Infrared Shooting
Usually a landscape photographer work during special hours, the so called blue hours. In the morning or in the evening when the sun beams draw amazing long shadows which add the volume to the shot. And it's very uneasy to shoot during the daytime. When the sun is exactly above you, it's lighting is very contrasting - so you will lose information in lights and shadows but if you are the happy owner of IR filter, you definitely won't be bored in the afternoon, because the bright sunlight is the main source of IR rays.
Usually a landscape photographer work during special hours, the so called blue hours. In the morning or in the evening when the sun beams draw amazing long shadows which add the volume to the shot. And it's very uneasy to shoot during the daytime. When the sun is exactly above you, it's lighting is very contrasting - so you will lose information in lights and shadows but if you are the happy owner of IR filter, you definitely won't be bored in the afternoon, because the bright sunlight is the main source of IR rays.
Getting Started
- You don't need to darken the sky with ND Filter because it will be almost black.
- The textures will be revealed nicely.
- Foliage, illuminated brightly, will be very spectacular.
Tips for DSLR camera users
- Unlike usual digital cameras, DSLR have some problems with sighting and sharpening, as IR filters are non-transparent. It's rather troublesome to do focusing with the IR filter.
- Set your camera on a tripod, do sighting and framing. Then screw on the IR filter and, finally, shoot.
- Don't rely on autofocus. It takes into account only rays of visible spectrum, while IR rays are refracted differently. So you may focus with the help of a windowed distance scale, pointing the focus a bit closer than a real distance to the shooting object.
- Increase (DOF) with the aperture value close to f/18-22.
- There is an IR focusing mark on some lenses. Use it, matching it with the distance scale.
- You should also cover the viewfinder to avoid the additional overexposure.
- Take several shots with exposure bias value in 1-2 EV, controlling the histogram (especially in the lights).
- Pay attention to the White Balance if you aren't shootin in RAW. Ideal WB will be set on the illuminated leaves, as it will be much easier to get an appropriate result in infrared post processing.
