Infrared Great White Egret in Flight

[Mark Hilliard]

This infrared image is of a Great White Egret in flight. It is a closeup of the wings, neck and head.

Canon 5D IR only body
Canon 100-400L/IS
f/7
1/1250s
Handheld

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very interesting technique, Mark. Could you describe the workflow a little bit? Thanks!

[Mark Hilliard]

OK, the camera body (5D) has been modifed by LDP and has had the IR blocking filter removerd from the sensor and a VISIBLE LIGHT filter installed in its place. This means that the camera is ONLY sensitive to IR from this point on. Where IR really shines is with water which turns dark, plants which turn white and it is unusual to see wildlife shots taken with this type of equipment. Once the image has been captured, (it looks red in its raw format) it is converted to B&W and normally processed as any other digital image. The exception to this rule (see the landscape forum here for an example) is the Faux Color Infrared which starts off as the standard infrared image but then the red and blue chananels are swapped. This presents as a striking monochromatic image with the blues still blue!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

OK, the camera body (5D) has been modifed by LDP and has had the IR blocking filter removerd from the sensor and a VISIBLE LIGHT filter installed in its place. This means that the camera is ONLY sensitive to IR from this point on. Where IR really shines is with water which turns dark, plants which turn white and it is unusual to see wildlife shots taken with this type of equipment. Once the image has been captured, (it looks red in its raw format) it is converted to B&W and normally processed as any other digital image. The exception to this rule (see the landscape forum here for an example) is the Faux Color Infrared which starts off as the standard infrared image but then the red and blue chananels are swapped. This presents as a striking monochromatic image with the blues still blue!

Thanks for the explanation, Mark. I have to try this sometime.

[Fabs Forns]

Hi MArk,

I am considering converting one of my cameras too. Specially like the blue skies with white vegetation.

Here, I 'm not crazy about the cut legs. I may try cropping some more in the left just leaving the tips of the wings in the right wing.

Nice experiment, but I don't think it works as presented.