These two posts on infrared photography seem to get a lot of hits:

• Digital Infrared Photography – a post processing example (March 2012)
• Infrared Photography Follow Up (April 2012)

Since they’re from a while back, I thought I’d update you on a couple of things.

Ebbing tide – The outgoing current cuts a temporary channel through the beach (Little Talbot Island State Park).  IR, B&W.

I’d been using an Olympus E-PL1 camera, modified for IR by  http://www.lifepixel.com/ and I’ve been pleased with the output.  But it uses a first generation 12 MP, micro 4/3 sensor and requires care to minimize noise.  I also have an Olympus E-PL5 with a 16MP current generation sensor.  It has much better noise characteristics and additional resolution, so I decided to have it modified to upgrade my infrared capabilities.

I was very happy with the service from LifePixel, but this time, I chose Precision Camera to do the mod.  They also did a fine job, were very prompt and even a few dollars cheaper.

One change I made was to select a 665 nm filter instead of 720 nm.  What this does is pass a bit more of the visual spectrum along with the IR light.  This gives you more flexibility in post processing.  You can still process for the IR B&W look, but with the extra visible spectrum light, false color post processing is easier. 

At rest – Driftwood on the beach (Little Talbot Island State Park).  IR, false color.

When I process RAW files from the E-PL1, I can easily adjust white balance in Lightroom.  With the 665 nm filter on the E-PL5, I couldn’t get to a neutral white balance until I created a custom camera calibration profile for it using Adobe’s DNG Profile Editor.  You can read more about this here (link no longer available).

The Road Under the Red Cedar Tree (Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge).  IR, B&W.

I made the photos in this post with the newer camera.  There’s less noise, the 665nm filter is more flexible in post, and the extra pixels are nice to have.  I like how it’s working so far!

You can see larger versions of these and other examples of my infrared photography in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.  Now, go make some IR photos!

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.