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Types of Infrared Cameras

I was in Atlanta teaching a class on it, and here we've got some samples of both my canon and the pen to the my standard walk around cameras that I use are this Olympus Pan, the pl five and the kin in power shot G 15. Both cameras, both raw shooters both give me great files to work with both or manual. Both do bracketing. They're both nice cameras. I enjoy them both. This one converted. I used a what's known as an enhanced color conversion. So you're going to see that this is a standard conversion. Neither one of them are using what's known as a super conversion. Actually, before I show, these probably show you the different ways you can convert in. That way, you'll understand mawr of when I show these samples. But, um, so they have two different ways of converting the camera, and they have two very different looks to the imprint. But before we do that, let's actually come up here, and I'm talking about the filter comparisons and this is great because I don't own all the different conv...

ersion options. This is a sample from those folks at life pixel not live pixel, but life pixel l I f e pixel dot com So here we have their folklore shot there again. There they sell these conversions. I think they do an excellent job for quality and speed and cost. They're all excellent. So again, I don't have any association with them in terms of getting a kickback. This is a black and white conversion, a standard one, and I think, and then this is using that faux black and white just so you can compare what is taking place. Just as I was doing with that palm tree. This is what they call their a deep black and white conversion. It is only black and white. It doesn't have a color aspect to it. It's the most dramatic in terms of the exaggeration of the difference between foliage and sky. So it's beautiful. If you were a wedding shooter where you don't want to process images, then this may be a great conversion. A lot of wedding shooters do it because you don't want a process right. You want to shoot the shot and be done with it. So this is beautiful, dramatic. You're done when you go to the standard IR conversion, you'll notice that it has a little bit of color, and that's keeping this. I and we go into hue saturation and just exaggerated so you can see that it has colors in it. The rainbow is coming up because this is just a heavily J peg image from their website, so you don't get that kind of rainbow. But you do get the CPS in the science what you're seeing here, that standard conversion. Um, I like because even that subtle difference of cool toe warm will allow you to change that in light room or a CR so you have it now a distinction between the different areas of your file, based upon whether it's foliage, skin tone or sky things like that. The challenges. As an example, I I had this camera converted using the standard standard conversion and how this sensor works. With that conversion, it's be got very, very little color in it. Not it doesn't even have this much color, and it's pretty much a straight sepia, even using a custom white balance, which is fine. It gives me a beautiful drama, but it doesn't have that. I can't crank up the model's hair. As you saw on that one. It doesn't have that range built into it. And that's part of the camera and sensor. The exact one conversion on the cannon will have more color. Associate it with the standard conversion. So one I wouldn't use the deep black and white because it doesn't give me any range. And now what I did is once I had this one converted. I've actually been using the enhanced color, and that's what this one is here. So you'll be seeing examples from both of those when we show in just a little bit myself out in the field. I'm shooting here in Seattle, so I'm using all three of these cameras. This was also a standard conversion my SLR here, the Nikon D 40 on older Nikon, and that is a standard conversion and also much like the Olympus, has very little color into it in the capture. So again, I'm tending now to do what they call enhanced color. When I recommended, you'll notice that it has a lot more differentiation between the foliage in the sky at its disposal. I can customize. This is you're going to see in white balance. Why can reshape in camera to make that mawr gold orm or brown in terms of the sky? So that latitude is part of the white balance scenario that's taking place. But by having this distinction between the hair on the model in the skin or sky and foliage, I just have a lot more latitude in tweaking the file. When we get into, like many CR as you're going to see, it just gives me a dramatic aspect of it, even if I'm going to a straight black and white conversion with the file, and I'm not going to use any color, the fact that I can tell light room or adobe camera or photo shop, take browns and take them down and take greens and lighten them up. I can exaggerate as much as I want the tonal range on the front of the file, the other thing, and this right here, this is doing a swap of the color just so you can see it. This is one of the ways of doing that blue sky that we're going to deal with this afternoon. You may go, what is going to do A little tease, but why a levels adjustment is not changing the levels but changing color. It's very actually, for those of you know what levels do. There's no reason why that should be taking place. I'll give you go ahead. I'm deking out here. We'll just give you a little teaser for this afternoon on why it's what's going on here because it's actually quite cool. Basic. One of the nice things about the levels adjustment layer down here is not only what you traditionally think of his levels. This is what a code. The input levels, these air the output levels down here. And this is used to actually compress the tonal range as opposed to when you use this, It actually clips the tonal range of your image down here, what they call the output. And let's actually do one other thing here because where were confusing, we'll go back to its. The normal blend mode is that when you come over here, you're compressed. You're actually clipping tonal ranges. When you do it. Normal levels adjustment, but we use the output levels that actually compresses the tonal range. It doesn't throw things away. When I move this, it compresses everything into that tunnel range that you're working with. So what's light? I can make 3/ gray because I'm compressing that tonal range. These outputs sliders. If we swapped them completely from what was white to black, black, toe white, you end up with doing a regular in version of the file, which is negative and creepy and maybe what you're going for, but probably not sellable as a wedding shot. But the cool thing is, here you'll notice that when I swapped atonality, I also swapped the colors. So what was the brown sky is now a nice blue sky. Well, that's why God made blend modes, right Blend modes would allow it. I don't want you to do everything over here looking at our blend modes. I would like you just to use either color or hue as part of this conversion. So just do Hugh. In other words, you only have permission to change one aspect, not everything. When I inverted everything, you only get a chance to use the inverted Hugh and you get an instantaneous, um, flipping of our skies. So that is one of the ways of doing a conversion to get our wonderful blue skies for doing the work That was a teaser for this afternoon. That's one of the little tips. Anyway, I die. Crest. This right here is our super color and super color conversion. Um, from life pixel is really unique because of how it's able to maintain color in the file. And yet it being that color is coming from the infrared, a portion of the spectrum. So super color is neat. It's dramatic, it's flashy, it's sexy. But if you were to squint and now look at the say the, uh, trees versus the sky, you don't have the contrast of what you'd get in what we normally think of infrared. We're going. This is what we normally think of his infrared, that sort of contrast between Philip and Sky. And now it's medium grey and medium grey. So you're forced. Even though you get thes dramatic psychedelic Tim Burton esque worlds with super infrared, you're not getting what I shoot. Infrared four, which is the dramatic distinction between full Aegean Sky is an example, so but you do have because there is that distinction. One you can do dramatic inversion. This in this case we're using the channel mixer to do it in the version. Those are the two methods were gonna be focusing on either doing an inversion of everything in just using color or using the channel mixer to swap channels. You can get the blue sky if you'd like, and you can. Also, because you have such a dramatic distinction between blue and black, blue and cools and warms in the file, you can still go into a low adobe camera, raw or light room and get that dramatic black and white. But you have to manipulate every single image because every single image comes up looking like this. And rarely, very few people use super color like this. So that means you're doing a lot of manipulation. And what you see on the back of your camera looks like this. And it's really hard to judge whether that was a great infrared, because it doesn't have this contrast between the college and the sky that makes sense. Some people love it. It gives them a huge amount of range that the other problem that that, um, having the super color can be is win it transitions from the cools to the warms. You actually get a fringing going on. So if you want to go in there and you want to take that and use that edge distinction between cools and warms, your potential of getting artifacts at that transition as you're yanking the tonal range in different areas is increased. So you're even though you have a lot of creative flexibility by having so much color in there, you actually, in terms of the quality of your resulting image at a pixel level, I'd be really careful. I was shy away from it. Me personally, but there's probably people out in TV land that would say that they love super color, but that's not my favorite. So I used the enhanced color, which is this one right here. And, um, I think it's great. I do have two other ones. That's, um, the super color. They now have a super blue filter, um, conversion, which automatically swaps the channels for you in camera. So this is when you shoot you get this, which again, for me is a little Mickey Mouse and you know, let that little let the data, but it does give you blue skies, which is neat, but because you're full edges going yellow. The fact that I've got blue skies and infrared is cool. I'm still gonna have to manipulate every single image and looking in the back of the camera. It's so distracting. It's neat, but you're going to be manipulating every filed. Get that yellow down to something that you can use. It's very easy to go in there and, you know, say, Just take that. You could even do something as I would do here. If you're going to hue saturation, you all know that in hue saturation, you've got this little turkey baster here, right? You can come over here in that turkey baster. When you use that setting, you can just simply grab on any color in the file and drag it down. So Aiken de Saturate, you know, a particular color within Photoshopped simply by clicking and dragging on it. If you didn't know about this little, grab her hand. It's been Photoshopped for 10 years now, and it's very cool and groovy. It's also that something similar is inside of light room in a CR that actually works much better, so we'll get into that. But that name of that super color and, um, super blue filter. This is their full spectrum. As I mentioned before, if you were to get a camera converted so you can shoot color as well as infrared, this is what you would get with a full spectrum shot. And again, you're looking full spectrum, my shadows air. Now back to being dark, I can't see inside the shadows. I would need screw a infrared filter on the top to get that to work. If I was working with an SLR looking through the viewfinder, the world would be Jet black. I wouldn't see through it. I would have to use live view. And that brings up this issue of what camera, which is one of our questions earlier, before what camera would I convert for infrared if you are going to use a ness LR, Um, the benefit of SLR is that you can use whatever lenses you have. You're gonna have the highest possible quality you're going to get probably a greater tonal range just because your sensor sizes they're gonna be typically bigger even than some of the micro 4/3 cameras. Just make sure that it's got a really good live you that you love working with because you'll only be using Live you if you look through here because the infrared filter is behind the shutter behind the mirror and that mirror doesn't kick up until you press the shutter right, the mirror is allowing you to look through the viewfinder That will be the full color world, and that's actually what you're exposing. Teoh. So in a SLR that's been converted for infrared, if you look through it, the world is full color when you to set your exposure. It's based upon the world in full color. And as we can see, the infrared tonal range is completely different than full color, meaning every single time you take a picture, it's inaccurate. It's not exposed correctly, probably going to be doing a lot of bracketing. Or you're gonna be using exposure compensation or you just simply won't be looking around a lot in the scene, right? That's the problem is if I look. If I shoot the palm trees that's bright white in visible light. The palm trees were just his dark or darker than the sky. So if I exposed for the palm trees and take a shot, an infrared. It's gonna be completely blown out. It it it's wrong. Bad yucky is the technical term. It's yucky shooting that. So if you're in live you, though, what's going to go on is the mirror goes up, the light comes through, hits the sensor and you're seeing the processed image. So now you're seeing the world in infrared. When you're in live you, it exposes based upon that light coming through, so you get an accurate exposure. But my point is that you better be comfortable with your live. You. Some live use older and older cameras, either or non existent. That was no live you or the kind of clunky and how they focused in how they worked and just you in general, using live you and bright light. The back of the cameras were such that it's not a pleasurable experience. So I typically, even when I'm using this camera, you'll notice out in the field I will use the viewfinder and I'll use exposure compensation to get my correct exposure. Yes, you haven't discussed focus because I know from prior experience with film infrared, you have the infrared mark you did doesn't exist anymore. That's true there was a little mark in the olden days because that the the portion of the light spectrum and infrared focus is different folks actually at a different point than in visible light. And that's still the case in digital infrared. But you, like you, said in the olden days, which is pretty unique, that that that it was so popular that they would put a mark on the cameras to show where the sweet spot for focusing was for infrared. And it was the little red dot on the on the on the lenses. What takes place now is part of the conversion process. The company will calibrate for whatever you consider your standard lens, so they will compensate for that different focal point as part of the conversion process, which does bring up a good point that you are responsible for focus as well as the exposure when you're working in a DSLR environment because you have removable lenses and that is variable, so as an example, life pixel. If you have ah SLR converted, they will ask you, is part of the process. What is your standard lens? Is it the kit lens that came with it? if you're you know, if you just well depend upon how you're how you're shooting in, what you want to dio what's your walk around? Lens. So here this is my 18 to 200 walk around. And so this was converted for this. So the calibration is part of the conversion process to give me the optimized sharpening of the file. If I'm using variable lenses, then you're gonna want to find Tune. You're sharpening by using manual focus in your camera, or you can actually calibrated inside the camera. Depending upon what camera. You may have the ability to do some fine tuning in camera in the preferences for your camera for focus. But that would depend upon what camera that you have. The pocket cameras that are all in one like this one, which has no ability to change the ah lens on the camera that's built in when it's set and converted its tax sharp throughout because it's just perfect. You know, it's one of the things, and you can even add what you have on here what I dio and that I have over here. I'm gonna get up, but I'll come right back for your camera users. Minute is, I will use extenders for things like my canon that you can get from canon or whatever your manufacturer. So I will get lens converters to extend it to, say, have a greater wide angle or fish eye effect. So I will add lenses on top of that and they, you know, have a little thing so they actually go on and they screw on much like a regular filter. But, um, the calibration is being done based upon this lands, and it works fine with even adding an extender to it. So very, very good question in terms of that, That's another reason why you'll notice that I don't shoot a lot with SLRs just because it's my walk around camera. I'm using it for travel a lot. I can get ridiculously big, large, beautiful files, even with my quote unquote point shoots or the micro 4/3 cameras. Um, and always infrared is usually a secondary camera. So if I have my big boy regular SLR and this one curing around now, I've just kind of defeated my whole purpose of you know what you'll see when I'm when we show videos in a minute. Me laden down with 100 cameras. Any pretty? It's not. I wouldn't recommend. Okay, that being said again, I'll go back and use my friend Vincent as an example. His thought of using a smaller camera to shoot any shot is just anathema. You know, he would rather burn, you know, alive with bamboo underneath his fingernails. Then shoot with a point and shoot. You know, some beautiful documentarian on India or something like that. So they're excellent. Just make sure you're comfortable with your live you and make sure that when you do get it converted, you're telling them what your camera, what lens you're gonna be using for most of it. Excellent. Excellent questions. Here is that camera with what they call the enhanced color version of it. So you can see that the color range inside of it. And this is the default correctly White balance shot coming from my Olympus pan with the standard conversion so very little color inside of that image. It is almost a pure, monochromatic image that there is some. This is the raw file without the custom white balance, which we're going to do, and we may actually do that white balance before we go and show some of the videos, which we may do. This is the image that we're looking at so you can see the full ege in the sky. You're not getting the also that exaggerated difference inside a the standard conversion. That's why I like now I'm leaning towards the enhanced color, which is going to give me the ability to No, I still get that dream, that dramatic range. If you were to use the infrared camera and said it to pure black and white, this is what you're going to get coming from the pen that so this is an infrared camera. But this is why I don't get a black and white conversion, even the so when you get it converted to just shoot black and white, it will be dramatic, black and white. But I like having that ability to manipulate with the image after the fact this is the straight I are shot with no white balance coming from the Canon G 15. And here is the shot coming from the Olympus pen. So you can see again also what the different sensor does based upon, um, having the camera converted. Also, that this one is the enhanced color and this is the standard standard conversion this even in this one, before doing the white balance, you can see that there's Mawr inherent color in it.