Technique: Digital infrared

Infrared photography has been around for quite a while and for most photographers this means tricky photography on infrared film. This kind of film is challenging in a coulpe of ways. Firstly you have to store it properly so it don’t get foged. You also have to load the film into the camera in complete darknes. But the biggest challange is the exosure and focus. The focuspoint is not the same as with regulear llght so it needs manual compensation. The built in lightmeter doesn’t work either, so the exosure is a bit of a hit and miss in the beginning.

But now, in the digital age, it is possible to get custom made digital cameras. The way this works is that a technican removes a filter from the chip to make the censor sensitive to infrared light. By adding a red filter or a ir-filter to the lens, you stop most of the visible light going into the lens, so that just the infrared light is visible to the censor.

This way you can get a live preview of your composition in infrared. This makes it a lot easier to visualize the picture you want to take. Since the infrared light is invisible to the human eye, the camera will help you to see what you will end up with on the chip.

The cheapes and easiest way is to convert a camera is to use a digital compact camera. This will give you a live preview which is not possible with a digital slr. I also have the impression that the ccd censor works better than the cmos censor. I have to make you all aware that this is not a guaranteed process. You might end up spending 500$ on a camera you’re not pleased with, but that’s the price for being experimental…

Below is a picture taken with a with a modified Canon Powershoot with a infrared filter. This picture is just adjusted with levels after converting to black and white.