How To Custom White Balance In Camera A 590nm Filter

I recently decided to upgrade from my electric current infrared-converted Nikon D7100 to a Nikon D7200, taking advantage of Kolari Vision's Anti-Cogitating coated glass (article to follow). In the process, I once over again considered my filter choices. Although I had some decent results from a 665nm filter from some other infrared conversion house, I was non satisfied with the overall results and had Kolari Vision bandy the 665nm out and install a 720nm filter. I always idea the 720nm filter provided the all-time overall residual of bright white vegetation and false colour processing capabilities, merely acknowledge suffering from occasional bouts of ICE – Infrared Colour Envy. Some of the photos taken with the 590nm filter are… well… rather gaudy. But I take besides come across some that are jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

I have occasionally found ways to boost the false colors of my 720nm photos and have seen an extra splash of colour from others using the same filter. Before settling on the 720nm filter (once again), I decided to challenge my preexisting notions regarding the 720nm's ability to process faux colors. Hence the question: Is it possible to consistently and reliably coax more colour from my 720nm IR filter?

Table of Contents

1) Background

My current D7100 / Kolari Vision 720nm IR filter combination provides great results, but the false colors are rather limited, apart from the blues. The series below is representative of my standard 720nm processing technique.

RAW File With Custom Lightroom Profile:

Here is the prototype later using my False Color Preset in Photoshop:

Hither are the settings I used to create this image:

Channel Mixer Properties — Channel Mixer Backdrop

As you can see below, pushing the Yellow Slider in the Hue/Saturation Control does very little to the color of the vegetation. Admittedly, I could change the White Balance setting to increment the yellow saturation, but I happen to like this look:

Standard 720nm Process - Yellows Pushed To Max — Standard 720nm Procedure – Yellows Pushed To Max

Hither is the concluding image after a layer of SilverEfex using the Luminosity Blend Mode in Photoshop. I find this await quite highly-seasoned for most of my IR photography:

two) Infrared Filter Choice

As you can see from Kolari Vision's filter guide (other conversion companies' filter examples are like), fans of brightly colored IR photos will likely opt for the 590nm. At that place is picayune to propose the 720nm might also yield some of the same splashy colors as the 590nm filter. These charts also evidence the relative ease of getting good whites out of any of the filter choices (due east.g. "How To Make Your 590nm Super Color Filter Images Look Like They Were Taken With A 720nm Filter"):

Charts such as the one higher up should e'er be considered equally general guides. Unlike vegetation reacts differently to IR light. In some cases, it is nearly incommunicable to touch on the color of some vegetation, even after desaturating and boosting the luminance associated with the yellow slider in Photoshop'south Hue/Saturation Control. If you lot have taken IR photos of evergreens, yous know what I mean.

Of form, the beauty of whatever IR filter lies in the eyes of the beholder, particularly if he/she is paying for the conversion. Each IR filter represents a trade-off (more false color options / duller whites or brighter whites / less false color options). The play tricks is finding out how to produce the widest latitude of results for the IR filter of your choice and speedily conform your IR workflow process as needed.

iii) IR Frustrations and Challenges

Since I began writing for Photography Life, I accept received a few hundred emails from those experimenting with IR photography (including a few from our founder, who later ended up converting his Nikon D800E). Many expressed frustrations with white residue settings, post-processing techniques, lack of information about a lens' IR performance, and achieving consistent results nether varying conditions. The post-processing frustrations ofttimes arise because of the subtleties of working with IR images. You can make some adequately sizable changes in using the Contrast, Vibrance, Blacks, Whites, and other slider controls in Lightroom and Photoshop, without affecting a photo very much. But even small changes in White Balance or Photoshop'due south Channel Mixer settings (the two near critical settings for IR processing) can have huge impacts on the concluding image.

As a reminder, your specific IR results will vary based on a combination of:

Individual camera make/model
Camera sensor
Infrared filter wavelength
Infrared filter manufacturer (there may be variations between vendors)
Whether you shoot RAW or JPEG
Your camera's processing engine
Lens used (unlike lenses may react differently to IR light)
Type of vegetation and its ability to reflect IR light
White balance settings
Quality, combination, and wavelengths of infrared and visible light
The steps and sequencing of your IR processing workflow

Considering the White Rest and Photoshop's Aqueduct Mixer settings work with 1 some other and very minor changes can have huge impacts, finding a combination of settings (outside the standard Crimson/Blueish Aqueduct Mixer Swap and standard White Balance) that produce desirable results can be challenging and fourth dimension-consuming. Unfortunately, yous cannot judge the results of changing these settings (at least not without some practice) until you have completed your IR processing routine.

Given some people'due south frustrations with IR processing, it is not surprising in one case they have made their filter selection, they develop a set up routine for processing IR images within a given range of false color choices (per the "Selecting a Filter" guidelines) and accept the inherent trade-offs depicted by the IR conversion companies' filter guides. I suspect few but the die-hard IR enthusiasts go back and tinker with a formula once they have found one delivering consistent results.

I use a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop to procedure IR photos and rely heavily on Presets and Actions considering they tin significantly speed image processing and brand it easier to experiment. I strongly advise saving Photographic camera Profiles, White Balance, Channel Mixer, Hue/Saturation, and other settings once you discover some that work for you. Once y'all have these various settings stored, you can make small-scale changes to understand how each affects the overall image quality. And when you notice a new variation? Save it as new Preset and incorporate it into some other Activity.

4) Turning On The 720nm'south Color

Back to the question at hand: Is it possible to consistently and reliably coax more color from my 720nm IR filter?
The short answer is: yeah. The slightly longer answer is: aye, but it may take some experimentation on your part to develop a consequent formula yielding the results shown below for your specific camera and IR filter.

4.1) The Starting Point – White Residual

The first pace is shooting in RAW and having a Solid White residual setting in your photographic camera. The next step is creating a White Balance setting in Lightroom with enough latitude to mimic the White Balance setting in your RAW file (assuming yous are using Lightroom for managing your photos). I covered this in a previous article on mail-processing infrared photographs.

4.2) The Base Image

Post-obit are the Lightroom settings used to create what I refer to as my "base" image for maximizing the color capabilities of my 720nm IR filter:

I nicknamed this consequence "Southwest":

I am confident if you lot can process your RAW file to look similar to this 1, yous tin accommodate it to achieve the results in iv.3. I know because one of our readers sent me a JPEG file, which I was able to tweak to look fairly close to my Southwest photo. I simply ran my other Photoshop actions and the resultant images looked quite close to those below.

4.3) Modifying The Base Image

The post-obit paradigm was created past running my Channel Mixer settings (to a higher place) with some Hue/Saturation presets in a unmarried action against the Southwest base image. I refer to this ane as the "720nm Goldie" because information technology looks very similar to the results from the 590nm Goldie filter:

I created this image, "Cotton wool Processed," by taking the Southwest epitome and applying another Hue/Saturation preset. This is another popular wait produced past the 590nm filter:

I created the terminal image, "Sour Apple," by taking 720 Goldie and applying another Hue/Saturation preset. I don't see this style quite as oft, simply some 590nm photos characteristic some very pleasant green tones:

Thus with a few Presets and clicks, I am able to procedure the base of operations image in many different means, limited merely by how much fourth dimension I choose to tinker with each photo.

4.3) Noise

You lot always need to go along an eye on racket when you start swapping colors and changing hue and saturation. I looked at the histograms and zoomed in quite often to make up one's mind if any of the associated changes were negatively impacting photo quality. I was surprised to find this technique did non increment racket levels. Nor did I do any serious damage to the histograms. I clipped some colors, just with infrared processing, I practise non typically worry about it. I compared the image quality results with those produced by my standard 720nm processing technique and noticed fiddling if whatsoever departure.

5) Summary

Can the 720nm filter mimic the 590nm completely? No. The 590nm filter will produce different results based on it allowing additional visible light to reach the sensor. The 590nm filter volition too handle portrait photography much better than the 720nm filter. Tin can the 720nm filter mimic some of the results you oftentimes see with the 590nm filter? In some cases, the 720nm filter will come up quite close. Volition this technique work for all IR photos? Probably non, simply it may piece of work for some.

If you similar the traditional simulated color processing results of the 720nm filter but have an occasional want to add an extra dose of color to your IR photos, the technique outlined can assist, particularly if you are willing to experiment and have some patience.

half-dozen) Some Other Examples

Post-obit are a variety of photos I processed and modified using the technique above. As you tin meet, the 720nm is capable of producing significant simulated colors: