Infrared photography

• classic near IR photography requires detection of the 700-900nm range of IR 
• photography of infra-red region of the light spectrum allows:
  • unusual landscape photos with false color or unusual monochromatic effects
    • suggested subjects:
      • graveyard shots - grass will go almost white leaving the tombstone floating in an eerie space, similarly for standing stones.
      • derelict buildings covered in creepers - again the contrast of stone and vegetation. See Pete Schermerhorn's excellent article on castles in Ireland.
      • people on the beach - sky and skin, water reflecting sky
      • nudes in a landscape - skin and vegetation and/or sky
      • haze reduction - only reduces blue haze, but try it
      • hot houses - vegetation
      • people with sunglasses - it is sometimes possible to see the eyes behind seemingly opaque sunglasses.
    • composition hints:
      • visualise the elements in the photograph by the way that they reflect infrared light.
      • blues, browns, dark greens in shadow will all appear dark in the final print. Reds, whites, greens in sunlight will appear light in the final print.
      • the eye is drawn initially to areas of high contrast in a photograph, so frame the elements to lead the viewer into the scene from the high contrast starting point.
      • try using strong graphical shapes with high contrast to lead the viewer into the photograph and place important elements using the rule of thirds.
      • finally, every so often throw the rules out and do something just because it feels right or because you want to experiment
      • general hints:
      • there is more infrared light around when there is bright sunlight. This doesn't mean you should avoid using IR film in other conditions but that the effects are stronger when the sun is out.
      • largest amount of IR: the hours just after sunrise and before sunset (due to the angle of the sunlight through the atmosphere), the effect is most dramatic (i.e deep black sky) when photographing with the sun behind the camera.
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