Discovering Digital Infrared Photography (Webinar Replay)

This is a replay from the live webinar on Nov. 8, 2023 entitled, "Discovering Digital Infrared Photography."
In this presentation, I cover the fundamentals of infrared photography, how to choose a camera and conversion, and offer some thoughts on processing infrared images with Adobe Lightroom.
If you liked this webinar, please consider making a small donation to my bandwidth fund: www.paypal.com...

[@marchinderickx8193]

One of the best introduction I have followed! Great job.

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

thank you!

[@matteagle6914]

thank you. very helpfull!

[@XJ1042]

I'm considering converting a M43 camera (Lumix G7) to IR. This presentation has been very helpful for considering the options.Thanks.

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

I recently had an Olympus E-M5ii converted, and I've tested all of my current OM System/Olympus glass: luminescentphoto.com/blog/2024/04/25/infrared-photography-with-micro-4-3rds-cameras/

[@zhuanjifarms5050]

Jason! Thank you, very informative and love your pace and demeanor.

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Thanks! Much appreciated.

[@mercsport]

Having just stumbled across this replay of your webinar. It was stimulating and I really enjoyed it. Most of it was revelatory. I once owned a Hydrogen Alpha double stack filtered narrow band telescope with which I enjoyed viewing the sun's flares, prominences, reticulations and 'stuff' without burning holes into my retina. However my main query is I recently upgraded my old original Sony A7R to an A7R2.The A7R is effectively redundant now, but the thought occurs to me that when the A7R was produced the outstanding feature of its sensor is that it was bare of any filter glass fronting the sensor. I'm now wondering if this camera a candidate for an IR conversion?

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Hi Bruce- ANY camera can be converted, since they always REMOVE the antialiasing filter pack and replace it with glass that allows IR to pass through. Before you convert any camera, always check to see if the lenses you have are prone to hot-spots. That's a much bigger concern these days.

[@mercsport]

Thanks for your reply Jason. It’s likely I’ll have a go at IR now. The promise of excitement beckons. I dig your stuff. Cheers. 😊

Really cool presentation, learned a bit of new things, thanks!

[@john32712]

Thank you for taking the time to do this!

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Thanks!

[@debyzwierlein-carter487]

Awesome images! Your presentation was so very helpful. Blessings. 📸 😊

[@luciastrougo726]

Thank you so much for helping me decide which IR convertion to do. I intend to convert a sony RX100 with a 780 nm filter because I am terrible with post processing and if I understood correctly I can have the right IR image in camera. Great presentation!!!!

[@ArturoMarinho]

congrats! super useful right now going into this no way IR land video creation so your video was pure joy, thks!

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Thank you!

[@4sapphireb]

I had a full spectrum conversion ànd the 780 filter for the ice look. Now I use no filter and opt for BW in the menu and get excellent BW exposures.

[@nicedward7544]

You like it better full spectrum converted b&w better than 780nm?

[@betohs]

A lot of information ...i have no money to buy a mirrorles...so i gonna use my old canon 70 d.to 665nm....i been using a r72 filter....but takes a lot of time...i wish other channels be like you ...strait to the point and no innecesary blabla...thank you for your amazing work....

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

There are quite a few good deals on older mirrorless bodies out there on the used market, but I agree. Do what makes you feel happy. Just be warned that if you use a lens filter on a DSLR, you won't be able to see anything through the viewfinder and will need to use Live View focusing.

[@davestokes3446]

A very good intro, but I do have a few quibbles. Setting white balance in camera has many advantages, one of which is that you never see the horrible red image. On the camera screen or viewfinder you see a decent image allowing you to assess the image accurately and helps the camera achieve correct exposure. Lightroom and ACR recognise this white balance and you can double process the image to solve your problem with limited WB range in LR and the work flow is not camera dependant. PSCC offers several methods of channel swapping and has far better selection tools than LR has.

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Thanks for the feedback. As to setting an in-camera WB, yes, that's best. But there are cameras (and wavelengths) where setting an in-camera WB is impossible (590nm, for example). In that scenario, setting the camera to Monochrome helps a lot with the EVF preview. IMO the current selection tools in Lr are FAR easier to use than those in Ps, plus you have the benefit of working on the RAW file directly and previewing any WB effects on channel-swapped images. I agree that Lr really needs to let you set WB temp down to about 1000-1500°K natively, which would solve a lot of headaches.

[@juliej8681]

Love your channel. Thank you so much for your information!

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

thank you!

[@SidneyPratt]

Thanks Jason.

[@nicedward7544]

So what is the difference between shooting 550nm and 780nm if both are desaturated? Is there a difference in contrast or brightness of foliage? I guess i need to dig into it more. I'd like to see some identical images shot at different wavelengths but all in b&w if that makes any sense. I don't like the colors necessarily but curious about differences in b&w only.

[@arthurgphotography]

That's what I can't figure out. You have more latitude with color information to change in BNW mode but different wavelengths can result in different sharpness

[@nicedward7544]

@@arthurgphotography all I know is full spectrum looks like crap lol. I'm still lost

[@JulesMoyaert_photo]

Thank you, Jason. I also loved your "texture" class. (Broomfield)

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Thanks!

[@pierrecrampagne6826]

Pour la photo infrarouge en numérique, il existe un objectif ( A s t r o s c a p e 9 3 5 0 low light ), en mettant l'appareil sur noir et blanc, la sensibilité 3200 i s o, mettre le filtre 87 c qui qui est rouge foncé, on voit les infrarouges, et pour retoucher la photo, seulement avec photo filtre, et non photo s h o p , qui n'est pas gratuit, et avec beaucoup de petits clic pour avoir la bonne photo. Je ne sais pas ce que vous en pensez? Comme cela on a pas besoin d'enlever le filtre de l'appareil, qui à ce moment là ne fait plus de photos normales mais que des infrarouge.

[@bernym4047]

I use a clip-in sensor protector or a 8 or 10 stop nd and find them very easy to swap in the field on my M43 camera. A good pair of tweezers helps.

[@jango71]

Thanks for the magnificent webinar! I see Studio NX works but will it accept the profiles like LR?

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

You can use NX Studio for the base conversion (setting WB) and it supports the built-in Nikon camera profiles. However, you would then need to use Photoshop to perform edits like Channel-Swapping (blue sky effect) etc. If all you use are Nikon cameras, then NX Studio is generally sufficient.

[@smg0110]

This is excellent!

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Thank you!

[@joanneabramson2645]

Jason, I was just on your website and found your Digital Infrared Processing video workshop. This was done in 2015. Do you have any plans to update this video series? A lot has changed in LRC and ACR in 9 years. I have just ordered my first infrared converted camera and I am interested in creating the WB presets you suggest in this video. Thanks.

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

I have some content to update, but I find that unless users are fairly experienced with Lightroom, it can be difficult to teach. I do offer personal online mentoring sessions via Zoom.

[@joeycovington4681]

Thanks!

[@stevehayward1854]

I have a fully modded camera, Nikon D600, and I focus without a filter on the front of the lens once I have composed and focused i put the 720 filter on and the image comes out blurred/out of focus, why is that, is it the filter ?

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Let me guess, you have autofocus set to the shutter release? The camera would then try to re-focus when you press the shutter. Try using back-button focus, or put the camera into manual focus after you've set it. Beyond that, the only other reason I can come up with is that visible and IR light do not focus in the same plane, which can lead to errors when using a DSLR. If you can try using Live View with the filter in place, that might help.

[@stevehayward1854]

@@JasonOdellPhoto Thanks for replying, I focus manually first and then apply the filter, I have always used back button focusing as I do motor sports photography as well. Could it be possibly the cheap filter I bought, I haven't a clue as to how much infrared it lets through I cant see a thing in live screen. Which filter brand do you use ? Thank you very much for your time

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

I use Kolari filters for the most part. @@stevehayward1854

[@stevehayward1854]

@@JasonOdellPhoto Thanks Jason, maybe I will be able to see something on my live view with a higher pass filter like yours but my live view is pitch black

[@JasonOdellPhoto]

Um, if your camera is converted to IR, you should be able to use LV just fine. What kind of conversion did you get?@@stevehayward1854