What is Infrared light?
The electromagnetic radiation (or light) whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light but shorter than that of microwaves is called Infrared (from the Latin infra which means below).Infrared light cannot be seen with the naked eye.

How can we obtain Infrared effects with digital cameras?
There are two ways of obtaining infrared on digital photos. The first way is to apply a filter onto your lens (Hoya, Cokin or any other good brand), whereas the second involves altering the colors of the resulting image via Photoshop or any other similar software. Below, I will try to present what can be achieved with Photoshop in terms of infrared (the method involving the filter is mostly the same).

Basic Infrared
Usually, the two most important colours you need in order to obtain a good IR photo are blue and green. It is a well-known fact that plants (such as grass) reflect IR radiation. That is why green is the best choice when trying to tackle IR. Also, a blue sky will turn black in IR, thus emphasizing the white clouds or, in this case, the green plants (the more intense the IR, the whiter the plants will become).

Not all things reflect IR. Water, for instance, absorbs the IR light and, therefore, does not reflect it. That is why, if you try to shoot a puddle scene, the puddle will not lighten up.

Infrared poppies

Colour Infrared

The more artistic version of IR photography is colour IR. This can be obtained only through image editing software (such as PS). When using a filter, the image you take will be solid (you won't see anything). Thus, you have to know exactly what you are doing before applying the filter. Once you take your pic and upload it to your PC, all you have to do is open Photoshop and start working on it (see Infrared Tutorial for further reference). In short, this technique is a combination of a color photo and an IR one.

A palace in "colour" infrared

• Monochrome
• Infrared Tutorial
• Filters
• Photo Filters