The Infragram project has used a variety of filters to make Do-It-Yourself infrared cameras, as well as infrared-visible multispectral cameras. This page is about choosing filters for different purposes. **** ## Red vs Blue Both blue and red filters are intended to block most visible light in one channel, to then use that channel for near-infrared light. This way, a single camera can be used to take simultaneous visible light and near-infrared light photos -- one in the red channel, one in the blue channel (we discard the green channel). **Most recent DIY efforts on Public Lab have focused on red filters**, but early on we used blue filters. A red filter (the most common conversion we see on Public Lab as of October 2017) results in vegetation appearing pale blue, and a blue filter typically results in vegetation appearing pale yellow. _Left: pale blue from a RED filter; Right: pale yellow from a BLUE filter. Images by @mathew and [Eclectis students](https://publiclab.org/n/9372)_ [(/system/images/photos/000/018/533/original/Rosco_26_filtered.JPG) [](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/001/647/original/IMG_0025.JPG) ### Background on filter choice There's a lot of research about this choice here: [notes:red-vs-blue] **** ## Filter sources We've been using Rosco theater gels as filters, and we currently [carry the red Rosco Fire # 19 in the Public Lab store](https://store.publiclab.org/collections/diy-infrared-photography) Red filters include: * Rosco Fire # 19 Blue filters include: * Rosco # 2007 * Rosco # 87 Also see this research on various Rosco filters: [notes:rosco] And the Rosco website: http://us.rosco.com/en And an article on the history of Rosco filters: http://www.rosco.com/spectrum/index.php/2016/11/decoding-the-language-of-color/ **** ## Exposed negative film To make a camera take **only** near-infrared photos, you can use a piece of exposed negative film as a filter. This will block most visible light (since the red, green, and blue channels are blocked) but will allow infrared light. ...
| Author | Comment | Last activity | Moderation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cfastie | "Thanks Erwan, It looks like awb_gains allows the red and blue channels to be adjusted relative to one another which is just what is needed. Howeve..." | Read more » | almost 8 years ago | |||
| Erwan | "hi, Did you trying this with picamera ? https://picamera.readthedocs.org/en/release-1.10/api_camera.html Here there are some possibility to parame..." | Read more » | almost 8 years ago | |||
| cfastie | "LaPa, The custom white balance procedure you refer to works only for certain cameras. A year ago it was not possible to set a custom white balance..." | Read more » | almost 8 years ago |