Inside Photoshop

Create splendid infrared images with a simple mix

Inside Photoshop

Infrared photography is great for bringing out the mystery and intrigue in a given subject. In Figure A, you can see an image of a park shot in infrared. In regular black and white, this picture wouldn’t be very remarkable, but in infrared, it has a spooky, surreal quality that catches your attention. However, you don’t necessarily need to purchase expensive infrared lenses for your camera in order to achieve this effect. With an understanding of infrared photography and a little channel mixing in Photoshop, you can easily simulate the look of an infrared photo.

Figure A:
Article figure image

Infrared photography

Before digital cameras, you had to use special film that required special processing if you wanted to try traditional infrared photography. In addition, you couldn’t mix infrared shots with normal shots. With digital photography, all you need for infrared is your trusty camera and an infrared filter for your lens.

Most conventional and digital cameras take pictures of visible light. However, when you add an infrared filter, you enable a camera to use the light beyond the visible spectrum-the longer-wavelength light that our eyes don’t normally see. The results are different from what we normally see, as illustrated by the white[…]


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