The recent club portrait workshop -- infrared

Thanks Bill for passing this along!

Hi Lisa, Thought the club might be interested in the following.

At the recent club portrait workshop I experimented with my infrared camera. For those of you who don't know, infrared radiation is invisible to humans and occupies that part of the radiation spectrum just beyond the visible. It is technically referred to as the "near infrared," though most articles on the subject simply use the term "infrared."

The first photo was taken in color of Tommy Tomlin at the workshop using the 2-light setup.


The second is the same photo converted to black and white.


The third photo was taken through the 072 infrared filter.


As you can see the black dye in the hat Tommy was wearing is transparent to infrared radiation except for one small band which must have been dyed with a different black dye. You can also see how the facial features were smoothed and blemishes eliminated by the use of infrared.

Tommy is probably the wrong model for this treatment, but you can imagine how it would improve pictures of "women of a certain age." This is also the reason that many wedding photographers use infrared to create flattering pictures of the bride.

If you want more information on infrared photography, be sure to attend the Summer NECCC Conference at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst from July 16-18, 2010, where I will be presenting my lecture entitled "Beyond Human Vision."

For more information go to http://www.neccc.org/ and click on the "Next Conference" tab along the left side.

Best regards, Bill