I'm trying to learn how to take infrared pictues. I have tried to change my pictures to infrared through photoshop by changing the channel mixture, but it just doesn't look right. I know there are certain filters you can buy like the Hoya R72, but some examples from them don't look right either. I understand that my camera isn't the best for taking infrared, b/c of the sensor. Would it be best to get a camera that is made for infrared and if so what type, or will a filter and some photoshop do the trick? Thanks in advance.
I bought a Suntec filter on ebay , a lot cheper then the Hoya and the outcome has been good but difficult. Like you said the 20D is bad for IR so the images are really red. You have to play with the channel mixer for a while to get the right effect. Here are 2 recent shots but like I said, Im still learning.
I've not done much IR at al (none with DSLR) but I do know...
- The images as they come from the camera will always be quite red. The filters over the blue and green pixels on the sensor greatly reduce the sensitivity at those locations.
- Generally the first step in IR pot processing is swapping the red and blue channels. This can be easily done with the channel mixer.
- Although Canon DSLRs have relatively efficient hot mirrors (low sensitivity to IR) they can produce great results with long exposures.
There are quite a few older threads on this, and lots of general information that Google will surely turn up!
The conversion is also much easier if you shoot in RAW. You can adjust the color temperature to 2000 (and I use -35 tint).
Or, put the filter on the camera, take a picture, then set the white balance from there. This will decrease the red.
