Infrared photography has been around since the early Twentieth Century, 1910 to be a bit more precise. The popularity of IR photography has gone through a number of cycles, but it has always had a hardcore of admirers. Its popularity stems from the strange way it records a scene:
Blue skies turn deep black (because water vapor does not reflect infrared light very well.)
Green plants and leaves take on bright shades of white (because chlorophyll easily reflects IR light.)
Human skin takes on a translucent waxy appearance
An IR image can contain high and low contrast at the same time
Digital IR adds tones of browns and blues to the image
It’s easy to confuse Infrared Photography with Thermal Imaging, but there’s a big difference: IR photography captures images using the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that lies just beyond the end of the visible spectrum and the beginning of the infrared area. This is called the ‘Near Infrared’. Thermal imaging uses heat to make images, this form of infrared radiation lies at the far end of the IR portion of the spectrum.
I’ve been shooting IR images off and on since the late 1960’s and digital IR for the last 6 years. This IR gallery contains images shot on both Kodak High Speed IR film and with a digital camera modified to shot only IR images.
The first set of images are all from film and were shot between 1979 to 1984 in the my old neighborhood in San Francisco. The second set consists of digital IR images shot at a variety of locations in North Carolina between 2005 and 2010. I hope you like them.
First gallery - San Francisco Scenes 1979 ⇝ 1984
Second gallery - North Carolina Scenes 2005 ⇝ 2010
Here are some useful IR Photography sites:
So, scroll on down and Enjoy! As always please send me your comments etc.
Captured on Kodak High Speed Infrared Film
2005 ⇝ 2010
Captured with an ’Infrared-Only Modified Digital Camera
