Note: See important notice at the end of this article regarding current availability of color infrared film.
There are some things you just can't fake digitally. Take infrared photography: while you can emulate the look and color scheme of infrared film by adjusting Photoshop hue sliders, you can't mimic the actual infrared-light-capturing abilities of color infrared film. Can "infrared" software plug-ins show the difference between real shrubbery and plastic shrubs with green dye, for instance? No--but infrared film can.
And so, color infrared film is far from dead. Indeed, it's widely used for scientific, forensic, military and agricultural purposes, and there's even a resurgence in the use of infrared films for creative photography.
Infrared Radiation Facts
Infrared radiation is not light. True, it acts a lot like light, but the usual definition of light is restricted to that portion of the spectrum that we can see. An analogy is sound. What we can hear is called sound. Notes too high in pitch to hear are called ultrasonic energy. Notes too low are called subsonic.
Infrared radiation is lower in frequency (pitch) than visible light. Even lower frequency radiation is far infrared or heat. Infrared Ektachrome film can record infrared on one of its color layers. The other two layers record red and green light. No infrared film can record heat unless the object being imaged is extremely hot--like a laundry or soldering iron. Even then, rather long exposures are necessary to produce a visible image.
Military secret revealed!
DID YOU KNOW...
...that Kodak EIR Infrared Ektachrome film was originally developed for detection of camouflaged military installations? Infrared Ektachrome film (at first, it was called Ektachrome Infra-red Aero) was first offered only in special sizes. Later Kodak began offering the film in 35mm cassettes that enthusiasts could easily use, and process in E-3 chemicals. The film has since been upgraded to be compatible with current E-6 chemicals.
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Since live green foliage reflects a lot of infrared, photographs made with this film could distinguish between green paints and dyes and live foliage. Live green foliage reproduces as some shade of magenta or red. Most green paints are rendered in contrasting blue. That's why the military still uses infrared photography to uncover camouflage.
Farmers use infrared film, too: Unhealthy plants reflect less infrared than healthy plants. This makes it possible to make aerial surveys of crops to gauge their condition, These surveys can cover large areas at one time and can be more cost-effective than ground-based inspections.
Creative photographer's secret weapon
Now, how does Infrared Ektachrome give creative photographers a boost? Since it "sees" the invisible, it adds an element of surprise! Here are some examples.
These photos were taken in early morning at the well-known Maroon Bells mountains near Aspen, Colorado. In the infrared photo, left, all of the trees and other foliage are bright red. And, in the infrared photo there is more detail in the foliage. The sky and water look pretty much normal. But why does the sky look so much bluer?
Like EIR film, regular color film has three light-sensitive layers, too. The top one is sensitive to blue light, the middle one to green, and the bottom layer is sensitive to red light. The bottom two layers are also sensitive to blue light as well, so a yellow filter layer is added between the top layer and the two below it to block the blue.
Since all three layers of Infrared Ektachrome are also sensitive to blue light, you must put a dark yellow filter on your camera to block the blue light. I used a Tiffen number 12 Yellow Filter. It's the minus blue color recommended in the Kodak technical bulletin #TR2323, available online at www.kodak.com. Actually, the blue color of the sky comes from green light still present in the sky after the blue is greatly reduced by the yellow filter. Remember earlier I said green paint shows up as blue on this film.
Alternate universes: As you can see, anything from a national park to a simple village park view takes on a whole new look with infrared film.
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To add to the fun and surprises, other colors also come out bonkers as well. Reds tend to be yellow. EIR really does a number on red lipstick! Red flowers (see photos below) and shirts are turned yellow.
More color surprises
Skin tones will look fairly normal on EIR, although they tend to be on the ivory side if they're slightly overexposed. Sometimes the veins in the subject's arms become more obviously defined in blue. Hair color can also go screwy--particularly if the hair has been dyed.
Other shockers occur because some clothes reflect a particularly large amount of infrared. Blue jeans come out as magenta. On regular color film black velvet, such as on holiday dresses, photographs totally black with no detail at all. With EIR, black velvet is rendered a not-too-fashionable reddish hue!
Infrared exposed!
Expose EIR manually with a bit of bracketing. In direct sunlight, an exposure of 1/125 to 1/250 at f/11 when using the #12 yellow filter is a pretty good place to start. EIR is a high-contrast film with little exposure latitude. And, as with normal color slide film, underexposed infrared slides generally look better than washed out ones.
You can use your electronic flash to expose EIR film as well. Since the film is rather contrasty, opt for fairly flat or direct flash from the camera position. For starters, set your flash to ISO 200. As with daylight shots, bracket your exposures to get the best results. Don't use an infrared flash with EIR. You'll get nothing but the reds and magentas (ugh).
Care and feeding of EIR
Put it in a cold, dark place
Storage, handling and processing EIR film requires some care. The film should be stored in a freezer until needed. Allow a few hours for it to warm up before loading your camera. Load your camera in total darkness--in a darkroom or changing bag, for example. The film can "pipe" infrared energy through the cassette's felt light trap causing fogging. Similarly, unload the film in the dark as well. Then, place the cassette in its original lightproof can.
Still, you don't need to baby EIR film. My film of the Rocky Mountains was out of the freezer for a full week and schlepped around in the camera in my bag for days. It also went through two passes of airport carry-on X-ray screening as well. There was no noticeable degradation of my images.
Beware photo lab gotchas
While EIR is an E-6-compatible film, getting it processed requires a bit of scouting in order to find a lab that can handle it correctly. The typical belt-fed "one hour" line definitely won't work! They have infrared LED's and sensors inside to monitor and control the film as it passes through the system. These LEDs will fog your IR film!
A hand-dipped custom line is best, but I found a great alternative locally--a commercial photo studio with its own E6 line! Luckily for me, the lab man turned out to be an infrared enthusiast himself. That's why he was willing to disconnect the LEDs and run my EIR after finishing his workload of conventional film. Indeed, this is how he does his own infrared film. Ask around--maybe you will get lucky, too.
Mount the slides yourself
I recommend you cut and mount your own slides. EIR is coated on a thin Mylar base. Most automatic mounters can't cut this film reliably. Scissors and a box of plastic mounts are your best bet.
Gee, where can I buy this miracle film?
UPDATE: MARCH, 2008: Alas, as of early 2008, you can't.
Kodak, citing lack of enough demand and in the middle of a corporate transformation to a mostly-digital company, unceremoniously dropped HIE at the end of 2007, and all existing stock quickly ran out. Unfortunately there is no current color infrared film available for consumers. However, digital infrared expert Joe Farace may have figured out a way to come close to HIE's look using Photoshop. Read on.
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