Infrared black and white photography

[gmaronson]

It's become an important part of my photographic repertoire on the ground. Now that I'm beginning to fly my Spark, I am anxious to able to continue this from an aerial perspective. I can explain the technical stuff another time, but here's my problem. In order to just let just infrared rays come through the lens, I need to have a VERY dark red filter over it. I figured out how to cut down a full size filter so it'll fit over Spark's lens, but my early results were disappointing. Whatever I did, I got a bright round area right in the middle of the image every time. I got the same result when I tried various shades of orange, but other medium and dark colors didn't do that.
In this type of photography, sunlit green foliage turns white and blue skies can turn almost black. It's an interesting variant on regular black and white.
Anybody have a clue as to what's happening? It may not be fixable, but I'd like to know why!
The attached example isn't very exciting, but it illustrates the white leaves and near-black sky, and, unfortunately, the bright area in the middle of the frame. This effect doesn't happen with colors other than red and orange--at least as far as I've tested things.

 

[gmaronson]

I meant to add that I'd be glad to share my knowledge of infrared if I can make this work through my Spark. Some knowledge of Photoshop or similar editing program is necessary to create the useable image.

 

[Spark 317]

I can't help you but what a neat concept in photography.

Looks interesting.

 

[gmaronson]

Here's a much better example of what one can do with infrared black and white.
And the beauty part is that this kind of photography works best at times when conventional photography can be dull and uninteresting: when the sun is practically overhead.

 

[Jeplane]

As you know, the problem is that digital cameras are designed to block all infrared lights. Yes you have used an IR filter to shoot IR photography, but it isn't easy. With a DSLR, you have to do long exposures, and in the Spark case, you now have a brighter exposure in the center. ( I don't know why either)

I was wondering if you should figure out how to remove the filter in the Spark itself. As I am sure you are aware, companies like Infrared Conversions, IR Modifications & Photography Tutorials | Life Pixel IR convert cameras directly, so you now have a dedicated cameras shooting IR only.

To my knowledge, no one is doing for drones yet. Hopefully it is coming in the future.

 

[gmaronson]

As you know, the problem is that digital cameras are designed to block all infrared lights. Yes you have used an IR filter to shoot IR photography, but it isn't easy. With a DSLR, you have to do long exposures, and in the Spark case, you now have a brighter exposure in the center. ( I don't know why either)

I was wondering if you should figure out how to remove the filter in the Spark itself. As I am sure you are aware, companies like Infrared Conversions, IR Modifications & Photography Tutorials | Life Pixel IR convert cameras directly, so you now have a dedicated cameras shooting IR only.

To my knowledge, no one is doing for drones yet. Hopefully it is coming in the future.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply! I'm aware of the IR conversions, but, as you might imagine, that's not a high-demand thing for drone photography! I've since posting learned that these "hot spots" are caused by infrared light bouncing around inside the lens apparatus. It's worse at smaller apertures, better at larger ones. One doesn't have a lot of control over that with the Spark software. I'm looking into Photoshop fixes for this, but they may work in some cases and not in others. There are whole databases of different lenses and how bad their "hot spots" are. The idea is to avoid these lenses. Can't do that in my case. Maybe I'll get some good results after all.

 

[Fred Moore]

Definitely a major hot spot, which will not be eliminated with removal of the internal ir blocker. I am also an infrared shooter. How did you mount the ir filter to the Spark camera?

 

[gmaronson]

I bought a Cokin rectangular IR filter (I forget its number--I'm away from home right now; it's equivalent to the R72) and cut it down to about 14x17 mm. I'd purchased a set of Spark filters including ND and Polarizer. The first set I bought attached to the Spark lens with a method I found unreliable. I bought a set that snaps right over the Spark lens. I punched out one of the ND lenses and glued my makeshift filter to it. Biggest challenge was keeping the glue off the filter. By my second try, I had close to a workable solution. My next one will do the trick. In a separate post, I'll show my first credible IR result taken from nearly 400 feet up.

 

[gmaronson]

INFRARED photo taken from Spark with my custom-made IR filter. Some post-processing done with Photoshop (e.g., remove red cast, increase contrast).

 

[Fred Moore]

Not bad. The hot spot from that distance isn't critical. What was the iso? I'm thinking a 630 filter to help compensate for the ir blocker.

 

[gmaronson]

Either 800 or 1600. The Cokin filter is whatever the equivalent of a conventional (e.g., Tiffen) R72 filter. Don't have it in front of me. Oddly, some of my photos don't show the hot spot.

 

[giolodovico]

Hi,
this is my first post and I see others are quite old.
Any way, I'm also interested in IR photos by drone and the last IRphoto of the forest doesn't seem bad. May be some Phtoshop can compensate the central over esposed area?
Good Fly
Gio