The Colour Quest (IV) – Infrared Photography With The Pentax Q

My favourite camera of the moment (and possibly ever) is the dinky yet divine Pentax Q.

It’s one of few cameras where I can set up the black and white (b/w) in camera and get results I want straight off the memory card, with zero post processing.

This maximises my time out with the camera, which for me is what photography is all about, not then spending as much time (or more!) scanning, processing and tweaking your images when you get home.

This customisability with b/w is why I’ve been exploring some of the Q’s other colour options too, as part of my ongoing Colour Quest.

The Q then, has a wealth of colour and image options.

First via the Custom Image (CI) menu, then through Digital Filters (DF). You can leave either of these off, or use them together in any combination.

(There are further options via the Scene mode on the main dial, or via Smart Effects on the Quick Dial, but let’s leave those for another day.)

So perhaps you might want the Vibrant colour look from the CI menu, combined with the Toy Camera DF, to over saturate the images, like a cheap film camera.

Maybe another day you fancy Bleach Bypass from the CI menu, then removing colour even further using the Extract Colour DF, to make your images feel bleakly apocalyptic.

Or like me, you might choose b/w in the CI menu, and high contrast in the DF menu, to give you the kind of moody monochromes you favour.

The Q is incredibly versatile, like a dozen cameras (or more) in one.

Yet it never feels overwhelming, thanks to the, in my view, intelligent design and layout of the menus and options.

Anyway, back to this thread.

Also within each CI option there are further adjustments.

With the b/w mode, you can then add a colour filter, emulating the practice of actually screwing a colour filter on the end of your lens when shooting b/w, to enhance contrast, give more depth to skies and so on.

Amongst the standard range of colour filters like yellow, orange and blue, there’s also an Infrared (IR) filter option.

I’ve seen IR film images before, but never shot them myself.

It’s not something I would want every photograph I look at to feature, but it’s an interesting and dramatic effect I enjoy from time to time.

I’m not going to suggest the Pentax Q perfectly emulates the look of IR film. Nor do I care.

I’ve just found it’s an intriguing look to play around with, and further evidence I believe of how much fun the Pentax designers wanted Q photographers to have with these little cameras.

What using this setting also does is add considerable extra grain/noise. Which seems to suit the overall look too, and is something I never mind in digital images.

The photographs in this post were all made with the Pentax Q with b/w mode, and the IR filter selected.

See what you think.

Have you experimented with Infrared photography – either with film or via digital means? 

Please let us know in the comments below (and don’t forget to tick the “Notify me of new comments via email” box to follow the conversation).

Thanks for looking.

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