Infrared With Canon EOS 450D - Part 2

I have noticed that the most popular entry page to my blog is my post on infrared photography with the Canon EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi in the US). I have also been asked via email and blog comments various questions on this topic so I thought I would write some follow up posts on the subject.

I am by no means an expert in this subject but will attempt to cover the steps I take when shooting infrared photographs using the 450D.

Infrared photography is a lot harder on the Canon EOS 450DCanon 450D than on my Canon Powershot S2 point and shoot. This is mainly due to the 450D having a factory fitted IR cut filter which reduces the infrared light entering the camera. Because of this, slower shutter speeds are required to allow the smaller amount of infrared light entering the camera to show up.

Here is a step-by-step guide of how I take IR photos using a dSLR.

1. Setup a tripod and the camera then compose a shot with AF switched on. Depress the shutter release button half way so that it automatically focuses then release

2. Attach the infrared filter with the lens AF still in the On position - This reduces the movement on the focusing ring when screwing on the filter as it is locked when the AF is switched on

3. Remove viewfinder eye piece from the back of the camera (this just slides off upwards) and attach the rubber cover that is on the neck strap. This will prevent additional light entering via the viewfinder

4. Switch the AF on the lens to the Off position as the camera will not be able to auto focus with the filter attached and we have already composed and focused the shot

5. Set the camera to M (manual) mode then adjust the settings for shutter speed and aperture and take some test shots until you are happy with the amount of light in the shot. Once enough light is coming through you will notice that the shots are very orange or red in colour. That is nothing to worry about - we will rectify this in the next steps

6. With the same camera settings and the filter still attached you will need to take a photograph of something completely white. A white sheet of paper held in front of the camera for the duration of the exposure will do the job fine

7. Press Menu on the camera and go to Custom WB then press Set. The photo that you just took of the white sheet of paper should appear so press Set again to confirm. You may get a warning stating that the 'Correct WB may not be obtained with the selected image' - Just override this and select OK then exit the menu

8. Press the WB button on the back of the camera and select Custom

9. Now you are ready to take some shots. If you have a remote or cable release then use it to avoid any camera shake when you press the shutter release. If not then just set the auto timer to 2 or 5 seconds so that you are not touching the camera when the shot is taken.

10. You now have the perfect shot!

This will still involve a lot of trial and error but I've found it to be a good basis. You can also substitute different colours for the custom white balance (other than white) to get various results.

The example infrared shots below were taken with the standard 19 - 55mm kit lens and a 58mm Kood infrared filter.

Here is the shot without the filter. Pretty boring!



Here is the IR shot straight from the camera - Taken using 30 second exposure, an aperture of f/4.5 and ISO set to 100.



Here is the same image again but with some post processing I have swapped the red and blue channels (something which seems to improve infrared shots taken on the 450D). I have also carried out some manual colour correction to make the grass and shrubs look lighter and increased the hue to brighten up the sky.



Here is another example shot using the same camera settings and post processing methods.



Part 1 of this post can be found here and I will also soon publish Part 3 where I will cover the common questions which I have been asked so far.