Gs4 Security: Digital Infrared Photography

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

Digital Infrared Photography

I recently realised that the CCDs that record images in digital still cameras are just as sensitive to infrared as are the ones in video cameras.This means that if you can attach an infrared filter to your digital still camera, or even hold one in front of the lens, you can do either black and white or false-colour infrared photography, the sort that used to mean buying special film and processing it yourself or at a custom lab. You can also do some things that were never possible with conventional cameras and IR films.I am using a Canon Powershot A50 camera and a Hoya R72 filter, which passes very longwave visible red light plus near infrared light. I tried a B+W 094, which passes absolutely no visible light and longer-wavelength IR, but either the IR it passes is longer than the wavelengths the Canon is sensitive to, or the intensity is so low that the Canon doesn't compensate exposure properly; at any rate my current experience is that really longwave IR filters won't work.I am in the early stages of experimenting with this technique myself, so the actual photos that appear below are not very exciting. Give me time... and in the meantime, have a look so you can be experimenting with this technique too.