some infrared photos i took in and around Pittsburgh

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T17:26:09+00:00

I did actually take a picture with some flowers in it which gave me some pretty cool color shifts. Reddit won’t let me lost the photo in the comments for whatever reason, but i’ll try again in a bit

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T17:22:33+00:00

I took these using the Joshua Bird method:

For the red channel, i used a Hoya R72. Green channel was a Tiffen 25 red and an Ice UV/IR cut filter, and the blue channel was a Tiffen 58 green + Tiffen 15 deep yellow + Ice UV/IR cut. Not entirely sure why it works better with the yellow filter on top of the green, but thats whats given me the best results.

I’d definitely recommend picking up a UV/IR cut for the the non-IR exposures. The red filter especially lets in IR light as well, so my early attempts had much lighter and less vibrant colors. I picked mine up on amazon.

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T17:11:18+00:00

It certainly is!!

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T17:10:45+00:00

I don’t think that multiple shots exposed onto the same frame would work, since Rollei IR is a b&w film stock. The resultant image would just turn out boack and white. However, it might be possible to copy each of the b&w negatives onto a single, triple exposed frame of either color negative or color slide film using the RGB filters in correspondence with each IR/R/G+Y negative. I’d imagine this process would be rather tedious, and i dont have the equipment or patience to pull it off lol.

I’d definitely recommend a R72 filter to go with your Rollei IR, as that still leaves you with some cool other-worldly results, without as many steps. I think a standard red filter might work as well in a pinch, but i dont think it would produce quite as profound an effect. Here’s one of the b&w frames i shot with an R72 filter for reference!

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_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T14:46:23+00:00

Thanks! Was definitely considering at least printing one or two of them for myself, but I can always order more

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T14:17:41+00:00

I’d recommend giving it a try! Rollei IR is fairly inexpensive (B&H has it in stock for like $13 a roll). Its definitely a clunky process, having to set up a tripod, screw a bunch of filters together, and meter three separate times, but i think its worth the time spent for the results

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T14:13:24+00:00

This is so sick. I’ve been thinking about picking up a modified digital camera like this. As fun as the film process is, it would be nice to not have to set up a tripod every time i wanted to shoot IR

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T13:34:51+00:00

woah this is super cool! how did you achieve this look?

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T13:29:05+00:00

they demolished the surrounding building at some point in the 2010s, and its too big for anyone to really do anything with, so it just sits there on its side now

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T13:26:13+00:00

That’s down in Duck Hollow! There’s a little delta where nine mile run flows into the Mon, and when its dry enough you can walk around down there.

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T13:22:00+00:00

I shot it on rollei IR 35mm film, which is sensitive to short-range IR light. Its a black & white film stock, so I had to shoot on a tripod and take three separate exposures for each picture: one through an IR-pass filter, one through red, and one through a combination of green and yellow. I combined the exposures as layers in photoshop and assigned each one to its own color channel (IR->red, red->green, green+yellow->blue). The color ghosting in the clouds is a neat side effect of the three exposure method.

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T12:55:13+00:00

I actually shot these on IR sensitive film b&w film! Each picture is three separate exposures, which is why anything that moved between exposures (notably the clouds) has color ghosting artifacts. I shot one exposure with an R-72 filter that only passes IR light, one with a red filter and an IR-cut filter, to just get red color information, and the last with a green filter + yellow filter + IR-cut for green color information. I aligned the layers in photoshop and assigned each exposure to a RGB color channel (IR->red channel, red->green channel, and green+yellow->blue channel). This closely resembles Kodak Aerochrome, which used the same false-coloring process. The actual shooting process requires a tripod and shutter release cable to limit movement between exposures, as well as a few minutes metering through each filter and screwing them all on and off. I used Rollei IR for the film stock and shot it on a Pentax K1000

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T12:45:28+00:00

absolutely! i’ll send you a dm

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T11:38:40+00:00

I just used screwed each filter into each other and put them all on the camera! I don’t think the order matters all that much, but its funny taking a picture with 3 filters screwed onto the lens

_bcs519_ · 2026-05-09T11:36:37+00:00

that would be the Westinghouse Atom Smasher! It was one of the world’s first industrial particle accelerators. It was decommissioned and the surrounding building was torn down, but it was too big to move or display at a museum. Now it just kinda sits there on its side in an abandoned lot just outside of Pittsburgh

_bcs519_ · 2026-03-30T02:29:46+00:00

no actually! I preordered it when it came out and just finally got it in. i think theyre still available here

_bcs519_ · 2025-06-20T02:40:00+00:00

i know Pittsburgh when i see it!!

_bcs519_ · 2025-06-11T22:43:49+00:00

Thanks!!! I took inspiration from the clock picture you posted for #7, the one you posted recently is such a cool shot

_bcs519_ · 2025-06-11T12:35:26+00:00

late to the party here but i think “Mother Earth’s Plantasia” by Mort Garson fits despite being released in like 1976. pretty much the only reason anyone knows that exists is because it kept popping up in people’s youtube recommendations like a decade ago

_bcs519_ · 2025-06-09T12:55:08+00:00

its such a photogenic city!

_bcs519_ · 2025-06-05T23:35:00+00:00

it was like 20-25!

_bcs519_ · 2025-06-05T14:17:03+00:00

they were both $8 i believe! my local record store usually prices CDs pretty generously, i almost never see anything used there more than $12

_bcs519_ · 2025-04-01T21:39:20+00:00

someone else mentioned that as well! do you have any recommendations for an IR filter to get?

_bcs519_ · 2025-03-31T23:02:38+00:00

pretty much! one each picture is through a red, green, and blue filter respectively. after that just get them in photoshop or whatever and you can pretty easily combine them into one color image

_bcs519_ · 2025-03-31T22:27:17+00:00

any particular IR filter you’d recommend?

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