FAUX IR, slightly different, possibly improved.

ziggy53

I am one who simply cannot afford to convert a camera to "real" IR (InfraRed), or purchase a camera "designed for" IR. I tried shooting film sensitized for IR, in the past, but it's pretty expensive and requires techniques I never could master.

I researched the Internet for examples of simulated IR, created through software manipulation. The one thing I found lacking was when photographing trees with genuine IR capable equipment, the tree trunks became almost black, while the leaves typically became very light. This increased contrast is one of the things that makes IR landscapes so appealing to me.

My solution is to use the PhotoShop "Replace Color" adjustment to selectively enhance the browns to turn them very dark, before the other manipulations to create the simulated IR effect.

The steps are:

Duplicate Layer - turn off background layer
Replace Color
-Target tree trunks
--Select the trunk colors and turn them much darker
---( Make sure to leave some "detail")
Create a new Channel Mixer Layer
-Red Slider to 200%
-Blue Slider -65%
-Green Slider -35%
Merge Visible layers
Desaturate
Levels - lighten gamma
Increase Contrast - to suit taste


An example of the effect, before and after:

http://i.pbase.com/v3/56/385156/2/45374885.PICT0038_Trail_at_Eberle_PFgone_800.jpg
http://i.pbase.com/v3/56/385156/2/45374886.PICT0038_Trail_at_Eberle_PFgone_FauxIR_800.jpg

ziggy53

pathfinder

I did a similar effect Ziggy, I just omitted the darken the brown, but I did channel mixer with red at almost 200, and B&G enough in the minus column to total ~100%

I got this result....