciate your suggestions, I need to look closer when I get back home tonight. I am driving up the coast for a bit today, maybe see if I can get see the Elephaht seals.

I do want to do a conversion on a camera, I just need to decide if I go the Nikon or Sony route. The Nikon used camera will cost more, but I have lenses. The Sony used camera will ost less but I would next to also buy a lens for it.... in the end about the same. And I haven’t decided on what wavelength I want, I am inclined to go with your suggestion.

 

[Amy Nelson]

Thank you Amy!

I appreciate your suggestions, I need to look closer when I get back home tonight. I am driving up the coast for a bit today, maybe see if I can get see the Elephaht seals.

I do want to do a conversion on a camera, I just need to decide if I go the Nikon or Sony route. The Nikon used camera will cost more, but I have lenses. The Sony used camera will ost less but I would next to also buy a lens for it.... in the end about the same. And I haven’t decided on what wavelength I want, I am inclined to go with your suggestion.

That sounds like a fun day, I would love to see the Elephant seals in real life....but probably will never happen, so I look forward to you photos.

May I strongly suggest the Sony, you could always get an adapter for Sony to Nikon lenses. I have that for my Canon lenses and it works just fine.