Infrared photography

Some time ago I happened upon these instructions for modifying a cheap webcam to use infrared, rather than visible, light.   I then bought an insanely cheap digital camera, tinkered a bit, and found the modding process to be much the same.  Now I have a digital camera that takes photos the human eyes were never meant to see.  Good for me!

Since pro photographers have this insane need to share the gibberish model numbers of their equipment, I'll do the same.. this is a Vivitar ViviCAM 3710, bought for around $60 at CVS, and modified using the above instructions.

This is just a small selection of my favorites.  Until recently my main repository for my IR photos was on flickr.com, but I closed my account there for a few reasons.   I'll rebuild the archives here soon.

Miscellaneous infrared photos

My sister Fina and my friend Sergey, both dressed in dark clothes.	American money in infrared.	"But officer, I didn't see the stop sign!"
A heater that was on very low power, and only giving off a slight visible glow, blazes brightly in infrared.	My old monitor, which was on and displaying my desktop.	One way to avoid high gas prices is to look outside the visible spectrum.
A store that was brightly lit by fluorescent lights, which don't give off much IR light.   The camera could only see the daylight coming through the windows.	Coke is pretty much transparent to infrared.	The American Flag, seen as totally white by the camera.

Washington, DC - June 10-13, 2005

I went to DC to visit my friend Cableflame and do some token-straight-guy supporting at local GLBT Pride festivities.

Cableflame, an insanely cool friend of mine who invited me to DC for the weekend.	The crowd at Capital Pride, with the Capitol Building in the background.	Arm's-length-self-portrait.  In reality, those glasses appear completely black, as were my shirt and bandanna.  Yay for infrared!
Trees never fail to look awesome in infrared.  Its leaves were dark green.	The Sun is reflected in the water behind a bridge.  I love this pic.	Taking this photo got me questioned by a police officer...

AIDS Walk New York - April 15, 2005

I regularly march in AIDS Walk NY.  This time I brought the IR cam.

Starting the walk.	Passing underneath a rainbow made of balloons, all of which IR sees right through.	Yummy.
I can't look at this pic of myself without hearing "Rico Suave" in my head.   Behold the power of cheezy!	Leon and the Peoples perform post-walk.	A fountain in Central Park.

I can't be sure why the cam chooses purple shades to represent infrared.  My guess would be that since the wavelength of infrared light is below red, and the camera is only meant to see and translate the visible spectrum (you know, red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet) modifying it to see lower than red causes the digicam to visibly translate it starting over at the other end of the spectrum, therefore giving it all this violet tinge.

When I modded the camera and tested it out, I found myself really liking the odd shades that came out.  Since I wanted to keep from modifying the pictures too much, and purple being one of my favorite colors anyway, I choose not to alter the color, keeping them as uploaded from the cam.

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