Infrared Photohraphy

Infrared Photography

-Infrared photography?

Sir William Hershel was an amateur astronomer discovered infrared in the early 19^th century.

The first traces into IR photography, using certain film plates, began during WW1 so part of the 20^th century. Since it was during WW1 the type of photography seemed to be very valuable. The distinctions in the images were incredible, and making things such as rivers, streams, lakes, and other waterways more obvious. In the 1930’s and 1940’s a variety of special IR lenses were made for amateur photographers and Hollywood filmmakers. Certain lenses were also used in the war as advantages. Everything soon changed in the 1990’s with the digital camera, but the law enforcement officials rely and use IR photography to detect evidence that isn’t seen through normal eyesight.

-How?

William was familiar with Newton’s discovery that sunlight could be separated into its separate components through refraction through a glass prism. William passed sunlight through a glass prism to create a spectrum (the rainbow created when light is divided into its color components.) William measured the temperature of the violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red light. He noticed that all the colors had temperatures higher, closer to the violet and red part of the spectrum. William now trying to understand this measured the temperature just beyond the red portion of the spectrum and found this part of the spectrum had the highest temperature of all and contained the most heat. What William discovered was a form of light beyond red light. William’s experiments lead to the discovery of infrared light

(http://photographylife.com/introduction-to-infrared-photography)

(http://www.biosmartsolutions.com/heaters/portable/history-infrared-infrared-technology)