Home Photoshop Photo Editing Infrared Effect

Infrared Effect

Added: Mar 22, 2005 Level: Experienced Software: Photoshop

Infrared photography captures light that are too red for our eyes to see. Plants often appear lighter and skies often appear darker. In this tutorial, you will learn how to simulate an infrared filter.


	1. Open the image for editing. For this tutorial, select a colour photograph that include trees and blue skies.

	2. Duplicate the Background layer (Ctrl+J) and name it "Plants". Using the "Magic Wand" and the "Lasso" tool, selet all objects that are not related to plants. This includes skies, roads ,animals and people. A better selection will result in a better photograph with less artifacts. Clear the selected objects(Backspace) and deselect (Ctrl+D).

	3. Using the "Hue/Saturation" tool, apply the following properties: Colorize: Checkmarked Hue: 75 Saturation: 50 Lightness: 0 Click OK.

	4. Create a new "Channel Mixer" adjustment layer (Layers> Adjustment Layer> Channel Mixer) using the following properties: Monochrome: Checkmarked Red: -50% Green: 200% Blue: -50% Constant: 0% Click OK.

	5. On the layer "Plants", use the "Shadow/Highlight" tool (Image> Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight) to apply the following properties: Shadows Amount: 100% Highlights Amount: 0% Click OK. Using the "Shadow/Highlight" tool on the same layer again, apply the following properties: Shadows Amount: 50% Highlights Amount: 0% Click OK.

	6. Duplicate the layer "Background" (Ctrl+J) so that it is above the layer "Background" and under the layer "Plants", "Invert" (Ctrl+I), set the layer's blending mode to "Overlay" and name the layer "Negative". Using the "Shadow/Highlight" tool, apply the following properties to this layer: Shadows Amount: 0% Highlights Amount: 100% Click OK.

	7. Lower the opacity of the layer "Plants" to decrease the brightness of the plants.

	8. On the layer "Negative", make a selection of the sky using the "Marquee" tool. Use the "Levels" tool (Ctrl+L) to apply the following properties: Input Levels: 0, 0.5, 255 Click OK.

	9. Artifacts may appear on the edges of the layer "Plants". An accurate selection is crucial to reduce the appearance of artifacts. Rollover the image in this step to see the original image before this technique was applied.