Any tips for shooting in IR?

I got my camera converted to Super Colour by Life Pixel. They recommend shooting a white card for WB. After many attempts I didn't get an image that remotely resembled the example they had on their web page. Should I take a shot with my regular camera to get the settings, and then try shooting WB with a white card with my IR camera?
They don't recommend using grass for WB. I also bracket exposed my pictures(after setting what I thought was an accurate WB), and used a white card, expodisk, and was really disappointed and frustrated with the results. Is time of day a factor in shooting IR? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Mine came with a preset white balance from them and I never change it. IMO, the key to the IR is the post-processing. Also, setting the white point at conversion helped me a lot, changed the really red look to a more neutral cool, easier to process.
It's a steep learning curve, though. Just be patient :)

"Mine came with a preset white balance from them and I never change it."......
Not quite sure what you mean by "came with it" Fabs. Built in to the camera, or a card or something. Spent the whole day shooting and came up empty.......grrrrrrr............

They set the white balance for me. There were in the camera's memory. It was a Nikon, though.
How are you processing?
Are you sweeping the channels?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jackie Schuknecht

I got my camera converted to Super Colour by Life Pixel. They recommend shooting a white card for WB. After many attempts I didn't get an image that remotely resembled the example they had on their web page. Should I take a shot with my regular camera to get the settings, and then try shooting WB with a white card with my IR camera?
They don't recommend using grass for WB. I also bracket exposed my pictures(after setting what I thought was an accurate WB), and used a white card, expodisk, and was really disappointed and frustrated with the results. Is time of day a factor in shooting IR? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

---

Hi Jackie - You are setting your white balance manually??? Expodisk should be fine - use it to set your custom white balance - not sure what camera you are using - but will have to go into white balance - change it to PRE or something of the likes and shoot the expodisk - this then sets your custom white balance.

As its IR beST time of the day is great as it is the opposite to everything else - best when the sun is the strongest as IR is best at those times.

PP work often involves swapping the red and blue channels - not sure if thats required with your filter but probably.
I have a photoshop action somewhere if you would like it.

IR can be frustrating - takes a while to visualize what a scene might look like in IR and find that you rarely get the same results twice.

I am using a Canon 20D, and setting the custom white balance in camera, and swapping channels. Will keep working on it.