Thinking Outside the (Camera) Box

High dynamic range (HDR) infrared (IR) image of Niagara Falls,
taken with my Nikon D5100, on a tripod, using a Hoya R72 filter

I don't know much about infrared photography post processing of images. When I took my IR photos in the past, I plainly desaturated them, then processed the images as if they were black and white pictures. The last set of colored IR photos that I've posted are not my style. SO WHAT? It can't hurt to learn something new, and to keep learning until I find something that does work. I refuse to ever be stuck in a "photo rut".

Lately I've been putting together a small in-home studio. My efforts have been focused on building up the portrait side of my photography as a business. I fell asleep last night thinking about a few seniors who I will be photographing soon. What poses would work best for these seniors? How can I get to know them first, so they feel comfortable working with me? Will I have my new lighting gear in time to shoot their photos? Where could we go for a nice on-location shoot in the middle of winter?

What a nice change of pace to pick up myIR dedicated camera and shoot something so completely different than a portrait. While I'm not thrilled with my recent IR images, it's good to try something new. :)

More Infrared from the IR-Converted Nikon D40

I can tell that working with the color balances of processed IR photos is going to take a lot of practice! Here are the results of my quick trip outside, with my handy "new" camera snapping away.

Workflow? Import to Lightroom. Mess with color balance, cool it down until green branches have a soft blue hue w/reds at a manageable level (vs. whole photo super saturated with red). Edit in Photoshop (directly from Lightroom). I created an action in Photoshop that switches the red and blue channels and then desaturates the reds and magentas. Tweak the saturation levels a little bit. Save photo which is picked back up in Lightroom. Manipulate the exposure, whites, clarity, etc. Crop. Tada! This process seriously only takes a couple minutes per photo.

Considering I can now create a photo now from start to finish quicker than ONLY taking the photo via the old filter method, I'm quite happy! Someday I'll mess with the "white balance" profile, using the .DNG converter and editor...someday. :)

UPDATE! I just couldn't go to sleep tonight with three of the photos being so PURPLE. I almost worked on the chapel one, too, but just have to draw the line somewhere. I've placed the updated photos below the ones I originally posted, so you could compare the coloring.

Flickr gallery of photos: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjQNA9pi

First Edit of IR photo.

Updated photo.

First edit of the IR photo.

Edited color balance of the IR photo.  THIS one, in the end, was my favorite balance of colors in the batch. I would still like more of the pink tint taken out, which may happen after I get a better color profile calibrated w/DNG editor. 

Left the coloring of this photo alone. Good enough for tonight. 

THIS one is WAS my favorite balance of colors from post processing. I like the soft touch of blue in the sky. Originally, the church sign out front and the road were also blue. I desturated them in Lightroom to better balance off the whites and grays. The more I look at this photo, the more green tint I see to it, hmmm...

I wish this was a little more blue than purple. I probably should have desaturated the gate and wall here, too, like I did with the Bakers Creek Air Crash Memorial. I think this is Selfridge Gate to Arlington National Cemetery on the right. 

This is still a little green for me, but closer to what I was hoping for. 

Infrared Photography with My "New" IR Dedicated Nikon D40

I adopted a new "baby" last night, an old Nikon D40 that was converted for infrared photography. I found it on Craigslist when looking for used photo lighting, and the price was just too low to ignore. Well, today I'm stuck in my "office" pretty much all day, so just took a quick photo break, and this is the result. Taken from our front porch, and with less than two minutes of editing, this is the result. NICE! There's certainly room for improvement, and I need to work on my post-processing workflow, set my white balance with the .DNG Converter, better channel mixing of colors--but I am VERY excited!

This camera has been modified for infrared photography. Before this camera I would take my IR photos with a filter on my lens: set up camera on tripod, get the shot ready and focused, very carefully screw filter on lens (it blocks all visible light, so need to set everything up first), then shoot photo w/guessing how long shutter stays open. Shots that way could take 15 seconds to 2 minutes of exposure, depending on the camera settings. This could create quite a bit of blur if the wind was blowing, branches moving. Now with the dedicated IR photo, I just point and shoot. WOW!!!!!