Settings for IR photography

[DellSuperman]

Hi,

I recently converted my D50 to be IR, therefore making me an IR newbie.
I am using an ELP filter btw.
I have a few questions about IR photography here.

- What WB is being used?
- What is the common aperature level being used?
- Is it true that it is better to take IR photos on a a bright sunny day?
- Is exposure compensation required?

If there is anything that I should know, please let me know.
Thank you in advance.

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by DellSuperman - What WB is being used? - What is the common aperature level being used? - Is it true that it is better to take IR photos on a a bright sunny day? - Is exposure compensation required?

1) read stickies, custom wb to be used, white point is leaves in sunlight or if you can set it using a wb card it will be good.

2) depends on what you shoot.

3) yes.

4) probably, based on experience. usually need to overexpose.

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by DellSuperman - What WB is being used?

custom WB, aim and fill the frame with green foliage under the same lighting.

Originally Posted by DellSuperman - What is the common aperature level being used?

f8, and be there

Originally Posted by DellSuperman - Is it true that it is better to take IR photos on a a bright sunny day?

IR wave is abundant when it is sunny, you will have grate exposure, nice contrast lighting. on cloudy day, lighting is flat, exposure is low, need a lot of post process, the shot might still usable.

Originally Posted by DellSuperman - Is exposure compensation required?

forget about exposure compensation, camera meter is design for visible light, does not work well with IR photography, best is shoot in manual mode, judge and fine tune the exposure by reading histogram.

[lizardojm]

Originally Posted by DellSuperman - Is exposure compensation required? .

In my case, I tend to underexpose (-1.0 ev) so that I wont get blown out skies or clouds. It's better that shot's are underexposed as you still get color information from your output and can remedy the exposure with a software. It's harder to fix a blown out picture...

[DellSuperman]

Woah, thanks for the advices.
But i am a lil confused as all 3 of you tell me different things about the exposure.
Anyways, I am gonna try them out and see the difference.

Thanks again.

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by DellSuperman Woah, thanks for the advices. But i am a lil confused as all 3 of you tell me different things about the exposure. Anyways, I am gonna try them out and see the difference. Thanks again.

might be brand of camera used, and who did the modification, etc.

[DellSuperman]

I am using a Nikon D50 with the internal modification, not using IR filters.
And my modification was done by fatigue..

[ballan]

Originally Posted by catchlights forget about exposure compensation, camera meter is design for visible light, does not work well with IR photography, best is shoot in manual mode, judge and fine tune the exposure by reading histogram.

Sometimes you need to exposure compensation because of IR light is different character with normal light and in some situation camera metering wrongly and produce picture too bright or a bit darker

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by ballan Sometimes you need to exposure compensation because of IR light is different character with normal light and in some situation camera metering wrongly and produce picture too bright or a bit darker

I shoot IR with manual exposure, does not rely on the camera meter.

Originally Posted by catchlights .............. forget about exposure compensation, camera meter is design for visible light, does not work well with IR photography, best is shoot in manual mode, judge and fine tune the exposure by reading histogram.

[DellSuperman]

Originally Posted by night86mare 1) read stickies, custom wb to be used, white point is leaves in sunlight or if you can set it using a wb card it will be good.

I am not using IR filter as mentioned in the stickies.
Any advice for a modded camera?

[JeffryZ]

Just set your white balance on something green. What exposure to use will depend on the situation and vary so take a shot and if necessary make adjustments- like normal. Experiment. Play around. I use EV just fine on my converted point and shoot camera- no reason it will not work on anybody elses. Is it required? Sometimes. But that is true with visible shooting too. Other than the colors, it is really not different mechanically from shooting a non-modified camera in the visible spectrum. The nice thing about using a modded cam is that you get to use more "normal" exposure times. You may find some lenses give you a "hot spot" on your shots. So get out and have fun with it!

[rizraz]

I kind of agree with jeffryZ, experiment. The basic is in the stickies or what some of us wrote.

I do keep an old CF card as a CWB selection...... different greenery with different sunlight will give you a slightly different results. You can also use a plain white paper, the blue sky, etc.