frustrated at ir. some pictures and questions.

[isaac12345]

hi all,

am new to the world of ir (after being inspired by many photos in this forum!!). this is my first time posting my ir pictures, and i have some queries/frustrations to voice, hope all the pros here can help me out

since i'm new i decided to just take some test shots then try my hand at post processing, but i've been very frustrated with my results. the following are taken with a elp filter-modified d70 with 18-55 kit lens, custom white balance set to a patch of grass in the sun, and taken during the afternoon with lots of good bright sunshine.

i then followed online instructions on how to post-process, starting with the sticky in this forum, to even a .pdf sent to me by fellow c'ser fatigue. basically channel swapping, auto levels, and tweaking of saturation. i daresay i followed the instructions diligently, with my own discretion at tweaking saturation/hue and luminance and colour intensities to get as close as i can to my desired result. the best i could do are the following processed pictures:

1.

2.

3.

4.

ok la i quite like the colours i can get above. but i am far from satisfied with these results. the colours seem right but just do not 'pop'. something i'd like to achieve is the colours of the following picture, taken by fellow c'ser dexpense with his own camera also modded with an elp filter:

have noted that my photos are much 'duller' and 'darker' than my desired photo shown above. perhaps this is the reason why the colours in mine do not 'pop'?

if so, then what could possibly be wrong/lacking in my post processing, that makes the difference between dexpense's pic and my attempts?

am very frustrated... someone please help!!!! thanks!

 

[jungsangchoe]

i actually like your pictures... do you not like them?

 

[isaac12345]

haha thanks a lot jung! yea actually i quite like them.. just not fully satisfied i guess.. somehow the colours of dexpense's pictures strongly appeal to me, and knowing that i can get those colours (which appeal to me) makes me frustrated because no matter how hard i try to pp i cant seem to reach that extra step.. thanks for your comment though

 

[jungsangchoe]

dont give up bro.. not many ppl like my pics too.. but i enjoy the colours
feel free to look up my lil portfolio.
will pm u

 

[mousedeers]

#3 and #4 images are the right colors from the ELP filter. What you need is go to the Selective color to adjust the neutral, yellow and red u will get the golden leaves.

 

[teddyrised]

IMHO, your infrared photos look just fine. Some IR photos don't need the colours to pop to be beautiful, you know. In fact, I have a feeling that the yellow channel in the 'target photo' you've posted seems a bit too saturated for my personal preference.

 

[geekbrains]

Dude, your pictures are good! Just follow the instructions as given by mousedeers and you're all set to go. I for one prefer the pictures straight out of the camera (before channel swap) with the sky being brownish naturally due to ELP. In most cases, a simple Channel Swap would suffice and I'm not a big fan of golden leaves

 

[lizardojm]

Your photos has potentials. If this is the first time you tried IR then you have done well. Later, you will learn how you can 'pop' those colours. All you need to do is shoot, shoot and should I say shoot. Learn to to play around with the hue/sat on all channels as well as the "S-curve" in levels. Try also different times of the day. I have seen how early morning IR is very different in other time of the day. Don't give up...

 

[isaac12345]

hey thanks EVERYONE!!!! you guys are of great help and are really encouraging!! haha and stop assuming i'll give up cos i never planned to and i WONT yes i'll definitely go and and shoot shoot shoot more! then try pp around again to get desired results! and @lizardojm yea i heard about diff times of the day, i plan to try that soon! maybe angle of sunlight also i think..

if got anymore tips on how to make the leaves THIS golden (while keeping the sky clear/blue) please post and let me know ok! ir photography very varied on personal tastes.. and somehow the 'popping' yellow leaves and clear/blue/grey sky appeals a lot to me..tell me if there's anymore tips on getting this

 

[teddyrised]

hey thanks EVERYONE!!!! you guys are of great help and are really encouraging!! haha and stop assuming i'll give up cos i never planned to and i WONT yes i'll definitely go and and shoot shoot shoot more! then try pp around again to get desired results! and @lizardojm yea i heard about diff times of the day, i plan to try that soon! maybe angle of sunlight also i think..

if got anymore tips on how to make the leaves THIS golden (while keeping the sky clear/blue) please post and let me know ok! ir photography very varied on personal tastes.. and somehow the 'popping' yellow leaves and clear/blue/grey sky appeals a lot to me..tell me if there's anymore tips on getting this

You can apply an adjustment layer for the saturation in photoshop, and then specifically pump up the yellow channel and slightly desaturate the other colours (of course, don't desaturate the blue/cyan channels if you want to keep the blue sky).

 

[happyranchu]

i think you can try shooting during a sunny day. as you can see the colour came out good at area that have sunlight.

 

[LuckyTiangco]

Hi Isaac kabayan,
I'm also new to IR.I haven't got the correct white balanced and I haven't achieved this kind of golden leaves on my IR pictures.Please let me know if you like this.What I have done on this pictures is only 2 simple steps.

 

[dexpense]

try this further selective color adjustment, as quoted from mouserdeers, i read from his guilin IR thread

.......>>
go to the image-adjustments-selective color-
click colors: red, adjust cyan=-50, magenta=0 yellow=0 black=0
click colors: yellow, adjust cyan=-50, magenta=+25 yellow=0 black=0
click colors: neutrals, adjust cyan=0, magenta=0 yellow=0 black=+25
.....>>

Actually for ur image #03, i did an overall adjustment for hue/saturation under MASTER, try hue +10 & saturation +50. See if the yellow colors is 'pop' enough for u

 

[night86mare]

i don't quite like the example of the photo you think is good.

anyways, you can bump the exposure up a notch, about half stop would be good.