40 Incredible Near-Infrared Photos
One of the most charming contrasting color effects you can get in photography is by using infrared. An easy way to understand near-infrared light is to think of it as the color of the rainbow next to red, a color that is invisible to the human eye. But near-infrared is not the same as thermal imaging.
Because everyday objects reflect infrared in proportions that differ sharply from that of visible light, the tonal relationships are wildly unexpected. Such near-infrared techniques used in photography give subjects an exotic, antique look. Green vegetation becomes white, whereas human skin becomes pale and ghostly. The resulting images look alien.
Digital cameras use CCD and other similar sensors to capture infrared images. Although all digital cameras available on the market are sensitive to infrared light, they are equipped with infrared-blocking filters. The main reason for this is that consumer cameras are designed to capture visible light. But sometimes these filters are used together, giving very interesting in-camera effects like false color, wood effects etc.
To start with infrared photography, all you need to have is
- A digital camera that is sensitive to infrared light.
- A visible-light blocking filter (e.g. a Wratten 89B filter)
- Image-editing software, such as Photoshop.
Near-infrared images straight out of the camera do not always look good and are usually not as dramatic and beautiful as normally captured images. Hence, a lot of post-processing is done to enhance these images. Some techniques used in post-processing are equalization, focus shift, small aperture, light leaks, digital false color, halo, etc.
Below, we present a selection of over 40 beautiful infrared images. Some of these images have undergone heavy post-processing, and all of these examples display the names of the photographers, along with links to their websites.
Also take a look at our previous photography articles:
- 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
- 35 Beautiful Examples Of Rain Photography
- 45 Beautiful Motion Blur Photos
- Beautiful Black And White Photos
- Celebration Of Smoke Photography and Smoke Art
The Beauty Of Infrared Photography
NASA
“The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared”.
NASA
“Huge Hi-Res Photo of ‘Infrared Andromeda’ with 1 trillion stars”
Roie Galitz
This photo is titled “The Fisherman”.
NASA
“An infrared image of Saturn’s northern region shows a luminous aurora with the planet’s mottled rings below.”
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Licht
Last Click
Sources and Resources
- High-Speed Infrared Flickr Pool
- Tutorial: Infrared Photo Effect In Photoshop
Simulate the look of infrared photography in Photoshop. - Flickr Pool: Infrared Landscapes
Landscape photography. - Infrared Land- and Cityscapes
A Flickr set, created by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Licht. - Digital Infrared Flickr Album
- Flickr Pool: Digital Infrared
Mostly has images that were shot in the infrared spectrum, not digitally modified to recreate the infrared look and feel. - 7 Inspiring Infrared And HDR Photographers
- Infrared Photography Buzz
“Offering the most comprehensive source of info on digital infrared photography on the net.” This website presents technical info about cameras and accessories used for infrared photography. - Tutorial:Take Infrared Pictures With Your Digital Camera
Shows you how to make a cheap infrared filter for your digital camera out of bits and pieces, such as cardboard rolls, electrical tape, and some black processed and old negatives.
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Jason
January 11th, 2009 9:26 pmJust beautiful! Its a cool technique and tons of fun to look at. Good stuff!
~Jason
Angie
January 11th, 2009 9:26 pmThese look great! Love the shots. Thanks for the collection!
Tom
January 11th, 2009 9:27 pmcant believe this is all done without ps. i love the pic from danielle with the wolf on the right. sm you inspired me today, thank you
Bryce Driesenga
January 11th, 2009 9:43 pmNice collection.
@Tom – Not all is done without Photoshop, though, some are, and photos can turn out very nice without it.
(((~_~))) | Rishee
January 11th, 2009 10:16 pmWOw!……..gr8 Collections……..Loved all :-)
Andris
January 11th, 2009 10:36 pmSome of those are pretty nice shots. Thanx for the collection.
kikeeeeeer
January 11th, 2009 10:46 pmWowwwwwww
Noam
January 11th, 2009 10:47 pmAMAZING!
PP
January 11th, 2009 10:53 pmgood sharing
Bruno
January 12th, 2009 12:30 amWow, that´s a good day start!!!!
DKumar M.
January 12th, 2009 12:41 amAmazing Collection Vailancio… Thanks for sharing :)
Laurence
January 12th, 2009 12:52 amAs a web desiger with a passion for photography I love SM’s occasional dip into the imaging world – great stuff, and thank you!
Tim Holmes
January 12th, 2009 1:41 amReally nice shots….
Might have to haev a play and see if I can get anything as interesting and individual as these. Great article SM.
jens
January 12th, 2009 2:04 amamazing!
Michael K
January 12th, 2009 2:32 amJust beautiful! Those people sure put some work in it.
Michael
Menedżer
alex s
January 12th, 2009 3:17 amI love the last photo. (trazy)
eAi-nEt
January 12th, 2009 3:41 amSo great post , Really Sweeties Pictures Smashing Magazine , Thanks , love it
Jorge
January 12th, 2009 3:54 amIt’s a pity you only include one B&W pictures. Many times the results are far better than color infrared.
The Dude
January 12th, 2009 4:57 amThats a great collection, I love the image by Corrado Borean, it’s looks like an amazing place too! Thanks SM!
Lise
January 12th, 2009 5:12 amGood selection of pictures. Thanks!
Mikey G
January 12th, 2009 7:21 amAwesome – awesome – awesome!
Thanks!
Frog
January 12th, 2009 7:25 amExcellent, try this similar one on LONG EXPOSURES:
20 Long Exposure photographs that won’t fail to inspire
Thanks all, love the site
Martin
January 12th, 2009 8:13 amGreat!
Eddy Munn
January 12th, 2009 8:39 amI’ve seen ‘Gilad’s work before, though I never fully understood how this technique worked.
shasta
January 12th, 2009 10:32 amSome very nice pictures in here, I’d love to try that technique out myself… It’s a shame these filters are so expensive.
Anyway, I still have to mention that I think some of these pictures are ONLY done with post-processing and don’t have anything to do with actually using IR filters. For example: the works of Jernej Verbovsek, G2-Studio Photography or Corrado Borean dont really seem like IR-fotography. Cause first of all, using a IR-filter you need a way longer time of exposure than for a normal photo to allow enough infrared light to get through. Thus it might be difficult to take a picture that captures any moving subjects (like a duck, a waving surface of water, people…) Secondly, leaves and grass reflect infrared light almost to 100%, which is how this great effect of white trees in front of dark skies is created. So anything with dark leaves or forcibly short exposure time might just be a photoshop fake. Not that I’d think of that as bad… I’ve tried that myself, and you get pretty good results for less money. I’m just mentioning this for general enlightenment.;)
(Of course there are filters that don’t strictly filter out every light wave frequency except IR, and you could get “in between” results with them, but i guess what’s been done here is really just photoshopping of normal pictures.)
BTW: For anyone who wants to try out IR-photography: Before running to your local photoequipment dealer, make sure that your camera is actually IR sensitive (because this varies considerably among normal digital cameras). This can easily be done by taking a long-time-exposure photo of a IR remote device (like most standard tv remote devices) in a dark room while constantly pressing a button on the device. If you see the little IR bulb glow on the photo, you’re free to run off to the photo shop…;)
sOliver
January 12th, 2009 10:34 amHi there,
I created this site Digital Infrared Photos a few ago, if you want to get more info about infrared photography.
Actually I was happy to see that I have completely different photos on my site except maybe 1.
Thank you SM for another great compilation !
Tom
January 12th, 2009 10:35 am@Bryce Driesenga so, i need a tutorial for those effects or something to read – for understanding techniques and maybe used plugins. but great pics
sOliver
January 12th, 2009 11:07 am@shasta The IR filters aren’t that expensive if you get them from ebay. I was lucky enough to get mine for about $35 (Hoya R72)
Jack McDaniel
January 12th, 2009 11:15 amThose are beautiful. All I can say is WOW!
johny
January 12th, 2009 12:06 pmmagnifique !
HGurcann
January 12th, 2009 12:11 pmwow perfect photos :O
carterado
January 12th, 2009 2:56 pmBeautiful…
Ekios
January 12th, 2009 2:57 pmwow … nice photos !!! O_O
Anjte
January 12th, 2009 3:38 pmPlenty of nice images but i doubt half of them were actually shot like they are shown here. I.e. with IR light and using blocking filters for other wavelengths. The rest is Photoshop and other tools at work. So please don’t call it photography when it isn’t. Also I suppose a number of the photos are from stock image libraries and or combinations with these.
Nicole
January 4th, 2010 7:39 amJust because a photo has been photo-shopped does not mean that it isn’t photography. If they took the pic with a camera- that makes it clear enough for me what it is. Are you going to say that a cropped photo isn’t photography? It sounds clear that you are just hatin’ on some of the most beautiful pics I have ever seen. Some people are just more creative with the resources available. You should try it.
Stuart
January 12th, 2009 3:49 pmWow arent we full of new year cheer. Relax man and enjoy some lovely “imagery” regardless of how it came to be.
KunalDeziner
January 12th, 2009 10:28 pmAwesome!!!!!
Specially
Daniella T, Cavagna Ottavio, Bruna Marchioro, Frank Brauner, Giladm, Romulo Lubachesky
Nuryeve
January 12th, 2009 11:06 pmI’m totally stunned. Haven’t thought it could be soooo beautiful!!!
KunalDeziner
January 13th, 2009 12:04 amI think Stuart is right!!! Enjoy PICS
john
January 13th, 2009 1:30 amamazing!
Where is that triangle, UFO spaceship thing located?
http://media.smashingmagazine.com/images/infrared-photography/irr.jpg
It reminds me of the logo of this company http://www.spafu.nl/
Does it have any symbolic meaning?
ogon
January 13th, 2009 2:55 am@shasta – you can have normal exposure time if you modify your DSLR camera. All you have to do is to remove an IR filter from the sensor. This filter filters out the infrared light spectrum and this is the reason of very long exposure time.
Elena
January 13th, 2009 1:00 pmGreat! *__________*
Brokendollie.com
jiaxiuwang
January 13th, 2009 11:15 pmso beautiful！
Ali Reid
January 14th, 2009 1:11 amThis sucks.
just kidding. its great.
James
January 14th, 2009 4:19 amAwesome pictures!!
Jakub
January 14th, 2009 7:52 amCan it still be called photography? Most of them not. I dont like them at all. Sorry
Heather
January 14th, 2009 12:38 pmDesolate Metropolis Photography has some great infrared examples
Jonathan Steele aka UlteriorArt.com
January 15th, 2009 5:09 amWonderful.
Especially liked the ones that were frosty white.
Michael
January 16th, 2009 1:21 pmYou don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for a good IR filter:
http://www.photofilter.com/hoyair.html#R72
You can also have your camera converted to focus on the IR portion of the spectrum and avoid using the opaque filters. Check out the list to see if it is possible to convert your camera \ model.
http://www.lifepixel.com/IR.htm
Jake-DesignerFied
January 17th, 2009 12:45 amWow, Omar Junior is my favorite!! Great post!
Stickler
January 17th, 2009 7:00 amHere’s the thing. If those pictures were not made with the technique described, then they don’t belong here. It doesn’t matter if they’re beautiful or not. It just means that the description is inaccurate if you chose to include those.
And a true IR photo is still PHOTOgraphy, since IR is light (photo) and you’re making an image (graph). In fact, you can get IR film and use it like any other film. Photoshop is another thing still.
Tom
January 17th, 2009 1:30 pmHere’s my favorite digital infrared picture that I’ve taken:
Field of Fire
ZhouGe
January 18th, 2009 10:46 pmG.R.E.A.T !
Adam
January 19th, 2009 2:33 amWow! I want to learn this. Had read about IR on film in 1999 and thought it was for night vision like pics in near darkness and or using a infrared light source.
Saba
January 19th, 2009 8:56 amWOW!
Lana
January 19th, 2009 11:14 amBreath taking!!!!
Dave Deluria
January 20th, 2009 1:30 amSomebody informed me my image was here.
Thanks for appreciating my attempt at IR.
I used a Hoya R72 on a Nikon D80 using a 17-55 DX lens. I then used the simple processing technique in lifepixel.com.
Just remember, the hotter the scene (literally), the more vibrant your image is with more contrast and better depth.
Thanks for appreciating.
Wayfaring Wanderer
January 22nd, 2009 3:44 pmThat beach scene is so surreal. You see many infrared photos, but I have never seen anything quite like that…..Amazing!
Janis
January 28th, 2009 3:17 pmbeautiful..there aren’t words which could describe these photos..
Tim
February 3rd, 2009 7:16 pmHow about this Janis “Absolutely stunning especially the winter scenes”
Br&on
February 5th, 2009 9:10 pmThese are some beautiful photos, though some of them are not IR at all, i read someones comment about black and white IR, and its true they come out alot better.
I still consider myself amatuer for sure, but ive been told that i have some good work on here. http://bwasserphotos.blogspot.com
Though some of them i admit are garbage.
Wilbur Henson
February 18th, 2009 7:58 pmWhat it’s all about!
alex
February 23rd, 2009 9:43 pmthis is vns near IR shot
http://www.igorlaptev.com/ViewPhoto.asp?ID=85&page=1
varco brayn
April 20th, 2009 1:07 amgreat!
auto italia roma
Katie
April 23rd, 2009 8:52 pmWow..!!!!!!!! Mind blowing…
Really amazing… !!!!!!!!!!!
Jerry
May 10th, 2009 9:14 amBeautiful set of IR images. Fantastic work from some very talented individuals. There is a LOT of post processing involved with these photos, but that in no way reflects negatively on the artists or their work. Quite the contrary. It is very obvious that they have all captured these scenes in the IR spectrum of light using various value IR pass filters, and yes, most have probably come from cameras that have been modified to remove the internal IR blocking filter. It is next to impossible to post process a photo taken in visible light and come up with results like these. The light captured is just very different.
Take a look at my tutorials and Featured Photographers on my site http://www.irbuzz.blogspot.com for some ideas about what it takes to shoot IR.
Regards, -=- Jerry -=-
Al Adawy
May 24th, 2009 2:39 amI like all picture have a lovely beautifull and lucky weekend
Hermitbiker
February 7th, 2010 12:14 am….ok, 40 nearly infrared and nearly incredible photographs showcased here at nearly “SmashingMagazine” :) :P …. a nearly great site to browse !! :)
Kort Kramer
May 9th, 2010 7:15 amThis just rocks my world!
I’m an IR fan and photographer, so this is great inspiration.
http://www.KramerKreations.com
bron
August 3rd, 2010 12:06 amWow, its amazing..! I love photography and IR too..you give me an inspiration for photo angel and IR Style! Great
joshua lowery
October 19th, 2010 7:47 amall of this sucks i am so much better at this then you are
Matt
December 7th, 2010 8:21 amThese are amazing!
It would be interesting to see how they looked before being Photoshopped.
TR4
November 29th, 2011 5:21 amHYPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rainer
December 15th, 2011 1:57 amFantastic! Now I have to explore doing this sort of Photography too.
Kipakau
July 24th, 2012 6:15 amAwesome article…..i like the technique and wanted to try it……
Andrew Shurtleff
February 7th, 2013 4:40 pmI thought you might be interested in posting a link to this Infrared Timelapse movie created using a Canon 5D Mark II.
http://blog.andrewshurtleff.com/multimedia-archive/
Thank you for your time.
Andrew Shurtleff