What is Infrared Photography or IR Photograpy
Many people describe photography as ‘painting with light’. Basically, infrared photography involves painting a scene with infrared – or at least, far red – light that is not visible to the human eye. This rather different way of photographing a scene, person or object yields interesting results – one of the more popular one is the Wood Effect, where foliage glows brilliant white in your infrared photo due to the way they reflect infrared light.
An infrared photograph is not a heat map similar to what the predator sees in Schwarzenegger’s film– not even close. We’re only capturing infrared light of the wavelength between 700 and 900 nanometers. Our camera is manufactured in such a way that it only allows light in the visible wavelength to fall on its sensor, thus making the scene to resemble as closely as to what the human eye perceives. However, the sensors are somewhat sensitive to infrared light too, and this forms the basis of infrared photography.
As far as I can understand it, infrared photography involves blocking out almost all light from the visible wavelength from reaching the camera sensor, while only allowing infrared light and beyond to reach your camera sensor. Therefore, an infrared (or far red) filter is absolutely necessary if you would like to dive head first into the world of infrared photography.
What do we offer
We offer IR conversion service at a very reasonable price for enthusiasts, hobbyists and serious photographers. This service is currently being offered in the Philippines but we have plans of expanding to reach global market. We’ve been working under the radar for some time now and has helped many IR enthusiast in their conversion needs. But now that we have built our customer base, we are now ready to serve the Philippine market of infrared photographers. We currently offer three conversion flavors to choose from as can be seen below.
- Standard IR (720 nm)
- If you prefer an all around filter, this should you be your choice. You can achieve color IR but the colors are not as rich compared to the lower nm filters since this filter blocks most of the color wave length. You can still have blue skies and light yellow folliage. With good skills in Photoshop you may be able to achieve more color effects. Also if you are into black and white photography, these filter is most suited for you because of it’s deep contrast and tonal range.
- Enhanced IR (630 nm)
- As this filter sits between the standard and extra-enhanced filters, you get the best of both worlds though you will be needing some skills in Photoshop. With proper custom white balance, you can have either a red or grayish sky and cyan to light blue foliage. Since this filter passes more light than the 720 nm, you can play around with more colors and still get that near IR feeling. This also works best for black and white photography but with lesser contrast. You can use this as well for people photography.
- Extra-enhanced IR (590 nm)
- Many refer to this as the “goldie” IR popularized by another conversion company. These should be your filter if you have minimum skills in Photoshop as you can get great results straight from the camera. All you need is to set you custom white balance by using a gray card or white paper and you can have a photo with an almost sephia-like tone but with blue foliage and good skin tone. This is one of the filters that can get you different surreal effects. Even overcast weather can be turned into a great shot. Since this filter let’s in more visible light, the result you can get is almost like the real word. I must admit, this one is my favorite.
How much do they cost
The conversion fee is PHP 9,000.00 including focus calibration. The turn around time is usually five days or longer depending on availability of the glass filter. Payment is after the conversion and no down payment is needed. You can also pay online through Paypal and you can use your credit card but may have to pay a bit higher than advertised because of the exchange rate and charges. For provincial orders, please contact me first and we will work out an arrangement.
I have other questions
Then feel free to contact me by leaving a message here and I will try to answer you as soon as possible. You can also get in touch with me through the contact information here.
