Infra Red Filter Use

[Ohiomitch]

Having seen some great IR images, I bought the filter.  Now I need help with setting the camera to take advantage of this capability.  Do I set it for RAW, B&W, and questions like this.

 

[neal3K]

I've shot hundreds of IR images, starting with a 720nm filter on my Fuji X100s and later having it converted to an IR camera.  Unfortunately, I have had no success with my new Fuji X100F; it seems the sensor is not sensitive as the old X100s model.

 

I would start by setting a custom WB using a gray card.  If you don't plan to ever look at IR color, it is not as important.

 

Anyway, I never shoot RAW so I can't help you there.  I always shoot color and then go to edit.  I use a simple editing program that comes with Windows Live Photo Gallery but the idea is the same whatever you use.

 

I make a copy of each image and convert one of the pair to B&W.  On each image, I adjust the curves and that does a lot.  I find boosting brightness and/or boosting contrast helps with many images, especially B&W.

 

On color IR, I always adjust the color.  Starting with the initial color set with the custom WB and gray scale, I pull the tint slider to the left and get less red/orange.  I also often lower the saturation.  You can also channel swap in Photoshop but I find I like the look with my current camera without channel swaping although I did it in earlier photos.  You can Google channel swapping IR for more, I would think.

 

I have 366 photos and counting in my Flicker Infrared album.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/97423979@N00/albums/72157649764779698/page1

Page 4 has lots of my newest photos.

 

There is lots of more detailed help on the web but this may help get you started.

Edited May 18, 2017 by neal3K