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| The native colour image is perfect for a faux infrared conversion |
There are a number of ways you can take a mono conversion to extremes. The following black & white infrared technique illustrates just one of the ways you can achieve a creative black & white conversion using Camera Raw or Lightroom. I took a photograph of a woodland scene and aimed to lighten the green colours to the point where they appeared luminescent.
This can be done by applying an extreme Tint slider adjustment combined with the B&W panel settings in Step 4. I also applied a negative Clarity adjustment to produce the glow effect that is typically associated with infrared photography, and added a Grain effect via the Effects panel. You can use the steps shown here to apply this same type of black & white infrared effect to other images, but you’ll find that these settings will always need to be fine-tuned on an image-by-image basis. It’s not a technique that can be guaranteed to work on every photograph, or as a saved preset.
CONVERSION TO FAUX INFRARED EFFECT
1 STARTING POINT
This shows the ‘before’ image. The photograph is ideal with which to demonstrate the following faux infrared effect because it contains a lot of green foliage, plus there are the bluebell fl owers, which can all be made to appear lighter. In this first step, the White Balance setting was left at the default ‘As Shot’ setting.
This shows the ‘before’ image. The photograph is ideal with which to demonstrate the following faux infrared effect because it contains a lot of green foliage, plus there are the bluebell fl owers, which can all be made to appear lighter. In this first step, the White Balance setting was left at the default ‘As Shot’ setting.
2 WHITE BALANCE
In this step, I kept the image in colour and adjusted just the White Balance sliders. Here, I dragged the Temperature slider to the right to apply a warm white balance and set the Tint slider all the way over to the left to -150. This made all the green colours (the foliage) as bright a green as possible.
In this step, I kept the image in colour and adjusted just the White Balance sliders. Here, I dragged the Temperature slider to the right to apply a warm white balance and set the Tint slider all the way over to the left to -150. This made all the green colours (the foliage) as bright a green as possible.
3 CONVERT TO GRAYSCALE
I then went to the HSL/Grayscale panel and checked the ‘Convert to Grayscale’ box. I returned to the Basic panel, where I applied the tone adjustments. I lightened the Exposure setting, set Highlights to -100 and applied a negative Clarity of -23, which added a nice soft glow to the photograph.
I then went to the HSL/Grayscale panel and checked the ‘Convert to Grayscale’ box. I returned to the Basic panel, where I applied the tone adjustments. I lightened the Exposure setting, set Highlights to -100 and applied a negative Clarity of -23, which added a nice soft glow to the photograph.
4 ADJUST SLIDERS
I went to the HSL/Grayscale panel again. I dragged the Yellows slider to +29 and the Greens slider to +40, and dragged the Aquas slider to -53. Because of the underlying green white balance, this adjustment caused the leaves to glow more – almost like the way infrared photographs record green foliage.
I went to the HSL/Grayscale panel again. I dragged the Yellows slider to +29 and the Greens slider to +40, and dragged the Aquas slider to -53. Because of the underlying green white balance, this adjustment caused the leaves to glow more – almost like the way infrared photographs record green foliage.
5 ADJUST EXPOSURE
I then returned to the Basic panel, where I decreased the Exposure by around 1 stop, so that the brightest portions of the photograph – the leaves – did not appear too bright or get blown out. That more or less completes all the steps needed to produce the infrared look, but there is one more thing that can be added…
I then returned to the Basic panel, where I decreased the Exposure by around 1 stop, so that the brightest portions of the photograph – the leaves – did not appear too bright or get blown out. That more or less completes all the steps needed to produce the infrared look, but there is one more thing that can be added…
6 FINISHING TOUCHES
I then used the Split Tone panel to add a split-tone colouring effect, and finally, added a Grain effect via the Effects panel (Amount 60, Size 25 and Roughness 15). However, if I wanted to apply this black & white infrared effect to other photographs, I would need to save these settings as a custom preset.
I then used the Split Tone panel to add a split-tone colouring effect, and finally, added a Grain effect via the Effects panel (Amount 60, Size 25 and Roughness 15). However, if I wanted to apply this black & white infrared effect to other photographs, I would need to save these settings as a custom preset.
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