Inpired on some very good infrared works in photo.net. The best i have ever seen. ( e.g. Illona Wellman and Willem Dijkstra ).I started IR-Experiments.
I got yesterday my first IR-Filter.
Today I went to my Test-Motiv in Rottenburg and made my first test shots. I used the smallest aperture 9.5 and times 2-3"" for the IR-Photos.
The camera was laying on a bridge railing.
The bridge was old and wooden and waggled when people went by. I had to wait. In the same time a made color photos ( 9.5 - 1/180) without the filter to combine them. Per software I did some correction and combined the ir- with color-layer. played a little with saturation/contrast and sharpness. The result has an kitschy-touch but i like it so.

After years of experience with film IR, I am carried away by digital IR. Like this experiment, I combined images using black and white for the sky and color for the land features. Guess I'll upload that 'experiment'.

As a suggestion, I think the sky needs more contrast. You didn't tell us which IR filter you used, but the clouds can help a picture like this, especially with the reflection.

Oh My God. This is one of the finest images that I have ever seen anywhere. Robert you are a True artist!!!

I couldn't think of a higher mark

Superb

on the filter I see B+W IR-High-Performanc ( is totaly black) 49ES 093.
I checked your photo : fine contrast in the clouds ( IR-Part)

One damn great shot Robert. Absolutely great photo IMO.

Robert, great fairy tale image, beautiful colors, too good for ugly Baba Yaga!

I have to admit I haven't paid much attention to IR images, but I am truly impressed with this photograph. It certainly does add a whole other dimension to an image.

Excellent experiment!

Bravo!!

Robert, this is really nice too, but I believe though it would seem I am in the minority, I like the other version better. Nonetheless, excellent. You have been on a roll.........one fine photo after another. Hopefully I will be as successful as you on my first experiment - which I am hoping will be tommorrow.

Surreal and peaceful setting.Great shot!

its a wonderful image - it gleams - colours are reminiscent of those cards that catch the light when moved

and a first try too ....sigh

You have made a wonderful job Robert !! Excellent result !!

Hi Robert, Wow! This is absolutely astonishing, Meine Wörter können meine Gefühle nicht ausdrücken, I love it and I wish I could mark higher, 7/7 without a doubt - Richard.

Very,very beautiful Robert. Congratulations

Extraordinary!

Wonderful!

Very nice. I am working with a slightly different technique that produces similar results.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Super! Super! Super! As the inhabitant of the country Baba Yaga!

Alexander,Galina
This Baba Yaga is different. She makes her money at NYSE, short selling stocks using internet! :-) That's why her cottage is not so ugly but bigger
have fun!
robertO

It looks like a fairytale place...wonderful! Anna

Breathtaking, Robert. The perfect season and setting for anyone's first IR experiment. This image truly demonstrates the capability of the technique and your exceptional photographic skill.

jep! .. i was correct :)

Very interesting and agreeable !

What a lovely, beautiful image. If only our world could be like this.

Wow!

Simply staggering!!

7/7

Striking image. Surreal color contrast and threatening sky along with smooth water contribute to very asthetic presentation.

It makes me speachless!!I wish I could do any little thing in PS,maybe sometimes I would learn it? This is an excellent image Robert! Regards,Monika.

This would have been a fine photograph even without IR. With this effect, it's stunning.

Outstanding work!

Great effect, a little dark for my taste, but a beautiful scene and good combination of IR and color. Glad I could be of inspiration and thanks for giving some credit.

I missed part one last night I see, love it in colour. Very beautiful Robert.

Fantastic !!!!!

Definitly a masterpiece. It looks as one of those impresionistics paints... and that's a positive comment! :-)<p>

Anyway, if you let me be picky (we're here to perfectionate our skills, isn't it...?), the minor detail and the most difficult to correct, is the ones on the -upper- brunches of the trees, where the definitions is a tad lost and looks artificial, as something wrong were there... <p>

I'm curious... Let me guess: how many hours did you invested in the whole process, from the shooting to the final result... 15 hours would you say?

Beautiful !

Thank You i am very happy about so many friendly comment and ratings.
As Jim already said the late spring time is the best season to start such experiments. the trees have different greens.
Nestor The artifical effect may come from my manipulations. I put not only the color version on the IR-Photo but i took parts of the color picture and overlayed it with parts of the IR-Photo (e.g the houses).
How many hours did I invested?
2 Hours for taking the pictures and 2 hours of Software-Work until first print. First to optimize both versions then the fine work to put all together. With breaks I invested my afternoon, having much fun. The biggest problem is to get the infra red photo sharp and well exposed. Today i make other ir-test but the result is bad.
thank you all

You have captured uncommon beauty and a bit of enchantment.

itching to try some IR myself. Looking at some of Willem's work and this.. This is fantastic. More power to fairy tale like images of this kind. I just love this.

Awesome, this picture is superb!

lovely!

Gran Trabajo una vez mas!!

Excellent work, Robert. Thank you for the technical details.

My new Fav IR...Wish I knew how to do what you did here..Im a Photoshop dummy!!!

This shot has a wonderful postcard feel to it. I like the color, composition and tones...

what a delightful scene...fragile, storybook type of an image. Love it!

thats great work, Robert! hat off .... :o))

I like the idea, but I find the break between IR and the color photo jarring, particularly along the diagnoal going up to the upper right corner. The saturation play on the houses (I assume) is effective, giving it a look of a colorized photo.

Hi Robert, I can´t believe it. Greatful!!!

All the comments have been already done: 7/7

!!! :)

This is a fabulous shot!! I've recently invested in a Hoya R72 IR filter for my digital camera and have been struggling to get decent clarity during my initial attempts. And combining the IR with a color version in post-production is very imaginative! I love the result!!

This is very impressive. Truely a piece of art !!! I also likes IR photography a lot, but I'm just an amateur. Few weeks ago I bought a Hoya R72, but the near IR range is a bit short. Probably I should have gone for RM90 or better one ... May I know what IR filter ? Thanks. Again, excellent shot, definitely 10 out of 10 ... =)

7&7 (or above)

Beautiful work!

Outstanding image!Bravo Robert

Truly Artistic!!!

This image is mezmerizing! It takes us into another dimension. Awesome job!

beautiful photo. looks like a painting. great job! 7/7

7.7

I like this one,the composition and the total color image,good,keep on:)Bjørn

Hallo Robert,ein wunderbares Photo wirklich wie ein altes Gemälde.mich würde interesieren wie du das hinbekommen hast wenn ich bei meiner coolpix5700 den irfilter draufschraube und in farbe "belichte"hab ich immer nur ein braungetontes bild hinterherund keins mit so tollen farben. Gruß Roland

Hallo Roland, danke! bei mir ist es genauso aber mit ein wenig software arbeit kriegt man das hin. wenn du mir mailst kann ich dir die Arbeitsschritte sagen! gruss robertO

I love the brightness of the trees in stark contrast to the dark sky and water. The colours themselves are wonderfully subtle, and like pen and ink painted with a very fine brush. I was wondering if you tried to print this yet on watercolour paper? My only concern is as Nestor pointed out on the tops of the trees. Perhaps you could try the PS layering using the extract tool on the colour version? It should separate the leaves from the skyline fairly more acurately than masking an impossible area using brush or lasso tools. A stunning result, that is certainly worth that little bit more development to perfect it. Well done with your patience and persistence in your experimentations!

good idea I'll try to print it on different papers. And about the trees:it is my first try so I'm learning by doing and I hope the next will include yours and all suggestion I got here.ThanX robertO

This is creative genius at work. When you think it's all been done before I see something like this. Great merging of color and infrared photography. I really appreciate your sharing the technical process to create this photo, but nothing can match the mind that envisioned this experiment. Thanks for sharing, and consider these comments helpful or rubbish as you see fit.

Very good shot Robert! and a good work too.

Your description above is apt--a touch kitschy, but certainly very engaging. This is like a very sweet apertif, one, occasionally, can be exquisite, but regular consumption would soon become sickeningly sweet! Still, nice work.

:-o

Sunday only please. ;-)

I missed a lot, but, at least late, also wanted to join others. Perfect digital work, Robert. Images like this is the best illustration of bright prospects of 'digital future', which is a part of overal progress (btw, many photographers still think, that digital alterations is a terrible sin, they say "cheating").

Congrats! I would grant the a POW but I have no pull. Not an original scene but the execution and post modification is smart an appropriate not that "In my Mind" Dreamy cool comic book stuff. Well done.

Robert..I truly am amazed at your ability in post.

I am still experimenting, so I think my next IR-posting will contain the technical detail and all the experience I got. For those, who are interessted now to get more details:I can send a mail with more description just mail me and you'll get an answer!
thanX all for comments and critic!
robertO

If she lives tyhere I want to become one. Lovely place and lovely photo

Yippy Robert....get to work and shoot. Can't wait to see more. Thanks --jo

I got some new, but they appear to similar to this one to me, I am looking for something special. :-) I'm working hard having fun! best robertO

Many people mailed me to get more details how to make color-ir. My first experience is here: ( please don't mattter my pidgin english :-)


I used my Dimage7 for the first experiments with IR. I got a IR-BW-filter  for the Lens with the number 
B+W 49ES 093, I think 093 is the measure for the density. It is a nearly black filter for 
visible colors and it pass only IR.
To test the filter I took a foto from a motiv with many trees ( appear bright on IR) 
containing cluody sky,red houses and water.
I used a tripod because the exposure times where long f9.5 3 or 4 seconds at ISO 100.
During shooting you see the IR-Image in the display of the digicam.
The Lens was at 28mm wide angle so I hoped
to get a good sharpness. The sharpness wil be a problem when making photos with the tele lens.
The auto focus works well but may be the chromatic correction of the lens is not perfect.
So, I try always to corect manually the focus and I use small apertures.
Using the tripos a make many IR-Photos with differenc setting of aperture 
and focus to get a best choice.
The next step to have a basis for the color-ir and I take a color photo.
In the electric darkroom ( I use PaintShop Pro Version 7).


I provide the following steps:

1. correection of the toning of the IR. It is brown-red when the digicam is in the automatic color correction mode.
so I make it BW.

2. Correction of the contrast/brightness using first the histogram correction later the contrast corrreection.

3. I apply the unsharp mask to enhence the contrast of edges and the sharpness

The same correction are applied to the color phot ( except the sharpness correction, I let the color photo smooth.


4. In the first try I put the color photo as an separate layer on the IR-Photo.

5. I change the transparency of the layer to get the best IR-Color effect.

6. I cut out the parts of the layer which I do not like having the IR-Effect, I cut using the lasso with a smooth wide border.

7. Now the sharpness can be increased, only the desired parts.

8. The last step is to merge the layers and modify the saturation, contrast and sharpness of the merged photo.


All these step can be applied many times for different effect.


OK that's is.

Wah......!!!!!!!So great...I have no words to comment.....Congratulations.

In this folder...
You have come up with a remarkable result for a test shoot with your IR filter. I see even Willem Dijkstra has dropped by and that is great. However, best of all is your generous comment on how to apply this technique - that is photo.net at its best... Thanks Robert!

This is a black and white image that has been digitally colored? Is that right? I like the use the heavy foreground, which really gives the scene heft and body. The IR treatment counter-acts that weight with its bright rendering of the trees and foliage, and your coloring, if that's what it is, is pretty good. I like doing this myself.

I agree with the observations regarding the tree lines and because of this I personally wouldn't want this to be POW because it would get shredded on that basis and that would be a bad experience for you. If you could somehow re-work it and correct the tree/sky junction, then maybe so, but I wouldn't want to see it torn to pieces as a POW.

An experiment cannot be a POW. It is not digitally colored. As I explained it is an experiment: 2 photos ( ir,color), 2 layers and some modification as you can read in the recipe. The line between the sky must be. The line is the "kick" of this shots. Like a local solarisation.

Mmmm... Sad... I really like what you did here, except for 2 things. 1) Why keep so much water in the foreground ? I'd rather crop. 2) Major mishap at the edge of the trees, on which I see part of the sky's blue. Touched-up and cropped, it would be very good and very original. Regards.

less water

For me is this one the best of 3 shots, just because the deep blue water area.
You don't understand?Hmmm..... really sad..I wonder.
Look at the smooth,dark water area as an opposite to the white tree structures. Water and sky must be as a ballance to the chaos of details.
The other 2 shots are just an experiment of an other crop. One with more water and sky and an other with a close crop (less water). See attachmant of the close one.
Why... or What ... sad ?:-) Thankyou for viewing.
best regards robertO

Why "sad"...? Mmmm... Probably not really sad. In French I would have used "Dommage", but I didn't know how to translate it - and still dont...:-) Now, I still don't agree that the water is needed to balance anything. A bit of water, yes. But not that much IMO. So let's agree to disagree. What I do know is that I truly like the scene itself and the composition of the original upload. Without water, better imo, but the shot you attached just now is a different shot, so we can't really compare. Nevertheless, I just wanted to tell you that I find the composition of the attached version truly perfect, much richer and compact, as well as more intimate, since the house appear to have been discovered a second ago behind the foreground. I think both images are really very good and the attached one maybe even excellent. I just feeel both need a little work on the colors and a little fine-tuning. What was sad is that I imagined a perfect version but couldn't see it on the page... but perhaps I'll have a pleasant surprise soon... or even 2...? Best regards.

German=Schade, I understand now. OK I resume. I am experimenting now an have more shot. I'll post the result as a serie. It will be a mixture of bad and good pictures, to see the reaction of my fellow photographers.

strange colors... a bit too much fairy-tale IMO. Actually I prefer the second post you've made with your comment 'less water', much sober and credible...

Wonderful composition, I like the IR and color of this.

I think the foreground dark portion of the river is important because it gives the image balance and to crop it would make it too centered. I love your experiment because the colors are fabulous and erie as well as the mood it creates for me which is peaceful, quiet otherwordly beauty. Nice shot!

Many of the photos here inspire me... yours is the first that makes me want to put my camera away. I'll have a hard time puttng this image out of my mind and am certain I'll never do anything that compares... I love the whole series.... great work

Just 7-7

7/7

I really love this image and your IR works generally. Can the IR-filter be used with a film camera or only with a digital camera ?

The filter can be used on all cameras. For an analog one you need an infrared film.

God, this is one of the most gorgeous shots I have ever seen. This definitely deserves more than 7/7. Now THIS is art! Fantastic.

Excellent never seen anything like this!!

This is incredible! I'm speechless. Is this real? It looks like it's on the verge of turning into a canvas picture. How perfect is your eye? What a great location. How did you get the sky to work for you? Wow! Did I tell you I like this, yet? Love it!

T.C, I visit this place once a week to look at sky and light! thank you for viewing and commenting.

I really love your style!

Wow!! Wish I could do this.

There is nothing more satifying then to capture moments like this in Photography, Bravo!

I think Marc is right; the 2nd shot is a tighter composition. However, I loved the colors in the 1st shot. Maybe try the 2nd shot with the coloration of the 1st. The 1st shot is reminiscent of Thomas Kincaid, but I like your picture much better.

I looked at the paintings of Thomas Kinkade and I agree. His paintings are full of colors...
thank You

This renews my aspiration to some day make a photograph that is universally regarded as both beautiful and astounding. This photograph inspires awe.

Hallo Robert, dieses Werk von dir finde ich wirklich gut gelungen..mir gefällt dieses Bild wirklich...und die Wiederpiegelung...klasse. Grüss:SW

gratification. Thank you for dharing.

This is like a scene from a beautiful dream. Absolutely wonderful.

Very nice. Thanks for the tech. note. going to give it a try.

I take a bet, that I could handle to have such an effect with a single shot without any IR filter :)

Though they are a very little part, I have to add my ratings and a note to them - wonderful, wonderful and again, wonderful. I have to look at it again and again... Jiri

A very striking image. Surreal.

Discovering IR in digital with this great achievemment!! Thanks for the enlightenment :)

Best...

This image was posted before I joined here, but I'm so glad I came accross it on someone's favorites so I could add it to mine. Glad it was not cropped whatsoever or it would have lost strength and I would not have rated it 7/7, like the 109 that I see did before me. Some amateurs will suggest anything. Blessings, MS

Some months ago I bought a Dimaje 7 and Hoya R72 just for IR after reading some reports and seeng images on the net. I have a Dimaje 7i for main work (which is hopeless for this.) This is one of the best images I have seen created with the Dimage 7. Great work. Many thanks for your inspiration.

Completely blown away, speechless...awesome!

I wish there

Beautiful...how beautiful it is!!!!

looks cold, but its beautiful

Hermosos tonos obtenidos, me encanta el agua y el fondo