IR on the CHEAP

[JAKE4]

I have used a plugin from www.CYBIA.CO.UK called Fotomatic.It can get close to what you are looking for, but best of all it's free.
The other alternative is to buy Paintshop pro12 which has a good IR effect.I have included some samples of colour pictures that have been converted.

[andy153]

Not bad Jake but the conversion of the greenery is what lets all these false effects down.

[JAKE4]

I agree they are not perfect, but they were not shot as infra-red .Also evergreen trees do not come out as white because of their structure.It also depends which type of IR film you are trying to imitate.Kodak was a grainy film and the later Konica had very little grain.
I won my first club competitions printing Kodak on a hard paper so that the picture came out like a pencil drawing.The negatives were so dense that it took over 30mins under the enlarger.The results were nowhere near the traditional concept of IR.
I tried Konica but sometimes it looked no different to ordinary monochrome, so I think it depends what effect you are looking for as to which way you go.

[andy153]

Agreed Jake - it does depend on what effect you are looking for. Have you tried any of the "photoshop actions" - there are loads of free ones on the web, some of which have a go at the false colour effects. It's a matter of trial and error, but some of them are very good indeed.

[JAKE4]

Yes, I have accumalated more actions than I know what to do with, it's a weakness of mine. As regards this problem I am sticking with Paintshop, my other program is PS7, can't afford to buy anymore.
Paintshop is not perfect, it runs on my laptop but not on my desktop,both use Vista.It was better in the days of XP.

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by JAKE4

I agree they are not perfect, but they were not shot as infra-red .Also evergreen trees do not come out as white because of their structure................. I think it depends what effect you are looking for as to which way you go.

Agree with you on evergreens Jake, and that shows well in your third image. Lots of vegetation appears to be as it would in IR.

Just read Peters post re IR and his 30D. So maybe this is his only option for now. I also re-read the link I posted re the 30D and IR and noticed the exposure times/aperture and ISO.

D2X is a no, no for IR due to its strong AA filter. I have dug out a B+W 091 red filter ( cut off probably about 600-650 ) so I will give that a go, and look at individual colour channels.
Not at all sure how to get rid of any one of the 3 channels in photoshop yet to get a B&W image from the result. Thats a call for a photoshop wizard.

Still I will have a go tomorrow as its a full sun day and the field of spuds over the fence should do fine for seeing the effect on foliage.

Don

[andy153]

Hi Don, Does this help? it applies to CS4.

"You may want to delete spot or alpha channels you no longer need before saving an image. Complex alpha channels can substantially increase the disk space required for an image.

In Photoshop, select the channel in the Channels panel and do one of the following:
Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the Delete icon .
Drag the channel name in the panel to the Delete icon.
Choose Delete Channel from the Channels panel menu.
Click the Delete icon at the bottom of the panel, and then click Yes.
Note: When you delete a color channel from a file with layers, visible layers are flattened and hidden layers are discarded. This is done because removing a color channel converts the image to Multichannel mode, which does not support layers. An image isn’t flattened when you delete an alpha channel, a spot channel, or a quick mask.

[Don Hoey]

Cheers Andy,

I am using CS2 but will give it a go.

Let the testing begin.

Don

[andy153]

Fine Don, here's the same for CS2
http://www.uwec.edu/Help/PhotoshopCS2/layers.htm

[Don Hoey]

Thanks Andy.

Before starting with the B+W 091 Dark Red filter which I have confirmed as 0% at 600nm, 50% at 620nm, I thought I would go for broke and try the Hoya R72 on the D2X.

To give some understanding of probs I would have with the D2X this is what Bjørn Rørslett says of using it for IR
" You should not do IR with D2X. Simple message, simple remedy: Just don't do it. There are so much more satisfying approaches to digital IR than those available with D2X. On the other hand, the low sensitiivty to IR implies you may get less problems with skin tones, which are unduly susceptible to excessive IR. "

Finding an acceptable exposure took no time at all as I added 3 stops to the D100 mark. Settled on ISO800 - 4secs - f8.

Initially I set WB to Auto and the image is very red, and although I converted this to a B&W easily, I have been playing with various options for a Custom WB. Time taken out to find my manual and actually read it.

With the D100 I found far better results were obtainable with Custom WB taken from sunlit grass. The D2X set to the same gives reasonable results, but after the simple route processing as mentioned in post 44 I had to remove a blue cast and tweek it in curves. Left and right edges of the frame taken with the 35mm lens had to be cropped as they have an odd look. The 20mm lens that is brill on the D2x in visible light, and excellent on the D100 in visible and IR, suffered significant probs in bright areas at the edge of the frame on the D2X in IR. Enough not to use it for these experiments.

Attatched is the first false colour image from the D2X. The fence which came out light brown on the D100 is not so good and shows the blue cast well.
Next up I will add a polariser which on the D100 removes most of the false colour leaving a near B&W image.

Don