To The Far Side Of The Spectrum

It goes without saying that our senses profoundly shape our understanding of the world.  Photographers understand  this particularly well.  But as amazingly powerful as our senses are, they sample only a very small portion of the reality around us.  What are we missing?  Lots, it turns out.

Until very recently, out-of-spectrum experiences have generally been well beyond the reach of the average photographer, but today's digital cameras make it surprisingly easy to explore a small but fascinating corner of the unseen world in the Near Infrared.

Near Infrared  light consists of light just beyond visible red light, (wavelengths between 750 nanometers and 1200 nanometers). This is invisible to the human eye.   Human visual range is from 400 nanometers to approximately 750 nanometers.  

Plant life looks completely white because it reflects almost all infrared light.  The sky and water appear black because no infrared light is scattered and the clouds will appear luminous.

Infrared photography has been around for at least 75 years, but until recently has not been easily accessible to those not versed in traditional photographic processes.  Since the charge-coupled-devices (CCD's) used in digital cameras and camcorders are sensitive to near-infrared light, they can be used to capture invisible infrared photos.

Using special optical filters that block out all visible light, the digital camera, or camcorder  will record infrared light in the range that the filter was designed for.

Bring your mouse cursor over the color photo and it will immediately show what it looks like in infrared light.  Click your left mouse button on the infrared photo and you will enter the world of invisible light.

 All Photos, Copyright 2001, Louis Belloisy. All Rights Reserved.