Infra Red photos

Ever since I started photography many years ago, I was always fascinated by the surreal effect of IR photos. I never tried IR photo thou because of the unexpected effect of IR photos would be very hard to manage with films.

With digital, I though it would be easier to try IR photos, and I just get a cheapy Made-in-China IR filter to try this new area of photography.

I was wrong about "digital-is-easy" thing.

On almost all digital camera, there is a infra-red filter in front of the sensor (CMOS or CCD) because the IR gets into sensor will create unexpected color pollution to the photos. Leica M8 had made this mistake and been complained of pink-tinted white color. The IR pass filter used on the K20D is quite effective, combining with the IR filter, the ND factor is a whopping 16-stops!! I have to resort to a min ISO-1600 under bright sunlight scene.

The logistic is also quite clumsy, and reminded me of dark-room works in the old days. Here's what need to be done:

1) Use a tripod. (even at ISO1600 and bright sunlight, it takes 30s and f/8 to make a correct exposure)
2) Frame your picture WITHOUT the IR filter (the IR filter is totally dark and you can't see anything in viewfinder after you put it on)
3) Focus WITHOUT IR filter
4) Put on the IR filter
5) Use manual on the camera, and set the aperture/shutter according to previous exposure tests.
6) Shift the focus to the IR focus mark on lens, if any. Too bad most lens today doesn't not have the IR focusing mark, so I need to GUESS. Gee......
7) When back home, tune the curve and level of the pic. Change to monochrome or change WB...

All in all, it's very fun. Obviously, the end-result is not good enough. But I enjoy it.