Friday, 16 June 2017

filters - Infrared Photography - How to set White Balance?


When I started out photographing in infrared I wasn't setting a specific White Balance (I let the camera set on automatic). Then I started learning more about how people take infrared shots, and that they were setting their White Balance to "reds" either by taking a picture with the Infrared Filter on, or by taking a picture of a shade of red.


Which is better?



  • Setting the White-Balance to the scene close up with the filter on?

  • Setting the White-Balance to the scene?

  • Setting the White-Balance to a shade of red?


  • Use the automatic white-balance? (Or another 'default' mode)


And why would I chose one option over the other? Will choosing a White Balance differ with different Infrared filters?


I've experimented a little bit but I'd rather know a little more about both Infrared photography and the use of White Balance.



Answer



With infrared I would strongly advise shooting RAW and setting white balance in post. When I started shooting infrared, I found the standard Lightroom adjustments didn't have enough latitude to white balance infrared, so I had to create a custom camera profile. The point is that the color shift you get is extreme. I would not trust the camera to be able to accomplish it, nor would I want the white balance baked into the file in case I wanted to change it later.


If you really want to set WB in camera then I would put the filter on and shoot a white sheet of paper under natural light set a custom WB from that.


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