In a Different Light

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Experimenting with different filters and lenses is great in photography but sometimes it can be very expensive.  Infrared photography has been around for many, many years but with the advent of digital photography it is now easier to give it a go.  

The best way is to have an old camera converted to infrared photography.  There are plenty of companies who are able to carry out the conversion, which can cost a over £100 to carry out, and once it is done then the camera can only be used for one type of photography - hence the use of an older model.   But these cameras do give the best results.

A cheaper way of dipping your toe into Infrared Photography is to buy one of the cheap lenses available on eBay.  I did this recently, spending a grand total of £15 on a 77mm screw in filter.  Fitted to the Fuji X100S, the results are very striking.  I use a 77mm filter because the majority of my Nikon lenses are 77mm or less and it is cheaper to buy step up filter rings and use one set of filters rather than buying different filter sizes. For the Fuji I use a 49mm to 77mm step up adapter and these cost about £6 on eBay or from Amazon.

The camera was set take images in RAW and in JPEG with the Black and White (red filter) film simulation.  The RAW images come out in colour, which have an orange caste due to the effects of the very strong filtration of the light reaching the sensor.  The JPEG images give the effects set in the camera menu, in this case a high contrast mono image.

Here are two shots taken of St Anne's Church in Grantham that clearly show the effects of the filter -

Image taken with the Infrared filter in place
same scene taken without the IR filter
The very dark IR filter also has a marked effect on the exposure.  With the IR filter in place the exposure was 2.7 seconds @ f5.6 (iso200) and without the filter the shutter speed was 1/350s with the same aperture and ISO settings.

 I am going to experiment with this filter at lot more in the coming weeks and will post some more results here on the MacLean Photographic blog.

 CLICK HERE to see one of the many IR filters that are for sale on eBay.
The Fuji X100S with the IR filter fitted
All images taken on Fujifilm Finepix X100 or X100S 
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