Photography Tutorials

Infrared Photography - Part 2 - Editing

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How to Edit Infrared Photos in Photoshop and Lightroom

In this video tutorial we show you how to edit infrared photos from the raw red image that comes out of the camera.

If you have never seen Infrared Photography before then come and feast your senses. Capturing the light normally invisible to human eyes opens up a world of creative possibilities that would otherwise not exist.

This video tutorial is split into two parts with the first part showing you how to capture the raw infrared image whilst on location. This second part will guide you through the post processing where we bring our plain red image to life.

Watch part one on capturing the image. http://www.firstmanphotography.com/tutorials/infrared-photography-part-1

To shoot infrared photography you do not need a special type of converted camera. The only requirement is a small investment in an infrared filter that will attach to your current lens. These filters remove all the colours of the spectrum apart from the wavelengths at the extreme red end which includes infrared. I recommend the Hoya R72 Infrared Filter and this can be purchased for between £30 and £90 depending on the size of your lens, see the link below. The only drawback with this filter is it lets only a small amount of light through so to properly expose an image it will require a long exposure. Whilst this makes portraits tricky there are still endless possibilities in the realm of landscapes and cityscapes and there are not many photographers out there doing it. Just check Flickr to confirm this.

The characteristics of infrared light differ from that of 'normal' white light we are used to experiencing everyday. For example, green foliage such as grass and trees reflect a large amount of infrared light meaning they will be very bright in your final processed image. This is known as the 'Wood Effect' named after Robert W. Wood who pioneered Infrared photography. It is caused by the transparency of chlorophyll to infrared light allowing the light to pass through into the cells of the plants and be reflected back again. Viewed normally, chlorophyll will reflect all the green light back giving leaves and grass it's green appearance.

Capturing infrared photography in this way requires a long exposure. Please see the long exposure tutorial here:

http://www.firstmanphotography.com/tutorials/long-exposure-photography-tutorial

Hoya Infrared R72 Filter