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Visitor Information: The RPS Gallery and coffee shop will be closed on Saturday 7 December

IR Seascape
CREDIT: Alan Hodgson ASIS HonFRPS

Seeing stuff differently

Looking back at my IR photography

I have been thinking about the latest RPS Journal some more, and particularly about the Linus Sandgren article. He was choosing a film and camera format to suit the purpose for the image, rather than always deploying the best you can. This thought really resonated with me and caused me to look back at some of my photography.

Over the years I have been involved in Infra-red (IR) photography. First with aerial surveillance films (Analogue photography) and most lately with security imaging for identity documents.

But in the midst of all this has been an interest in using digital cameras for IR work. You can do some work with a standard camera with an IR filter but much better results are achieved with a modified unit. You can get factory modified variants or trust a 3rd party to do the work. But for me that takes away the fun.

I modified a compact camera for IR work. I would sometimes use it just to assess a scene before going further, so simply a snapshot camera. But sometimes it was the right choice the image. If you want to give it a try you will find instructions in my IR article in a past edition of the RPS Journal.

Sometimes my "best" camera is not my best choice.