When I think of woodland photography, I tend to think of soft pastel colours and trees shrouded in a thin veil of mist in Autumn. But having recently been bitten (I think this is the fourth time) by the infrared bug, I’m finding the recent sunny days we are enjoying perfect.
I took this shot yesterday whilst out walking along the canal near to home. The woodland here is extremely limited but when the conditions are right, and you are shooting in infrared, it takes on a new beauty.
The image is a handheld exposure using my recently converted infrared Fuji X-T2. I used the Fuji 18-135 which appears to be a particularly good lens for using with an infrared camera. It doesn’t suffer from sever hot spots like a few of the other Fuji lenses do. The exposure was handheld at 1/40” at f/11.0 and ISO400.
For the processing, I made the conversion to black and white using Exposure X5. If you would like to know more about how I do this, I’ve published an article describing my typical workflow for infrared images.
I hope you like the image and have a great weekend.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Hi Robin
Charming wood, thank you for sharing! Doing infrared means you are still in quarantine? 😉
Stay healthy! Over here in Switzerland, we have had substantial easing of the measures
against the virus, which translated into more cases: Imagine, there seems to be a large proportion
among inhabitans, who simply have to dance and feast on evenings, clubs are full of them,
including aerosoles and so on…
How does the software you mentioned in your Workflow For Infrared (Exposure X5) handle
white balance? I use Nikon 800e modified to 550nm. Converting with Adobe DNG Converter
to get more play on the WB-scale does not help. It could be, that 550nm just is not suitable,
maybe there is a different reason (I tried more than one recipe on Internet, to no avail).
I did not want to buy yet another software, I want to learn Photoshop and be done, spending
my time with taking photographs, but here I am: Is Exposure X5 better at it than Photoshop?
I would be thankful, should Exposure X5 be the solution.
Best regards,
Robert
Hi Robert,
Sorry about the slow reply. I’ve only just noticed the message. For some reason, I didn’t get the email advising a comment had been left.
I haven’t done any work with a 550nm conversion but I can imagine it has a lot more colour in the file than my 665nm because it covers more of the visible spectrum. When I use the white balance in Exposure X5 I get reasonable results (but not as good as Capture One).
My workflow is also different from what I think you want to achieve. I like to use Capture One as my RAW converter (although you could use Exposure X5). I then go to Photoshop where I will use Exposure X5 as a plug-in to adjust a new layer. I could, of course, do everything in Exposure X5 because it’s very capable but Photoshop is better for things like removing unwanted objects and very detailed repairs. It’s really what suits you best.
I would suggest downloading the trial of Exposure to see if it fits with your workflow and if you get good results from the 550nm files. You may find you love it or you may hate it. At least you could then make a decision as the best way forward.
Hi Robin
Thank you for your reply. You are of course further in your workflow and yours is different from mine, which doesn‘t make it any easier. I was trying to tune the start of the workflow by widening the possibilities to change WB. I am a bit frustrated, that converting in DNG Converter does not give me more room for WB tuning, inspite the various fora promises to do exactly this. I hoped this would make my workflow quicker, with less steps. Maybe it has to do with my IR filter. When I put a stronger filter (720nm) on the lens, everything is fine and files look as I want and expect them.
I discovered, that false colours are not my „cuppa of tea“, and I do not use them, so the wider possibilities of my 550nm filter turned against me. Ah well, life…
Take care and stay healthy!
Robert
Hi Robert, I think your best option is to probably use 720nm filters on your lenses.