I recently acquired an infra-red converted camera, something I had been looking at for the past couple of years. All digital DSLRs are fitted with an ultra-violet/infra-red filter over the sensor, cutting out unwanted light. The conversion removes this filter, and replaces it with an infra-red filter, which allows infra-red light at only a certain frequency to pass through to the sensor, while cutting out all other light.
The conversion I chose is a 720nm filter, making it ideal for black and white photography with fantastic contrast, as seen in the image above. The tree is found on the banks of the River Dour in Kearsney Abbey, in the Alkham Valley, which is well worth exploring if you are a fan of nature and water fowl.
If one decides to shoot in colour, the effects are almost negative-like, with subtle shades of red, whilst any foliage and vegetation appears white.
Russell Gardens, located next to Kearsney Abbey, is another fantastic location to visit, with its ponds and ornamental bridges. They become quite mysterious and other-worldly when photographed in infra-red.
The converted camera is a Nikon D7000, I'm a big fan of this model, and have owned a couple of them in the past. By using a conversion rather than filters, means I can shoot pretty much as normal, without the use of filters and tripods unless I choose to use them for longer exposures. An IR filter system would have forced me to use long exposures due to the light cutting properties of the filter. This gives me the best of both worlds.
This is a real learning curve for me, and I'm very much looking forward to experimenting over the next few months and sharing the results on social-media.