Painless Infrared Photography

What kind of eerie world makes the sky go dark and trees turn white? It's the stunningly beautiful realm of infrared photography.

If you've ever tried shooting and processing infrared film, you know what a pain in the aperture it is to deal with. You have to load the camera in complete darkness, guess wildly about the exposure settings, process the film, and then cross your fingers that at least one or two shots turned out the way you had hoped. The results could be stunning, but they came at a painful price.

 

Digital photography has changed all that. Not only is persnickety film handling a thing of the past, but you also now get to preview your infrared images on the LCD monitor before taking the shot. And the best part; they will look every bit as beautiful as their film counterparts, as you can see in image which was shot with a Canon G1 digital camera. This barn shot was taken at 1 p.m. Most photographers are diving for cover at this time of day? That is, unless they're shooting infrared.

 

Infrared photography deals with the spectrum of light that you can't see but that your digital camera can. If you buy a filter to eliminate the normal light rays and capture only the infrared rays, you can add this look to your photographic bag of tricks.

 

The first thing you'll notice in infrared photography is that the blue sky goes dark and that most trees turn very light. Glare is minimized, giving your pictures an eerie clarity. A popular filter for digi-cam infrared photography is the Hoya R72. If your camera accepts filters, then go get an R72 at the camera store, attach it to your camera, and look at a brightly lit scene in the LCD viewfinder. You'll know right away if your camera is suitable for this kind of shooting. You can test the "infraredness" of your camera by pointing a remote control toward the lens and seeing if the beam registers the camera's LCD monitor. 

 

Source: O’Reiley | Portfolio Website for Photographers

Photography Tricks: Use Sunglasses as a Polarizing Filter

Chances are, you have a high-quality polarizing filter with you at all times, right under your nose. (Actually, it's sitting on your nose.)

Next to a fully charged battery and a huge memory card, a polarizing filter is the digital photographer's best friend. It reduces unsightly glare, deepens the richness of skies, and improves overall color saturation.The problem for most shooters on the go is that they don't always have their full kit of accessories with them. And many point-and-shoot cameras don't even provide a way to attach an external filter, even if you wanted to.

So what's a photographer to do? Does this mean you'll have to suffer with glare-y subjects and desaturated skies, just because you want to tote a convenient digicam instead of lugging around an albatross of a camera bag? Not at all. Your solution is sitting there right on top of your nose. Your sunglasses! Great lighting usually results in good photographs, with or without filtration, as shown. But sometimes you want to enhance an already good lighting situation. Often, polarization is the perfect solution, as shown . If you don't have a polarizing filter with you, try your sunglasses. You might be surprised by the results.

Without Sunglasses Filter

 

Using a Sunglasses Filter

 

Many quality shades are made out of the same material that camera polarizers are made out of. Simply take off your sunglasses and place one lens as close to your camera's shooting lens as possible. Then, take the shot. If you want to see the difference, take the same.

 

Source: O'Reiley | Online Portfolio Websites for Photographers