Phillip Bloom has offered some fascinating insight into the artistic usage of infrared video in previous blog entries, but his latest really stands out as a testament to the neo-apocalyptic feel the technique can provide.
During his coverage of NAB 2016, Bloom was able to get out and experiment with a modified Canon 5D Mark III with a 720nm filter and a Sony RX100 II with a “super color” 590nm filter. Bloom goes more into detail with his experience with the RX100 here (it's safe to say he's a fan). If the video below is any indication, the camera certainly does wonders with slow motion footage.
You can read a more detailed write-up about how Bloom captured this footage and his work in post production in his blog post. He summarizes his efforts with infrared, noting:
"I have had some people say they don’t understand why I am doing this as it could 'easily be done in post'…it can’t. Infrared shooting is more than just funky colours; it is capturing light that we cannot see, and the way the camera interprets it is utterly unique. Perhaps with a huge amount of work you could copy the colours and luminance, but we are talking a massive amount of work and you would need the reference of a real IR captured image to directly copy it, as the subtleties of the look can change drastically with different lighting conditions."
Bloom also delves into the science behind infrared technique:
"The below image shows what the human eye can see out of the entire electromagnetic spectrum of light (which is HUGE). We can see between 400-700 nanometers (nm) this is called “visible light.” Below that we have Ultraviolet light, X-rays etc…just above visible light is Infrared, and after that we have heat and radio waves. The infrared that I have been trying to capture is just above the red of this visible light at 700nm up 1000nm or 1 micrometer. Blue is the lowest colour in the spectrum at around 400nm whilst dark red is at the other end at around 700nm."
Here a few of Bloom's other experimentations:
