Infrared photography with the Singh-Ray I-Ray filter

Recently, I had a great opportunity to work with the Singh-Ray I-Ray infrared filter. The brisk wind Florida experienced recently, calmed down enough to capture trees lush with new spring leaves, perfect for infrared photography!  The I-Ray filter is designed to block visible light, and allows nearly 90% of light in the near infrared range to reach the camera sensor. The resulting image is surreal and beautiful, and the reason why infrared photography is very compelling. Foliage as seen in infrared has a luminescence that is magical, not something that can be equally reproduced with Photoshop filters and plug-ins.  

Using the I-Ray filter is fairly straightforward. If you’ve worked with 10 stop neutral density filters, you’ll feel right at home. Exposure time will be several minutes, you’ll need a tripod and cable/remote release. Use Manual mode, compose, focus, and determine aperture needed for the composition. Set the camera to Bulb Mode as the shutter speed will be several minutes. For this photo I used ISO 500, aperture was set at f/5.6 and the shutter speed was about a minute and 50 seconds, my best estimate of exposure time. Close the eyepiece shutter during exposure, just as if you would when creating long exposures using neutral density filters to prevent light leakage. I used the Nikon D4 and a 24mm lens which is a great lens for infrared photography with the I-Ray filter.

Using an infrared filter blends the world of long exposure, and infrared together in a beautiful way! Those who know me, know I usually shoot with an infrared converted camera, so this as was a lot of fun to get back to the “roots” of where I started with infrared years ago.  I’m also fascinated by long exposure photography, and working with the I-Ray filter fits right in with two of my favorite photography passions. There are a lot of creative options open to infrared photography. Think about the potential of blending the original color image with the infrared image, or working with extended exposure time to create surreal effects.  You’ll enjoy exploring the artistic side of working with an infrared filter!

The I-Ray infrared filter is available in a variety of sizes, and is manufactured by Singh-Ray, the top notch resource for optical filters. Recently Singh-Ray introduced the Mor-Slow line of 10 stop neutral density filters, which is also very popular and in high demand. Follow this link to Singh-Ray to find out more about the I-Ray infrared filter. If you would like to learn more about infrared photography, my book Digital Infrared Photography is available through Amazon.

Have fun shooting!