The Portland Metro Photographic News

by Tom Hubbard, PMPN, June 8, 2009

Since olden times (the 1970s), I have had a fascination with infrared photograhy.  There is something about the delicacy and fragility of the fantasy-like pictures born from infrared photography that I find compelling.

Using infrared film was a tricky proposition.  Because the camera metering of infrared light was impossible, the results were never known until the film was processed.  The only solution was bracket, bracket and more bracketing.  Somewhere in that maze of bracketed images must be a printable negative.  Then there was the dense red filter that was required to make the exposure.  Reasonable depth of field required long exposures even on a bright sunny day.

©1974,tehubbard

But, when successful, the results could be stunning.  Shown above is a picture I took with Kodak infrared film during my "infrared Period" in the mid 70s.  Certainly, the style is not everyone's "cup of tea", but for me it was an eye and mind opening experience.

For DSLR owners, several IR plugins have been available for programs like Photoshop and Lightroom for some time.   These effects are applied to a normal digital image in post-processing.  But, to me, none of these post-processing options have approached the true "look and feel" of a traditional infrared film image.

I've known for several years that DSLR cameras could be modified to record only the infrared portion of the spectrum.  Unfortunately, I also knew that the conversion left the camera useless for conventional photography.  It wasn't until recently that I had a spare DSLR available to dedicate to this conversion.  It was Advance Camera in Portland that afforded me the opportunity to make this conversion.  Having a local expert in IR conversions gave me the confidence to take the plunge.

Dave Sleeth at Advance Camera became my IR guru.  The victim of my decsion was my trusted Canon Rebel camera (shown below).

Dave began by giving me all the necessary warnings:

• the camera will no longer be useable for flash photography
• the metering system will no longer be perfect
• since all lenses focus IR differently, the photographer will need to use the diaphragm (depth of field) to assist in focus control.

But most of these concerns are offset by the fact that the image can be seen immediately on the camera's preview LCD and adjustments can then be made.  And flash photography was not one of my requirements.

A customer can select the level of IR they want to enter the camera by specifying which IR filter to install (resulting in images with some color to pure black & white).  I selected the 800nm filter.  This filter produces a very black and white image.  The same look as the film I am trying to mimic.

The cost of the conversion is $245 regardless of the IR filter selected.  At the same time, the camera is given a thorough cleaning and check up.  The camera is also checked with a variety of lenses to check IR focus.  The whole process takes only a few days.

I have to say that the results have been amazing.  I am able to produce images that are very similar to traditional infrared film.  I've also discovered some other pluses with this conversion:

• the results are immediately reviewable on the camera's LCD
• all of my lenses are "tack sharp"  -- no focus problems have been encountered
  
• the histogram still provides all the gamut information I want
• the absence of a dense red filter makes hand-held exposures at smaller aperture settings possible
• I return from shooting sessions knowing that the picture I wanted is on my data card.

Here are a few of the first shots taken with the IR converted Canon Rebel camera.

©2009,tehubbard

©2009,tehubbard

©2009,tehubbard

I decided to push the envelope and attempt to construct an HDR picture in a scene with an unusually high dynamic range.  The picture below is composed of 3 exposures (each 2 stops apart) and produced as an HDR image using Photomatix Pro.  It worked!

©2009,tehubbard

All in all, I am very pleased with my decison to convert my Rebel to IR. Thanks to Dave Sleeth and his crew at Advance Camera, I'm back in the 70s and enjoying every minute.