1st IR

[chicken chop]

Stumble upon this forum and after seeing the beautiful photo, I decided to do the remote control test if my camera(Fujifilm E900) can do IR. I managed to see the little pink light and happily went to buy a Hoya R72 filter. Waited for a few days for the sunny weather but....

At last this morning is a bit sunny so took a few shots around my neighbourhood. PP it and now post here, Please give me some advise as to improve my shots. Thanks in advance!

[teerex]

Hi chicken chop,

Welcome to the forum.

I suggest that you post one or two of your out of cam unproceccesed photo so that the guys here can see and compare with your processed ones. That way, it would be easier for them to advise or give you some tips.

For a start, I would say your posted photos are a bit too soft and the second one OOF. Looks like you've got your CWB set OK.

We're having an outing tomorrow, join us if you can. Come and meet the friendly guys who are always willing to share.

The Outing Thread is Here

[teerex]

Let's take your second photo for discussioon. My opinions only, not neccessary correct or to every individual's preference.

I prefer the colors of the foliage to be less magenta against the blue sky and a bit more sharpness in the overall photo.

I did a little pp on your posted photo and this is what I got. May not be to you liking, but just to illustrate that you can have a slightly different photo by further pp.

I whitened the foliage and shifted the blue tint of the sky a little and sharpened the overall photo slightly.

My attempt


Yours

[chicken chop]

Here the original without pp


I am not only new to IR photos but I am also new to photoshop Took a long time to figure out how to initate the channel mixer. So I've only do autocontrast & change the setting through channel mixer.

Originally Posted by teerex Let's take your second photo for discussioon. My opinions only, not neccessary correct or to every individual's preference. I prefer the colors of the foliage to be less magenta against the blue sky and a bit more sharpness in the overall photo. I did a little pp on your posted photo and this is what I got. May not be to you liking, but just to illustrate that you can have a slightly different photo by further pp. I whitened the foliage and shifted the blue tint of the sky a little and sharpened the overall photo slightly. My attempt

Thanks for correcting the photo, seem like there's more step to PP the photo other then the standard Red channel/Blue channel?

[chicken chop]

Here the original without pp


I am not only new to IR photos but I am also new to photoshop Took a long time to figure out how to initate the channel mixer. So I've only do autocontrast & change the setting through channel mixer.

Originally Posted by teerex Let's take your second photo for discussioon. My opinions only, not neccessary correct or to every individual's preference. I prefer the colors of the foliage to be less magenta against the blue sky and a bit more sharpness in the overall photo. I did a little pp on your posted photo and this is what I got. May not be to you liking, but just to illustrate that you can have a slightly different photo by further pp. I whitened the foliage and shifted the blue tint of the sky a little and sharpened the overall photo slightly. My attempt

Thanks for correcting the photo, seem like there's more step to PP the photo other then the standard Red channel/Blue channel?

[Francis247]

Originally Posted by chicken chop Here the original without pp I am not only new to IR photos but I am also new to photoshop Took a long time to figure out how to initate the channel mixer. So I've only do autocontrast & change the setting through channel mixer. Thanks for correcting the photo, seem like there's more step to PP the photo other then the standard Red channel/Blue channel?

Hi there,

No problem at all, I was at your stage a few months ago, after a few more time of playing around with IR and Photoshop, you will get the hang of it.

Anyway, besides Red/Blue Channel swapping, my usual practice is to tweak the Level, then Hue/Saturation, some time Replace colour and Brightness/Contrast. Maybe you can try watching this clip from LifePixel as posted in this thread. Hope that it helps.

[chicken chop]

Hi! Guys Since it was quite sunny when I knock off from work so I've made a 2nd attempt and took this photo. Sorry it was blur because I didn't have a tripod with me pls give me some advise

My 2nd attempt



How can I make the sky(only the sky) more blue without turning the tree blue?

The original copy



Thankyou!

[teerex]

I took the liberty to play with your picture. Here is the result, don't know if it's your taste or what you want.

I was able to get the trees white and the sky blue from your unprocessed picture. I used layer masking to get the result. Let me know your opinion.

Strange. I keep wondering why the portion of the building above the trees are different from the rest. The difference is very prominent in your unprocessed picture too.

[chicken chop]

Originally Posted by teerex I took the liberty to play with your picture. Here is the result, don't know if it's your taste or what you want. I was able to get the trees white and the sky blue from your unprocessed picture. I used layer masking to get the result. Let me know your opinion. Strange. I keep wondering why the portion of the building above the trees are different from the rest. The difference is very prominent in your unprocessed picture too.

Layer masking?? Does that means I've to create several layer and change the color of a different area on each level?
Learn something new today, will read up on layer masking.Thanks.

There's another building near the building I shoot, that prominent area is the shadow of that building.


Will make another attempt soon...

[teerex]

Yes that right, use different layers to process them individually.

You may want to try to set your CWB again for your next attempt. Your out of cam pictures are a tad too brown for R72, they look more like shot with the Cokin P007 IR filter.

[chicken chop]

Originally Posted by teerex Yes that right, use different layers to process them individually. You may want to try to set your CWB again for your next attempt. Your out of cam pictures are a tad too brown for R72, they look more like shot with the Cokin P007 IR filter.

Will it have to do becos I didnt set my F-stop to f8?? Cause my camera WB setting are often under when I set to more the f5.6.

[teerex]

Originally Posted by chicken chop Will it have to do becos I didnt set my F-stop to f8?? Cause my camera WB setting are often under when I set to more the f5.6.

If under at f/5.6, can try to +ev. For the D70, IR shots are usually done with +0.7ev to +1.0ev. If you're using a tripod, remember to cover your view finder when shooting. It makes a lot of difference to the results.

For your post processing you may want to try a quicker and easier method by using Quick Mask. Works too.


Here's to share what little I know.a before and after pp shot, not a good one.. I think I may have overdone the sky, too much Cyan. This is done with Quick Mask on the sky, then used replace color option.

[cerebrus]

Originally Posted by teerex Strange. I keep wondering why the portion of the building above the trees are different from the rest. The difference is very prominent in your unprocessed picture too.

OT:
Its the angle of the sun. The top right portion of the trees are blown, so the sun should be shining from that direction, above and to the right of chicken chop. The building is curved, so part of it is hidden from the direct rays of the sun. Also, there could be a taller building slightly behind and to the right of chicken chop when he took the picture, so that could also cast a shadow. I have had this problem before, when a cloud covers part of the scene.

It was nice and bright when I was setting this up, then the cloud moved in while I was taking it.