Does /p/ approve of IR / full spectrum photography? Is it legit or a meme? It seems it is mostly used for landscapes, but I'm wondering what else you could explore with it, outside of forensics and other nerd shit.
Sugar
!egyYvoBZV2
5/27/2025, 5:30:10 AM
No.4430060
>>4430098
>>4430450
>>4430592
>>4430608
>>4445561
>>4429583
>>4429552 (OP)
I am one of the few on /p/ who has actually done IR and posted here with it so I'll break it down for you.
IR lets you get away with shit that normal cameras can't do. In color the moon on this shot was not very visible and had a fair amount of haze in front of it. IR doesn't care about that.
There are a few caveats. When you are shooting at large apertures and close distances, your camera will autofocus on something but it will appear out of focus on the image, that's because of how light travels on the IR spectrum. I can't remember the exact physics but it's kind of the same reason shit underwater doesn't focus the same as it does on the surface, visible light and IR are different wavelengths and camera's AF system only sees visible light.
When you are shooting at large apertures and at things far away, this effect isn't really noticeable, which is why it's great for landscape. If you are working with older lenses or anything manual focus they usually have IR marks you can focus through the viewfinder and then adjust using the IR mark on the distance scale.
Avoid shooting through car windows, most modern cars have IR coating on the windows and you won't get much of an image because the glass is filtering out the UV spectrum, or most of it.
It's mostly a gimmick, but a really cool looking one. You can do some really neat shit with infrared but you have to train yourself to be able to "see" in IR, so that you're shooting things like trees that contrast with the background, although on digital it's easy because you can see the result right there.
>>4429552 (OP)
I am one of the few on /p/ who has actually done IR and posted here with it so I'll break it down for you.
IR lets you get away with shit that normal cameras can't do. In color the moon on this shot was not very visible and had a fair amount of haze in front of it. IR doesn't care about that.
There are a few caveats. When you are shooting at large apertures and close distances, your camera will autofocus on something but it will appear out of focus on the image, that's because of how light travels on the IR spectrum. I can't remember the exact physics but it's kind of the same reason shit underwater doesn't focus the same as it does on the surface, visible light and IR are different wavelengths and camera's AF system only sees visible light.
When you are shooting at large apertures and at things far away, this effect isn't really noticeable, which is why it's great for landscape. If you are working with older lenses or anything manual focus they usually have IR marks you can focus through the viewfinder and then adjust using the IR mark on the distance scale.
Avoid shooting through car windows, most modern cars have IR coating on the windows and you won't get much of an image because the glass is filtering out the UV spectrum, or most of it.
It's mostly a gimmick, but a really cool looking one. You can do some really neat shit with infrared but you have to train yourself to be able to "see" in IR, so that you're shooting things like trees that contrast with the background, although on digital it's easy because you can see the result right there.
