I N TO T H E R E D By
Peter Wells ARPS CPAGB BPE3 EFIAP Like most photographers I often found my self revisiting places I had been to before and taking essentially the same images as I had previously taken. I had read much about infra red photography and thought it might allow me to retake some shots, but from a totally new perspective. In this brief article I will hopefully whet the readers appetite for taking the plunge and at least trying out this technique. Like many more technical subjects Infra Red is often shrouded in mystery but in reality it is very easy to get into and the results can be really interesting and “different”.
In Chatsworth Grounds I don’t propose to get into the technical ins and outs but suffice it to say that our eyesight and “normal” photography centres around seeing the world with the visible part of the light spectrum. With IR however we see the world using a different part of the spectrum using only IR light which we cannot see with the naked eye. There are two main approaches to IR photography, both very different. The first requires the use of a very dark red R72 filter (about £45) attached to the front of the lens. This may sound simple but has many drawbacks. As the filter is so dark it is often very difficult to see your subject. You will probably have to compose your image before fitting the filter and then allow for the fact that the amount of light cut out by the IR filter means you must use a very long exposure and hence a tripod. September2021 Volume 6 Number 6
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