S2 goes infrared

[Wilm]

This picture was taken today. Totally overcast here, worst conditions for a nature-shot. Took 4 picture at F11 with 15 seconds, stiched them, changed blue and red.
Here´s the result !

:cheers:
Wilm

[deMille]

Wilm,

Nice job. Will you share your technique for shooting IR with the S2?

Dale

[Wilm]

Dale,
why not :cheers:

At first I have checked if the lens as also the S2 was infrared-capable.
So I went with my TV-remote-control in a dark-room, put the S2 to bulb-mode and hold my remote-controle while pressing a button in front of the lens.
I´ve seen some white dots, so the system works.
Afterwards I have ordered a HoyaR72-infrared-filter which cuts light below 720nm.

I went out today to my favorit place with some remains of an old village. Put the camera on my tripod, selected the scene, fixed my ball-head and put that filter on it. Took the shot with an eye on the LCD-monitor. EV+3 works also, autofocus still works.

After this, a little bit of post-processing has to be done :

1. Load the picture in the computer :beerchug:
2. Split all 3 channels.
3. Use the curves-function in PS CS to brighten the blue and the green channel. Dont use Autolevels or Levels. This makes these 2 channels very grainy.
4. Merge the channels again but change red to blue and blue to red.
5. Use the auto-color-function to eliminate the color-cast.
6. That´s it, nothing really complicated, but something funny to see white trees during summer !

:cheers:
Wilm

[Wilm]

Something more to mention :

1. Shoot with the sun. White is the reflektion of the complete absorbtion of chlorophyll.
2. When it is overcast, the clouds will reflect a huge portion of IR-light. Clouds will be everytime white.
3. The S2 will only capture near-infrared. Don´t expect to see a white body. you need a vulcano to make it white.


´Hope that help´s a little bit to start the adventure of ir-photography.


:cheers:
Wilm

[avinoam123]

help


" Merge the channels again but change red to blue and blue to red "

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Wilm]

help


" Merge the channels again but change red to blue and blue to red "

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

means, when merging the RGB-channels, simply use the blue-picture for the red-channel and the red-picture for blue-channel. This creates a blue-sky.


:cheers:
Wilm

[5string]

Those are great! Looks like a whole different world. I'm glad you've pioneered infra-red on the S2 for us. I used to do some with an Olympus digital. It looks like the particular filter you're using is the ticket.

[deMille]

Wilm,

I really like the 2nd shot. Thanks for getting back to the group with the info/secrets. Now if I can just have some play time .........

Dale

[Wilm]

Thanks all, thanks Dale.

Why shouldn´t I share my secrets with the S2 ? I´ve learned during the last month in this forum more than the last years.

Sun is coming out today, a challenge for the next pictures.
Here´s my neighbours barn:

:cheers:
Wilm

[Wilm]

next test with false-colors.

[NZDoug]

Wow!
your on a roll!
what GREAT style!
XLNT!ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt tttttttttttt :righton: ttttg

[Wilm]

Thanks NZDoug !

This would be a challenge for you in NZ too. Much nature, much green !

Buy a filter and be amazed about the results you have never seen before.


:cheers:
Wilm

[Serge]

next test with false-colors.

This and the previous shots are excellent Will, as is the whole series,
don't know how I missed it.
I've shot IR Ektachrome over the years and have had two articles published in
Australian Photography magazine some time back, also using Color Polarisers with IR film for some really surreal effects. I am really into all this stuff, so thanks for sharing the S2 approach. :cheers:

[NZDoug]

Serge,
Small world,
I did an article for Aus Photog 4 years ago on Shooting for grain with a half frame camera".
The inner dweebiness of photographic knowledge is always interesting.

Wilm
You should come to NZ and do your thing!
Doing this sort of thing the hard way, as opposed to actions, can sometimes produce more control.
Pardon my typos. I always have a cat on the keyboard until fed 1/2 hourly.
That tttttttttt :righton: ttt! was our team effort.
Think I'll walk the dog.
:flame:

[Serge]

[QUOTE=NZDoug]Serge,
Small world,
I did an article for Aus Photog 4 years ago on Shooting for grain with a half frame camera".
The inner dweebiness of photographic knowledge is always interesting.
QUOTE]

That would have been an Olympus Pen F or a more recent Canon model, how things have changed in a short 4 years!

[Wilm]

You´ve both have posted articles in magazines ! Thats great ! But, where are your pictures ? HAve both of you thrown away your filters ?

Or must I start something like "Simon says" ?


:p
Wilm

[NZDoug]

Hi Wilm
my articles was on shooting for grain, not infrared.
Serge was right in that I do have an Olympus Pen F system.
:)

[t.hanz]

Very creative shots, beautiful.

Todd

[Wilm]

Hi Wilm
my articles was on shooting for grain, not infrared.
Serge was right in that I do have an Olympus Pen F system.
:)

Hi Doug,
sorry, but shooting for grain says nothing to me. Even my dictionary didn´t help ! Could you post such a photo for me ? Feel free to hijack this one :rockon:

@Todd @ all,

thanks for your comments. I´ll try to shoot some other photos when the weather will be better during the next weeks.


:cheers:
Wilm

[Keith Cocker]

Hello Wilm,

I was inspired by your pictures to buy an IR Filter and try your technique. I have had some success but I don't seem to be able to retain the colour in the Non-Vegetation parts of my pictures as you have been able to. I followed your technique to the letter. Is it something to do with the amount of lightening in the Curves? I attach one of my attempts.

:beerchug:

[Wilm]

Hello Keith,
I´m uncertain why you can´t get some false-colour back ! Maybe you can post the picture as it came out of the camera and I can double-check here with my usual workflow.

During the last days, playing around with my IR-filter, I have found out that the following trick also helps to minimize the noise in the blue channel:

Shoot in RAW-mode and adjust color-temp. to 2000k. The picture looks almost BW. This helps a lot to increase the blue in the sky.

:cheers:
Wilm

[Keith Cocker]

Hello Keith,
I´m uncertain why you can´t get some false-colour back ! Maybe you can post the picture as it came out of the camera and I can double-check here with my usual workflow.


Hello Wilm,

I shot the images as RAW files but I have converted to jpg for you to see if you can retain the colour more.

Thanks for trying

[Wilm]

Hello Keith,

interesting, I was also unable to get some blue-sky out of your picture with swapping blue and red. But, there might be something could happen when you shot that photo:

1st daytime : high-noon or in the afternoon ? Some of my afternoon-shots are looking better then at 1 p.m.

2nd: Position of sun: The sun should be directly behind you. You can only see the reflected near-IR-spectrum of the sun. Ingoing angle is outgoing angle !

3rd: Try to set your white-balance to something green.

4th: try and try and try. The results are sometimes really B&W, but sometimes swapping the channels will bring a real IR-false-colour-effect.

The weather over here was a mess during the last week, but the weekend seems to be sunny again. I will make my next "session" with my voice-recorder. Maybe I can find out, why some pictures are B&W and the others are coloured.

:cheers: of the channel

[Keith Cocker]

Hello Wilm,

Thank you for trying. I took the photos about 10.30 (GMT +1) and the sun would have been behind me. I will try some afternoon shots and see what happens :)

The weather in the North west of England is lovely at the moment so I hope I have some more chances tomorrow.

Good Luck :guzzle:

[Wilm]

I´ll keep my fingers crossed to see your results :righton:


:cheers:
Wilm

[Wilm]

I did some tests with infrared today at 4 p.m. Target was to investigate which angle to the sun would produce the best results of false-color.

Here is my 2-cent result:

An angle of 180° ( sun direct behind me ) causes a clear B&W-picture. All channels are the same way exposed. No chance to get some color-cast out of it.
Then I´ve startet to shoot at 170° and 190° Better colors
160° and 200° (+-20°) better colors
150 and 210° (+-30°) stunning colors
140 and 220° (+-40°) same as +-20°

The exposure was basicly set to +3.0EV but at +-30° the picture was allmost dark. Measurement says 4 seconds, so I have extended that to 10 seconds.

Workflow now is also different, but much simplier than before:

Shoot with individual white-balance ( balanced to a green field )
Load in PS CS
Split channels
Merge channels, but change red with blue .....
You get a very blue-casted picture
Use Auto-color :cool:
Go to Hue/Saturation
Put saturation to +40
Use Hue to get a convinient blue sky.
Put saturation back to the middle marker.
That it

Here a sample result at 10 sec, F16, ISO100 Hoya R72, sigma cheapo 28-80

:cheers:
Wilm

[Serge]

Super :righton:
you've really got this technique down pat, thanks for posting
the detailed method, I'll be trying it,
so much to do ; so little time :D

[Keith Cocker]

Hello Wilm,

The last few days here have been wet and cloudy but this morning we had some sun so I was able to try again folowing your new recipe. I think I am getting some better results but it does seem "hit-and-miss". I took two shots of this scene within seconds of each other, one with a stop longer exposure. The shorter exposure produced a Black & White picture - the longer one started to show some coloured effects. I think I should try some shots later in the afternoon as well.

I think the rule must be - take lots of frames and see what comes out :) :) :)

Thanks for your advice

[Wilm]

Keith,
I´ve spend this evening some (couple) of minutes to check my voice-recorder notes regarding exposure with that what I have done.

Here´s the result:

Put the camera to +3 EV
See at F11 - F16 what the exposure-meters says. Ignore it and go to 2.5 times of the measured time. For example :

Systems measures 4 secs, go 10 secs.
Dont look at the histogram, use your eye to see a conveniant exposure at the LCD.

Be happy with a blue sky after post-processing, open a bottle of champain with some yellow flowers and bright blue screen.

I´ve read somewhere in the internet, that the best time for IR ist June 'till August. We both got plenty of time to try ( and error )

:cheers:
Wilm

[NZDoug]

Hey Wilm
Took the challenge and did a self portrait of myself doing some classic NZ tree huggin`.
A bit churlish, if I do say so myself.
Used a Kodak wratten 25R with +3 meter- processed RAW on camera settings
By split all 3 channels do you mean change the levels of each channel indiviadually?
Im on Photoshop 6 so ambiguity could confuse the issue.
Heres the result as it looks converted from RAW .
Im I on track?
regards
Doug

[Wilm]

Doug,
I would say yes (and no ?)....

I´ve tried today some IR-shots with another lens and it seems to me, that a "calibration" of the lens is important too. Try to set the white-balance to something green ( like gras or something else ). Otherwise set in RAW-Converter the temperature down to 2000k without any tint. Then go simply, split, merge, auto-color as stated a little bit above.

I´ll try to investigate a little more time when the sky isn´t overcast as today.

BTW: Excellent composition !


:cheers:

[jknights]

Wilm,
Very nice results.
I will try to automate the process using your method.


I have been experimenting with pseudo colour IR (results like Ektrachrome IR) (This requires no filters to be used) and use this Photoshop Channel Mixer file attached.

Rename the *.txt file to a *.cha file then put in Photoshop directory structure as follows: \adobe\photoshop cs\ directory

Then load the image file
Image/Adjustments/Channel Mixer
Load select the *.cha file
Click OK
Save image


This then converts the image in one step.

[NZDoug]

Hi Wilm
heres another attempt as seen the finepix.
In this situ I like the n for normal files.
How come you prefer to make them so overexposed?
Ive tried your instruction but no joy.
As I mentioned, Im on photoshop 6 so Im not sure what auto color is.
Ive got a better filter on order, cant remember the #, but not the same a s yours, but closer than my existing wratten 25R.
Ive done a custom color bal.
Whatcha think?

[Wilm]

Doug,
sorry for the late response.

I´ve spend some minutes to investigate the wratten 25R-filter which is not an infrared-filter.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/cameras/looks/bwWratten25.jhtml?id=0.1.18.18.3.22.3.16.17&lc=en

The cut-off wavelength is somewhere between green and red. This explains why your pictures are with huge yellow parts.

Try it with a filter where the highpass beginns at 720nm.

It have attached two pictures for you, taken today.
#1 shows the results straight out of the camera. Induvidual white-balance was set while looking at gras.

#2 shows the results with photoshop.

:cheers:
Wilm

[Wilm]

shhhh.

Picture above shows the results,
picture below what came straight out of the camera.

[Ruffles]

Interesting thread. I posted this a while back but now that there's an IR thread, I thought I would add it. I too wanted to try some infra red so I bought a Tiffen 87 filter. With this filter on, you can't see anything so I have to compose first and then apply the filter. I set the S2 to B&W and ISO 1600 with Hard contrast and sharping. I then played a bit PS and converted to a sketch. Here's the results. I'll try your method too and see what happens.

[Wilm]

Interesting thread. I posted this a while back but now that there's an IR thread, I thought I would add it. I too wanted to try some infra red so I bought a Tiffen 87 filter. With this filter on, you can't see anything so I have to compose first and then apply the filter. I set the S2 to B&W and ISO 1600 with Hard contrast and sharping. I then played a bit PS and converted to a sketch. Here's the results. I'll try your method too and see what happens.

Stunning results ?
The clouds are so sharp !
Also I like the composition with the little tree in the foreground !

I´ll try my way with IR.

More results will come during the next weeks !


BTW: It´s funny to look thru the viewfinder and to see nothing :lol:


:cheers:
Wilm

[NZDoug]

Hi Wilm
so I got an 87 filter.
An OK result but it doesnt have the real color like yours does.
Ill post the raw converted later but thot Id post this now.
Auckland Domain
12-24 DX asa 400 1/2 sec at f4
to be cont. :flame:

[Wilm]

Doug,
your picture was nearly finished ....

Workflow in CS PS

auto-Color
Saturation +15
Curves



:cheers:
Wilm

[NZDoug]

Hi Wilm
thanks alot for your input on this.
I havent replied because Im not sure if I got the right result.
Still thinking about it all.
My confusion stems from not having CS, as Im on photoshop 6 so Im not sure what auto color is.
I went to saturation and twiddled the colours to imitate your effect.
I like the end result so thats good.
Im anxious to try more.
Watch this space! :cheers: :monalisa:

[NZDoug]

Hi Wilm
heres another attempt.
Its kinda monochrome.
Still not 100%.
Whatca think?
12-24 DX 4sec at f4

[NZDoug]

and another.
A close up of the frame
16seconds f11

[NZDoug]

Wilm
heres the converted raf to tiff then jpg`d for the forem.
Do you think it needs more exposure? :confused:

[jknights]

I have been trying to do my IR photography without having to revert to using an IR filter.
The advantage of this is that you can use almost any photo.
Disadvantage is that you don't get the moonlight effect that you see (that I also like) in Wilm's shots.

Using a modified version of Wilm's procedure I am getting results that look like this.

It is different ! Any comments/thoughts.

[Wilm]

Jonathan,
nice result, but absolutley different to IR-photography. IR-ph. captures the thermal-reflections of leaves. Film and sensor are very sensitive for the wavelength of the sun-reflection cholopyhll did. So in fact, we can see mostly a reflection from the greens. Clouds ( water ) also reflects perfectly, so the exposure of them is also very red.

Doug,
you really need more exposure. The exposure-meter as also the histogram can´t inform you. Try it. Sometimes I need 15 seconds when the meter forcasts only 1.5 seconds.

Weather here in Germay is getting better, so there might be the chance to make some IR-photos during the next days when I am on travel.


:cheers:
Wilm

[NZDoug]

THX, Wilm! :cheers: