40 Breathtaking Examples of Infrared Photography

25.09.2011

There are many types of art photography out there that show a new way of viewing things like infrared photography, micro and macro photography, lomography, light photography, and many others. In this article we will talk about infrared photography, a type of photography that captures the unseen beauty of nature made possible by technology.

What is Infrared Photography?

First we need to know what is infrared. Remember the saying that what you see is just an illusion? That is actually true, and that what you see is the only thing you’re ‘made’ to see. Look above you, you’ll probably see your ceiling. That is because the light that touches its surface is seen by you, called visible light. To give you an idea of the things you can’t see, think of ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays, infrared, microwave, and radio. These compose the electromagnetic spectrum, and only the visible light part is what we can see under naked eye.

Emspectrum

Chart taken from Wikipedia

If you’ll take time to study the chart above you’ll be amazed at how little our eyes can see of our surroundings. We only see a portion of the world as it is, and that’s a good thing. Imagine seeing every wavelength, I think that would be like looking at an old television’s static.

So, the point here is, before you even begin infrared photography you need to have a grasp of what it is you’re doing in order to pass on the knowledge. In infrared photography, you basically take a peek into the unseeable by manipulating your tools. You can either use a standard camera or a digital camera, but alterations and post-processing is needed to achieve a great photo.

In a sense, infrared photography is an attempt to view the world in a different manner, similar to using a microscope to see little life forms or using an x-ray to see through things. Venturing through Flickr I’ve been awed by the amazing world out there that we can’t see, but now can due to advances in technology.

Before the introduction of color photography, photographers used filters and black and white negatives to manipulate the final result, especially when they wanted to achieve infrared photography.

I’m not a photographer nor do I claim I know how to do infrared photography, I am simply so amazed by the process that I thought I’d share this with you. I did some research for people who want to enter infrared photography and found this very in-depth guide by Rob about infrared photography. Tutorial includes how to setup everything up to post-processing. Here is his Flickr page.