Infrared experiments

Once again I am bending the intent of this blog (observations of the trivial and unnoticed) but indeed infrared is unobservable by the naked eye, but that is a technicality.

In the past I have experimented with infrared using a very dark filter that necessitated long exposures on a tripod. In the ancient times of silver photography special IR films were available (an may still be) but digital camera sensors are capable of seeing IR without issue.  Camera manufactures realize that this can cause unintended picture issues and so place a filter in front of the camera sensor to block IR.  But if you know what you are doing these filters can be removed.

I have an old Canon G6 camera (about 8 year old, antiquated!) that in its day was considered a pretty nice bit of kit, but by todays standards it is not much.  I recently had it modified by having the IR filter replaced with a visible light filter, meaning it takes photos using only IR light.  This was a moderately inexpensive way to experiment with IR photography while being able to shoot handheld and see a preview of the image on the viewfinder panel.

The results are maybe a bit gimmicky but interesting none the less.  The filter I choose to have installed does capture images with color information, but it is false color which can be manipulated for effect.  At any rate, if you have an interest is seeing some of my experiments, here is a link to a collection of a few shots on Flickr.