IR wthout filters???

crow

Is it possible to IR an ordinary photography (via photoshop) without having to buy the IR & ND filters ?



I have a Sony 828 and I think I might be falling under the IR spell, but my wallet is saying NOOOOO!!

wxwax

You can mimic it. But PS will not deliver identical results, from what I've seen.

Art Scott

Fred Miranda Plug ins
UUUUUh....I think Fred Miranda has an IR plug in.....haven't used it.....

01af

crow wrote:

Is it possible to IR an ordinary photography (via Photoshop) without having to buy the IR & ND filters?
I have a Sony 828 and I think I might be falling under the IR spell, but my wallet is saying NOOOOO!

No, with digital cameras (or film) that are sensitive to visible light, you cannot take infra-red photos without an infra-red filter. The regular image will always supersede any infra-red image. So you definitely need a filter to cut away the visible light---an IR filter, that is. However some digital cameras are better suited to take infra-red shots than others, as they have infra-red-cutting filters of different strengths built in (i. e. filters that transmit visible light and cut away infra-red light). If you happen to own a digital camera with a particularly strong IR-cutting filter then you are out of luck. Older digital cameras tend to have weaker IR-cutting filters or even none at all. And by the way, neutral-density filters are completely useless in infra-red photography.

With Photoshop (or any other decent image-processing software) it is possible to mimic infra-red black-and-white and colour images from regular colour photos. You can mimic the white rendition of living foliage (Wood effect), the dark rendition of blue sky, the higher contrast of IR shots, and the halos and the coarse grain of many IR films. You can also mimic the false colour rendition of colour IR film. You cannot, however, mimic the ability of real infra-red shots to penetrate haze and fog, or only to a minor degree.

Haven't tried it myself yet, but I guess some of the techniques presented in Dan Margulis' book Photoshop Lab Color should be helpful to create convincing counterfeited infra-red images from regular colour photos. Also Photoshop's channel mixer should be helpful. In any case, it requires some effort, skill, and practice to get it right. Using an IR filter and taking real infra-red photographs sure is easier.

Here is an example of a counterfeited 'IR image' created in Photoshop from a regular RGB file. Of course, it's a poor example; it was my first try, and a quick'n'dirty one. Skilled photoshoppers will come up with much better work:




And here is, for comparison, a real IR image, taken with Minolta SR-T 101 and a 50-mm lens on Konica IR 750 film using a RG-695 (Wratten #89B) filter:




-- Olaf

Andy

There's a pretty decent PS Tute in the current issue of Photoshop User.

Photoshop User wrote:

The WOW! Factor
Here's how to simulate traditional infrared photography using a combination of Channel Mixer and the Diffused Glow filter. –Jack Davis and Ben Willmore

It's no substitute for the real thing, though.

crow

thanks very much for the replies....

your right, there is no substitute. I guess photoshop cant do "everything"