The basic of Infrared Photography

In case you would like to try your hands at infra-red photography, here's what you should do:

Prepare your camera for Infra-Red Photography
First you will need to get an Infra-red capable camera, which in my case is a Nikon D70 camera.
If you are not sure if your camera is IR capable, you can try the following test.

Go into a dark room and turn off all the lights. Then put a TV remote control in front of the lens with the LED pointing at the lens. Snap a photo and if there is a light spot in your pictures, then your camera can record infra-red.

Get an Infra-red Filter
There are several type of Infra-red filter available in the market. I have a Hoya R72 and a Cokin 007 Infra-red Filter

Custom-set your DSLR's white balance
For this step, you will need to know how to set custom white balance for your camera. You might have to pull out your camera manual if you are not sure.

Then go out on a bright sunny day with your camera and your filter fitted on your lens. Point your lens at a bright patch of grass and take a sample of it to set the white balance.

TIP
What I normally do is to set the camera to an auto mode or P in my case and then take a shot of the grass patch.

Once you have set the custom White Balance, you are ready to start to take pictures!

Taking Infra-red Pictures
First of all, you will need to take off your IR filter. Why? It is because the IR filter is almost pitch black and you will not be able to see through your lens if you keep it on your lens. So, what you need to do is to compose your scene and focus. Following that, the filter is placed back and when you are ready, press on the shutter button.

When you look at the LCD, you will not be able to see much of the image as it will be very dark (reddish brown or mostly red).

That's it! You have taken your first IR pictures! In the next post, I will post the post-processing techniques for these pictures. Meanwhile, have fun with IR!