Well, let's take a look at the full spectrum of light . . . .

Looking at the above table the visible spectrum, the one which we can see with the naked eye, ranges from 400nm (violet) to approximately 700nm (red.) Infrared phototography deals with the invisible spectrum up to 900nm.

You'll see the various spectral ranges of the films, regular film records light up to about 680nm, extended red films go up to about 720nm whereas infrared films cover the range up to 900nm. Wavelengths longer than 700 nm cannot be seen by the human eye. This region of the spectrum is where things start to become interesting!

What is infrared photography?

Infrared films capture light in the part of the spectrum which we can't see with the naked eye, these renditions apply when infrared absorption and reflection are involved, photography can capture this invisible light.

To me its a fascinating insight in to light we can’t see, using colour infrared its also an exciting path in which to view the world we see out side, with infrared, colours are never what you saw through the lens of the camera, green leaves turn red, skies turn the most incredible deep sea blue, use a different filter and you get totally different shades of colour, pictures of deep brown leaves and green skies when you place an orange filter in front of the lens, colours always surprise me when I see the results for the first time.

Infrared photography is available in two forms, black and white negative film and colour transparency film, my prefered films are Kodak’s HIE for black and white and EIR for colour. Both films have their own merits, they can also give varying results depending on filtration.

To understand the basic principles of infrared photography we'll take a look at black and white infrared first.

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