Digital Infrared Photography Photo Workshop

Chapter 4. CAPTURING SPECIFIC SUBJECTS

Opportunities for IR photography are all around us. They are limited only by the imagination. IR enables you to create unique and beautiful images using subjects that might not be as powerful when photographed using the visible spectrum. IR allows you to photograph just about anything in a new and creative way. It's fun to imagine and explore all the possibilities, and then implement your ideas.

In this chapter, I address specific subject types such as architecture, foliage, water, and the sky, with an emphasis on how each responds to IR light. People make fascinating subjects in IR as well, and I show you how to use them in your compositions. I also cover several methods to use when photographing birds and other animals to successfully capture them in IR.

Your IR photography can be inspiring when you nurture the themes that emerge in your images. To do this, start building bodies of work, such as portfolios, adding to them and conceiving new projects along the way.

Figure 4-1. ABOUT THIS PHOTO This gazebo overlooks Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, Florida. The texture of the wooden structure and surrounding foliage makes a compelling subject in IR. Photographed with an IR-converted compact camera.

There is always a different technique you can use, another time of year for your favorite subject, or new conditions to shoot under; this will keep a subject ...