More Secrets to White Balance in Infrared Photography

[@MathieuStern]

One of the most usefule tutorial ever on the subject, you should have millions of subs !

[@robshea]

Thanks so much, Mathieu! I've already bought a few vintage lenses based on your videos and have some eBay alerts looking for more. 😉

[@MathieuStern]

@@robshea I should recieve my Fullspectrum A7II next week, I will watch your videos with a lot of interest !

[@dianakillens9999]

Thanks for including Affinity Photo as it's the editing programme that I have as I'm just starting out on my Infrared photograhy journey.

[@bobjenkinson7390]

Hey Rob, love your channel, interesting stuff. I'm an old film user and prefer to shoot 'in camera' JPEGs with minimal post production, as such I adjust the white balance for as much contrast as possible for an easier adjustment later in photo editor on my Mac. Honestly I have no idea what I'm doing but it actually works quite well and I get pretty interesting results so I'm watching for as much info on white balance as I can find. Thanks for posting these explanations they're a big help. Keep up the great work.

[@robshea]

If you are getting pretty interesting results, it sounds like you know exactly what you are doing. 😉

[@petesuchon7340]

Excellent tutorial as always. Thanks.

[@robshea]

Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it!

[@JoaquimGonsalves]

Wonderfully taught!

[@ZorroComputers]

Your voice is amazing.

[@robshea]

😊😊😊

[@ernyr516]

Hi Rob, this is the best channel for IR photography , no one comes close. I use DXO photolab 3 , Nik collection , lightroom and photoshop , i use these in conjunction with one another and depending on if i'm going with colour or B/W i have tried to create profiles but am not always happy with how they come out in lightroom so i tend to manually manipulate each photo as they come out. I'm using a 5d ii converted to 720 nm as i do a lot more B/W than colour , i find this to be the best compromise for my taste . as far as Canon is concerned one of the best lenses is the 50 mm 1.8 fantastic plastic and the 24-105 L ,8-15 fisheye , 100-400 2.8 , and the 100mm 2.8 macro . they have very little if no light spots in them . Zeiss 18mm 2.8 , Zeiss 21 mm 2.8,Tamron 15/30 2.8 Canon 50mm 1.4 are not very good ,but having said that i try them for lense flare and they can come up with some interesting photos that are useable . Do you have any knowledge on h alpha conversions for wide angled Astro photos of wilky way photos ? Cheers from Australia ,Erny

[@robshea]

Thank you! I will need to take a look at DXO. I've done Milky Way shots with both a conventional camera and a 590nm-converted camera, which was not H-Alpha specific, but includes the 656nm wavelength captured by an H-Alpha filter. However, the 590nm captures many more wavelengths and is not as good as the H-Alpha at filtering out light pollution. H-alpha is popular with deep sky astrophotography, such as galaxies and nebulae. If you can get to dark skies, I recommend shooting the Milky Way with a full spectrum camera, which will provide some great color. If you are limited by light pollution, then the H-Alpha can get you good B&W images of the Milky Way.

[@SidneyPratt]

Thanks.

[@BackFocus11]

Another fine video Rob!!! Waiting for you to do a book next! (Which is sooo needed for IR) :-) hint hint ;-)

[@robshea]

Hmmm, a book, intriguing.... 🤔

[@Night6436]

@@robshea I would buy it

[@Night6436]

I've got a 550nm filter. Is there a huge difference between that and the 590nm that you use? Thanks for your time, you are the best channel for IR, no one comes close. I just subscribed to Adobe so u can start creating those LUTS profiles i mention in a previous video.

[@robshea]

550nm is pretty close to 590nm. A 590nm cut-off filter will capture orange, red and near-infrared. A 550nm will capture the same plus yellow and a touch of green. The post-processing should be similar, but you will have a bit more color fidelity.

[@robgendreau]

Thanks. And you must live near me since you've got the same shots of the same trees and same trails. It's weird seeing "my" photos in someone else's video. I guess great minds think alike.

[@johnmccaffery5186]

I’ve been shooting IR with camera conversions for about 12 years. Never really knew what I was doing in the processing until I watched this channel thank you . right now I have a converted Olympus mirrorless that I bought used. How do I tell if it’s full spectrum or what NM it was converted to?

[@robshea]

I'm planning a video on this, but here is the quick version. Find a full spectrum image on the internet, such as this. Be sure that it displays nanometers. www.britannica.com/science/light#/media/1/340440/91330 Using your camera, take a picture of your computer screen. In the resulting image, portions of the spectrum will be display and others will not. This should give you an good idea of the filter being used.

[@victorcarmelo8606]

Hi do you do LUT based profiles for other software other than lightroom such as Luminar AI or ON1 photo Raw 2021? Love your tutorial videos. Thanks

[@robshea]

I have some LUTs available for download which can be used with programs that support LUTs. You can find them here: blog.robsheaphotography.com/2020/11/09/luts-infrared-video-photography.html (These are not for use in LR/PS, which should use profiles and enhanced profiles instead.)

[@victorcarmelo8606]

@@robshea Thank you will check them out.

[@tedfeld3118]

Hi Rob. Thank you for your informative video. I have 2 Nikon cameras converted to IR. My D90 has an internal 720nm filter which I was able to perform a custom in camera white balance. Recently I had a D300s converted to 590nm IR and using the same technique of photographing something white or grey, I have been unable to capture the data to achieve an in camera WB. The upper LCD always flashes "no Gd" Of course I can use Nikon N-XD to correct white balance. Any suggestions about how I can get an in camera WB?

[@robshea]

The ideal subject for WB is a 18% gray card. The next best is something neutral colored, such as pavement, sidewalk, road, etc. Finally, you could try something green, such as leaves or tres. (Green subjects work better with higher-numbered filters, such as 720 nm.) So long as your are shooting in raw, you will still have full control of the WB in editing. However, a custom WB in-camera can help you compose your images.

[@Onomast]

Great tutorial! How do I create a light based Profile in Lightroom? I am currently swapping channels in Photoshop. Is there an easyer way?

[@robshea]

Yes, you can create color swapping profiles for Lightroom. Build your own here: 590.red/xmp Or order them here: 590.red/lr-ir-color-swap

[@RemusLt]

Where can we get that X-T20 IR Channel Mixer 590 profile. Also I have a bunch of infrared images and maybe you can process a few for a free camera conversion or a discount converted camera.

[@Night6436]

I'm sure he has a video about making custom profiles for your individual camera using Adobe profiler.

[@robshea]

I haven't shared these yet, so I'm curious if they will work as is or if you need some other file on my system. Give them a try and let me know. They should only work with Fujifilm X-T20 images. Download: www.dropbox.com/s/3eq94llc4hi2ff8/Rob%20Shea-Fujifilm-X-T20-profiles.zip Save them in the location listed here: blog.robsheaphotography.com/2020/06/29/lightroom-lut.html#sync I'm open to having a discussion about processing images. See my email address and way to send files in the video description.

[@RemusLt]

@@robshea Those work with Lightroom or Lightrom Classic. They do not work for me on both so I guess they need a Fujifilm image. That is strange.

[@robshea]

@@RemusLt They are specific to the camera model. You can create them for your camera by following this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIrOZ32oYpWUlas or these written instructions: blog.robsheaphotography.com/2020/06/29/lightroom-lut.html

[@junenorsworthy689]

How did you create those LUTS for each nanometer that you shoot? 720nm, 590nm, etc??

[@robshea]

Here is the video guide: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIrOZ32oYpWUlas Here are the written instructions: blog.robsheaphotography.com/2020/06/29/lightroom-lut.html

[@ericcheek7410]

Hi - I have just had my Canon eos-r converted to full spectrum. Presently I have a 590nm and 720nm filters. I shoot in RAW. I am considering purchasing an Expodisc 2 to set custom white balances as needed. Can you advise whether the expodisc is is appropriate for IR photography and should be used in the normal way - measuring incident light. Kind regards - Eric

[@robshea]

I have not used the Expodisc myself, but at least one other commenter here has used it infrared and is happy with it.

[@ericcheek7410]

@@robshea Hi Rob - many thanks. I'll give it a go and have ordered the expodisc. . Once I know more perhaps I'll contact you far a one 2 one on processing particularly for false colour - albeit you are 7 or 8 hours behind London depending where you are in the sunshine state. Have a great weekend. Eric

[@RobShea0]

@@ericcheek7410 I meet with people all over the world, not a problem. 😎

[@user-vk7kx2vg5i]

Hi Rob. I have an unconverted camera with a 720nm filter. When I take a custom white balance photo of a green object, like a plant or grass lawn, do I take the photo with the filter on? Is it better is the green object is bright in sunlight (lawn) or darker like a tree?

[@robshea]

When shooting raw, setting a custom WB in-camera is optional. When shooting JPEG, you should set a custom WB in-camera. If you are setting the WB in-camera, the filter should be on. Setting the WB on foliage, will result in the foliage being white. Setting the WB on a truly color-neutral subject, such as clouds or pavement, will result in a light color saturation in the foliage. If the bulk of your scene is in the sun, set the WB in the sun. If shade, set in shade. The color temperature difference between sun and shade can be dramatic in IR.

[@user-vk7kx2vg5i]

@@robshea Thank you. I will try doing as you recommend.

[@MultiMattRogers]

I'm curious about using full spectrum/590nm for environmental portraiture. Do you have any tips?

[@robshea]

I have only dabbled in environmental portraiture. Here are some random observations. Lighting will be important, sunlight is good. Indirect or diffused sunlight will produce less color/contrast. If you use artificial light, you'll need to confirm that it actually emits IR wavelengths. Most nuanced clothing color will be lost. Hair will take on color and become a focal point of the subject. Skin tones will be washed out, try to find a way to take advantage of that. Tattoos make for high contrast subjects.

[@MultiMattRogers]

@@robshea thanks, that's really helpful. out of interest, in your opinion which would you say were more pleasing full spectrum portraits of 590nm ones.

[@robshea]

@@MultiMattRogers That's a tough question since there are so few examples of each. I would be inclined to do a full-spectrum conversion since that would allow you to try both full-spectrum and 590nm with an external filter.

[@59ty]

Hey Rob, hope you are doing great! May I have your advice on something or maybe someone here has the same issue. Using the Channel Mixer in Photoshop or even the advanced profile in lightroom gives me wrong color shifts. RAW THERAPEES Channel Mixer gives me the desired look how it should be, where it gets orange and cyan, but the same settings in photoshop result in a vibrant yellow and deep blue. I already tried different color profiles in Photoshop to get the same color shift, but it does not work. To verify that its not my camera I made screenshot of one of the images in this video and swapped the channels in raw therapee and in photoshop. RAW therapee looks exactly like in the video, but photoshop is completely off. Many thanks!

[@robshea]

You may already be doing this, but just to be sure, after you select a custom profile and before you swap colors, you are setting a white balance? Each tool and method will produce slightly different results. So it may not be that you are doing anything wrong, it could be the sensor in your camera produces those particular hues. If you'd like me to take a look, fee free to send an image to 590.red/share

[@59ty]

@@robshea Thanks for the reply ! In this case I saved the image with the custom whitebalance separatly as an png to make sure its not the camera or white balance, that ist messing things up. I opened the image in both Photoshop and Raw Therapee. I used the exact same channel mixer settings in both softwares, but got completely different results. Im pretty sure the raw therapee one is how it should be and photoshop has a shift in hue. I sent you an Image to illustrator whats going on. Again, Thank you very much!

[@robshea]

@@59ty Thanks for sharing the image comparison. That's very helpful in seeing what you are looking at. What color space are you using? I've seen that type of shift in Photoshop when switching from ProPhoto RGB (a bigger color space) to sRGB (a smaller color space). I've recently updated my LUT tutorial 590.red/xmp to recommend using ProPhoto RGB instead of sRGB as a result of this observation. Once you've ruled that out, my next observation would be that there is no "correct" color. You have clean whites which is the most important first step. Yes, each program will produce different hues. You can also produce different results in Photoshop using the Invert method (add an Invert adjustment layer and then change its blend mode to Color or Hue). I frequently prefer the colors produced by that method. It's a creative choice. Sometime's I want the sky blue, sometimes teal, sometimes I want the foliage a different color. It depends on the image. In my Photoshop Actions, I have both Channel Mixer and Invert methods, plus I have a H/S layer to play with the colors further. 590.red/infrared-actions2 A Hue/Saturation adjustment layer should get you the hues you desire.

[@59ty]

@@robshea That actually fixed it. Through graphic design, I was used to work with srgb, but switching to ProPhoto in Photoshop did the magic. They both look exactly the same now. The Lightroom Channel Mixer profile is still not working properly, but I'll figure that out. Many Thanks! Really appreciat that!

[@robshea]

@@59ty If the enhanced profile using the channel mixer was created with sRGB, it would do the same thing.

[@Ni5ei]

The problem with Adobe Lightroom white balance is its slider's range is too limited. You can't set it low enough.

[@robshea]

I created the Infrared Profile Pack to address this problem. You can get more information here: 590.red/infrared-profile-pack