Your infrared pictures are all red? Here is a step-by-step guide on how to set proper white balance for your infrared pictures in Lightroom.
This article explains how you can overcome the limitations of Adobe Lightroom when you work with infrared pictures. The issue is that imported infrared pictures turn red and you cannot correct this using the white balance tool. The solution is to create a custom profile for infrared white balance.
After I bought a Nikon D3200 and had it converted to IR, I experienced this exact issue. This is not a Nikon-specific issue, it applies to any camera when you take infrared pictures. It took me a while to figure out how to set the white balance for infrared pictures in Lightroom, and I would like to share a working solution with you.
1.Infrared white balance limitations in Lightroom
You are taking infrared pictures either with a filter in front of the lens or by using a camera modified for infrared. You know that for IR photography you have to set the custom white balance in your camera, by using grass or green foliage as the white balance target. The pictures look okay on your camera display – some red cast, but not bad. So far, so good…
Now you import your pictures into Lightroom and immediately after import they turn completely red:

The imported picture exhibits a strong red cast. You might have noticed that for a brief moment after importing the picture in Lightroom, the picture did show up without the strong red cast. For RAW files, Lightroom first uses the embedded preview and then replaces it with a rendered preview.
The real issue is that it is impossible to lower the white balance setting. You cannot move the slider further to the left. There is no way to set the correct infrared white balance in Lightroom:

The lowest possible color temperature in Lightroom is 2000 K (Degree Kelvin). This is still too high for infrared pictures. Using the eyedropper tool does not help either, all you might get is magenta cast instead of red cast. You may have already read about using Canon DPP or Nikon Capture NX2 / NX-D to set the correct white balance, but you find this workflow inconvenient.
2.The solution is a custom camera profile
To achieve proper infrared white balance in Lightroom, you need to generate a custom profile for your camera. This profile will match the lower wavelengths of infrared light.
2a.Preparation steps
For the creation of a custom profile, you need to download Adobe DNG Profile Editor, which is available for free. The version on Adobe’s website is from September 2012 but will work fine for what we are trying to achieve. At least in Windows, you don’t need to install the downloaded software.
As of September 2021, the download links on Adobe’s DNG website are working again. For your convenience here are the direct download links:
Alternatively, you can download the files from Adobe’s FTP server:
If you are unable to download the files from Adobe, an alternative download location is this site (in German, but the links are easy to spot): c’t Fotografie. I have downloaded both the Windows and Mac versions and did a byte-for-byte comparison with the Adobe downloads, they match 100%.
Also available is a DNG Profile Editor Tutorial PDF for both Mac and Windows.
For best results, select a RAW picture taken with your infrared camera (or filter) with a lot of foliage in it. This will help later to determine the correct setting.
In Lightroom, export the unedited infrared picture by right clicking on it, select Export >, then Export to DNG. Select the folder where you want to store your DNG file and keep a mental note of the folder name.
Now run the Adobe DNG Profile Editor you downloaded earlier and open the DNG file you just created by selecting File, then Open DNG Image…
3.Create the custom camera profile
Depending on your infrared filter type, I would recommend creating one of two specific camera profiles. One profile is for color infrared photography (usually used with filters below 800 nm), the other one is for black and white infrared photography (usually used with filters above 800 nm). For myself, I have actually created both profiles and use them according to my desired output style.
3a.Color infrared profile
On the right side of the screen, you will see a tabbed interface for the settings. Select the Color Matrices tab. Now drag the Temperature slider to the far left:

If your picture already starts turning blue or purple, move the slider back until foliage shows as neutral as possible. Don’t worry if at this point your picture is still somewhat red. You can fix this later, in Lightroom. From personal experience, your setting will likely be somewhere between -75 and -100. Do not move the sliders in the Red Primary section, although it might be tempting!
3b.Black and white infrared profile
If you own or use a camera with a Deep B&W filter (typically 800 nm or higher), you will find that the color infrared profile will not work well. The starting picture is usually more purple than red, and using the Temperature slider will result in a yellowish tone.
If you plan to convert the pictures to black and white anyway, here is what you can do to create a profile for nearly neutral black-and-white pictures. This profile is also useful, if you use a color infrared filter, but would like to produce a black and white version of the image.
- On the right side of the screen, you will see a tabbed interface for the settings. Select the Color Matrices tab.
- Set the Red Primary and Green Primary Saturation sliders to -100, do not touch the Temperature slider
- Adjust the Blue Primary Saturation slider until your picture is as neutral as possible, use -50 as a starting point:

Bonus tip: increase the contrast
It is very likely that you will find at this point that your picture lacks contrast. To increase the contrast as part of your custom camera profile, you can apply a slight S-curve in the Tone Curve tab before you save the profile:

In the picture above, I have used the following settings:
- Left point: In: 64, Out: 48
- Center point: In: 128, Out: 128
- Right point: In: 192, Out: 208.
You can use these values as a starting point for your own experiments.
4.Save the profile to the pr oper location
Select the Options tab and provide some information about the profile and the author. This is not required, but will help you later as Lightroom uses the name entered here as the profile name:

The last step is to export the profile. Select File, then Export Profile. Make sure that the profile is saved to the correct folder for your operating system:
- Windows 7/8/10:
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles - Mac:
/Users/{username}/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Camera Raw/Camera Profiles/
Note: you have to replace the {username} part with your login name.
5.Apply the new profile in Lightroom
Close the DNG Profile Editor and restart Lightroom to activate the new profile. Select the picture with the white balance issue and go to the Develop module. Depending on your Lightroom version, apply the new profile according to the following instructions:
5a.Lightroom Classic version 7.3 and newer
In the Basic section of the Develop module, click on the current profile name (likely it will say Adobe Standard), then select Browse… from the pop-up menu:

Now the Profile Browser opens. Scroll down to the Profiles entry and click on it to expand the section. Click on your profile to apply it to the current picture:

5b.Lightroom (Classic) up to version 7.2
Scroll down to the Camera Calibration section and activate the Profile drop-down field. Select the new profile to activate it for your picture:

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6.Fine-tuning infrared white balance in Lightroom
This is how your image looks like immediately after applying the new profile. While still not perfect, the strong red cast is gone:

If you look at your white balance temperature slider, you can immediately see the difference the new profile makes. It is now possible to move the white balance slider further to the left:

To optimize white balance, use the eyedropper tool on a part of the picture that you want to appear in neutral grey or white, usually clouds or foliage. For this picture, I selected the clouds in the sky to neutralize the color cast in the clouds. But this is, of course, a matter of personal taste:

Here is the position of the white balance slider after using the eyedropper tool. You can see there is a lot of room for further white balance adjustments:

6a.Wrap-up and further reading
I hope that setting proper infrared white balance in Lightroom is now no longer an issue for you. If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I will answer with my best knowledge.
If you would like to further enhance your infrared pictures, read about how to create the Infrared Blue Sky Effect in Lightroom. It is a cool effect and very easy to apply. Are you new to infrared photography? My Digital Infrared Photography Tutorial will guide you to your personal and custom infrared solution.
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Read about the important difference your contribution makes. 😊
Very nice, easy to understand article.
Thanku!
William
Perrelliphoto.com
Thank you William.
Thank you so much for this! Really great step-by-step. I was having a terrible time white-balancing some very unusual lights that were less than 2000*. This did the trick.
Thank you for the feedback Justin! Lightroom can be tricky to work with low-temperature lights, I am happy to hear it worked for you.
I just want to say that after spending two hours following other tutorials, yours is the one that finally took and worked for me! Thank you so very much!
Well, that is nice to hear :-) Thank you!
Very usefull topic indeed, I was searching for a simple method, so I downloaded the S5 presets and copied them and it works perfectly well. Thanks
I am glad it worked for you.
My problem was…. the DNG profiler saved the black and white file however when I opened up L/R Classic it took the place of my color profile ?
You are not supposed to save a B&W file, but a profile. What do you mean by “took the place”? I am not sure I understand your question, if it is one?
Thx Robert for the quick reply. I already had a color profile existing in my L/r Classic from another time [White balance on that profile was around 5000 ] however when I went to add another profile from your great article to LR Classic it replaced the one that was already there [the 5000 one ] The new one is now 50,000 WB
Dng profile would not allow me to change the file name and kept going back to the description of the earlier 5000 profile.
The file name of the profile is based on what you enter into the “Profile Name” field on the “Options” tab of the DNG profile editor. Have you tried a different value, so the file name would be different as well?
Hi Rob, great article. With regards to Full Spectrum cameras, do you need to create a different profile for each filter you use. I have 470, 550, 590 and 720nm filters. If yes, is the process the same for each filter? ( ie do you move the temp slider different amounts depending on the filter used?) I think you answer this in the article when you say” If your picture already starts turning blue or purple, move the slider back until foliage shows as neutral as possible”. Just like confirmation. TIA
Simon, it is exactly like you said. To be honest, I have a hard time imagining what a 470nm filter will do in terms of IR photography, given that the visible light spectrum ranges from 380nm to 750nm. This filter cuts out a portion of blue light, letting approximately 75% of the visible light spectrum pass to the sensor. You may not need a profile for this filter (and for the 550nm and 590nm filters) at all. For the 720nm, you will need a profile for sure. For the others, just take some pictures and check out if you can correct the white balance in LR without a profile.
I have a full spectrum conversion that I bought … you said this procedure doesn’t work for that (although I did try it, couldn’t get the blues I wanted). do you have a tutorial for that? Thanks!
I think I misspoke on the last email…it’s a 590mm according to the LifePixel help desk.
The only thing I said about full spectrum conversion in this article is that it does not make sense to set a specific profile as a camera default profile in Lightroom, since you typically use more than one filter with a full spectrum converted camera. If you generate one profile for each of the filters you use, the instructions here are perfectly valid.
thanks so much
Hi Robert,
Just wanted to say a big thanks for this IR profile article. Particularly the bit on 830nm conversions. Followed your wisdom and I’m a happy bunny with what I’m now getting out of my Z6 conversion. You are a star!
Thanks again,
Hugh
I am glad you found this article useful Hugh. Enjoy your converted Z6!
Dear Robert
My work with UV and IR photogtaphy is priority only in ART to found – to discover ORIGINALITY OF PICTURE OR FALSIFICATION .. Is any Ipossibility to give me some advice BECAUSE I CANO´T have MY photos in 100% fokus most probably only in 75% .My camera is Nikon D 700 – D 200 – Nikon D 90 – and Nikon D 70 .Thank You
Your sincerely O.Kubik
Hello Oscar, most likely what you experience is the IR focus issue of DSLR cameras using phase detection autofocus. You don’t mention if your cameras are converted or if you use filters, but all of them are DSLR cameras. I have written about this specific issue in my Infrared Photography Tutorial.
If your cameras can focus using Live View, use it for IR photography. Otherwise I am afraid trial and error is the only thing you can do, if your lenses don’t have an IR mark.
Years ago I used Robert’s article to set a custom white balance for a Canon XSi / Windows / Lightroom (currently Classic).
When I went to do it again for a Canon T6s, I could not find the Adobe Profile Editor anywhere to download. Old links are disabled.
Any suggestions? Thanks
Edward, a while ago I have updated this article to include alternative download locations. You will find them right here: https://robertreiser.photography/proper-infrared-white-balance-in-lightroom/#preparation-steps
adobe no longer supports their dng profile editor…my mac won’t open it..it doesn’t recognize the developer and can’t check for malware. capture 1 will process a file if there is a in camera profile otherwise it can only be processed as a b/w…any alternatives?
Carol, I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I am on Windows and can not comment on MacOS issues. Perhaps a Mac expert reading this can provide a workaround? In the meantime, do you know someone with a Windows PC who can generate the profile for you?
I am on mac, and I downloaded the dng profile editor just a couple of days ago. If you hold option + cmd while clicking the app, you’ll get a window where you can open the app. This is a one-time action. Next time the app will open normally.
Thank you for helping out here!
Hi I found the same issue with my Mac. However, by going into security settings I was able to authorise Adobe Profile editor and that worked. The combination of Option and Commande key I could not get to work. Probbaly due to Mac ‘upgrade.’
Thank you, Julie! That worked for me just now (June 2022), after the option+cmd keys didn’t.
Not sure where to look on the mac thank you
Hi, I followed the instructions to create an infrared profile and everything went fine but the export destination from the DNG editor. The editor used the destination C:\Users\………\Desktop\Nikon D40X D40-IR.dcp and thus was not retrieved by LR6.10.1. . I found somewhere else the indication to export to C:\windows\users…AppData\Roaming\Adobe …but could not find this folder in my WINDOWS 7. Any idea what to do to make the profile recognised by LR6 ??
On my Windows 10 PC with LR 6.14 my custom profiles are located in this folder:
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles
Be aware that the AppData folder is not visible by default, but the folder does exist. Maybe that’s the issue here?
Thanks for your help and sorry for the late reply. It finally worked after having copied manually the new profile into the location you identified. Just for the records: I am using LR6.10.1 under WIN 7.
Bye
Thank you for letting us know that it worked for you!
I have Lightroom 6.14 and if it matters, Camera Raw 10.1
I downloaded and installed the DNG Profile Editor.
(After having some issues with a file from within Lightroom, I simplified things and used the image still on my SD card.)
I put my camera SD card in a card reader, selected Color Matrices, then File > Open DNG editor. I selected the image still on the SD card.
My photo appeared on the desktop L1030206.DNG. – M8 Digital Camera – White Balance: 2650/-45
I tried to use the slider for “temperature”, trying to set it at 0.
I immediately get an error box, “The operation could not be completed”.
What am I missing?
I am afraid I am unable to tell you what went wrong, since you decided to take a shortcut. It could be a lot of things. We would be happy to hear your results once you have decided to try the process as described. Being a Windows user myself, I am also unable to comment on why DNG editor does not work as expected. Sorry, maybe Google will help?
Since that first experience, I have tried this several times on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro. I always got the same result. I thought it might be because I’ve updated both computers to Apple’s latest OS, Mohavi. In addition to posting here, I created a new thread in the L-Leica forum for M-series cameras, where someone else tried this, and got the same result. I got a message from someone that this method has been replaced with a new way of doing things.
I’ve updated a thread on the Leica camera forum constantly – I can either post a link to that discussion if this is permitted here, or copy the text.
It may still work fine on Windows, but I’ve also read in places that this utility, last updated in 2012, is no longer being supported. (I also called Adobe Tech Support, who were unwilling to help me over the phone as it was a free downloaded utility, not a paid subscription.) There is a lot more information in the Leica forum discussion, if I’m allowed to copy that link here.
Thanks for what you’ve written here. I learned a lot. I’m still somewhat lost, but not as much so as before.
Thanks for the update Mike. Please feel free to share the link so others can benefit from it as well.
This is a link to the discussion I started. There’s a lot more information there now, some of which applies to this topic, and other information that doesn’t directly apply – but my main goal is still to find a good way to do what is described in the original item text here, working around the “profile editor” which doesn’t seem to work for me. Yet.
https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/289929-adobe-dng-profile-editor/
I would love to hear back from anyone who knows how to get this profile editor to work as described above, but on an Apple computer.
I think I have a way to get this working again. I also updated to MacOS Mojave and Adobe Lightroom CC Classic 8.1. When I saved to a DNG in Lightroom and then opened that in DNG Profile Editor, I had the same problem Mike saw, same “operation could not be completed.” I noticed that the DNG pictures looked different in the previews, so I figured something must have changed with Lightroom’s DNG output.
Back to the fix: I downloaded Adobe DNG Converter (ver 11.1 for Mac) from here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/digital-negative.html . There is a Windows version as well. That does batch conversions of every file in a particular directory. After using that to convert RAW camera pictures to DNG files, I loaded a picture in DNG Profile Editor. That allowed me to move the Temperature slider to -100 without triggering an error. Everything else you outlined above worked after this (naming the profile, saving the profile, loading the profile in Lightroom, adjusting temperature and tint, etc.).
My IR picture processing has been down for about a month. Now things are back running, just in time to take a newly IR converted camera out.
Dan, thanks a lot for pointing out a workaround by converting RAW files to DNG files. I will update the post with a link to your comment to make sure readers are aware of this option.
Same problem here. Until I realized I already have a personal profile for my camera added (ColorChecker). Once I replaced my profile with a standard Adobe profile and exported to DNG. Everything is fine!
Hope this will help.
Hello,i did all the steps but the final image did not have the expected results :(
Also i try to make the dng profile again but when i am trting to export didnt find automatically the folder from Lightroom.
Hello Gianni, this is probably because you are using a newer version of Lightroom Classic CC. If you read through the comments, you will find many that people are frustrated by the changes made by Adobe. I have updated the article to point out that currently the instructions do not work for newer versions of Lightroom CC.
Hello,is it possible to send me this answer? Because i cant find it
I am not sure what you mean? All the information mentioned is on this article page?
For what it’s worth, the “old” version of Lightroom is still available. Instead of paying so much per month for the rest of your life, you pay a bit under $150 one time, and “own” it forever. Not sure about Windows, but with Apple I was allowed to install that copy on multiple computers.
I’m not sure if this will solve your problem, as I don’t really understand specifically what you did.
One way or another, I plan to be doing all of this as soon as possible, taking photos with my Leica M8.2 which is perfect for infrared photos, editing them as needed in whichever software works best, and finishing up in Adobe Lightroom. I’m closer, but not quite there yet. Most of what I need to know is written in the original post for this thread. I found that extremely useful. It’s just that it’s now 2018 and some of the software doesn’t work (for me) as well as I expected. I just need to find a work-around.
This might solve the problem for now, but you will get stuck as soon as you use a new camera which is no longer supported in Lightroom Perpetual. In Windows, you can install Lightroom Perpetual on 2 computers.
Robert, you’re probably right, but silly as it sounds, I’m losing much of my enthusiasm for buying new cameras. I doubt many others feel that way – and while I wish I had $7,000 to buy the new Leica M10, I’m not sure if it would make a big difference in my photos.
What I’m very surprised at is the ease at which one can do this editing in Raw Therapee. Check this page for an example:
https://www.deviantart.com/jant-photo/journal/Color-infrared-photos-with-Raw-Therapee-623432023#
I started working with it last night, and without having much of an idea what I was doing, I ended up with a nice IR image in 15 minutes, doing things slowly, and in another 15 I had a blue sky (followed the other ideas in that thread). Leaving out the ability to organize photos, RawTherapee seems to have far more capability than Lightroom. If you want, I’ll post a video on how to use it. Since it’s open source, it’s free.
When I went to sleep last night, I was wondering if I could do my IR work in RawTherapee, then export what I created as a DNG file, that I could re-open in Lightroom, where I’d store it in my LR file system.
(….and I never would have gotten to first base, but for your posting this thread to begin with. Thankyou!)
Thanks for taking the time to explain things in such great detail in a way that is easy to understand!
Thank you Adam for your kind feedback, very much appreciated!
Thanks for this tutorial, it has previously helped me when processing infrared images from my converted Canon 450D and works just fine in Lightroom Classic CC 7.3.1. I am currently experimenting with infrared images from a Fuji X-E2, but when I try to export the profile, the DNG Profile Editor wants to place the it on the desktop. When I look at the Lightroom camera profiles folder, I can see profiles for just about every model except Fuji’s. Curiously, most Leicas except the M8 are missing as well. Do you have any suggestions about how to create profiles for Fuji cameras?
Hello Michael, I don’t think there is a specific process just for Fuji or Leica cameras. You can try to manually put your profiles in the following folder and see if they show up in Lightroom:
Let us know if it helps!
Hi Robert, thanks for your quick response. I have tried manual placement of the profiles previously and they did not get picked up. Exactly the same thing happened this time as well. There is a .dat file in the folder and this seems to act as the index from which ACR finds profiles. My eventual solution was, contrary to your instructions, to specify the profiles folder as the Export destination. Not that it helped much. Using your suggested settings for a 720 nm filter, I ended up with a magenta cast. The DNG Profile Editor predates the introduction of Fuji’s X-Trans files and it does not seem to play nicely with them.
For me, the main benefit of using the custom ACR profile is to use the Channel Swap method to obtain false colour, but a strong colour cast prevents that. I had a bit more success boosting the Red Primary Hue to +100 instead and leaving the Colour Temperature at 0, but the effect is not as strong as I obtain from a Bayer sensor. The way it seems to me at present, shooting Fuji X-Trans Raw files and processing them in ACR does not look like a good combination for false colour.
Thank you Michael for sharing this. Sorry to hear about the Fuji issues, I know that Lightroom had issues with Fuji RAW files after they introduced the X-Trans format. I was just not aware of the fact that they also have issues with infrared Fuji RAW files.
For the profile issue, I am afraid we still don’t have a confirmed solution for the newer Lightroom Classic versions.
I had a chance yesterday to make some new infrared images with my converted Nikon with a standard IR filter. The instructions for the “800nM and above” profile gave me better results although I believe my filter is around 720 nM.
Using your profiles really makes IR photography a lot more fun.
Thanks for the comment Stan. I am glad to hear you are happy with the results. Perhaps you can try to add the contrast curve to your 720nm profile and see if you like the result?
Robert, Wow! These instructions really, really make a difference. I’m now reprocessing a bunch of IR images I had given up on.
In the latest iteration of Lightroom CC Classic, the profiles now show up in the Basic panel. In my setup, they appear in the “Legacy” Group. I put a screen snip here: [EDIT: I have included the screenshot in the post]
Thanks a lot Stan, your feedback is really appreciated! I have added your screenshot to the article and would love to hear from other readers if they also can find the infrared profiles in the Legacy section of the Profile Browser.
I can not add a profile to Lightroom . It does not work under the Canon 7D profiles. Any more ideas?? It looked easy the first time I saw this. Don’t have Photoshop .
I am not aware that a Canon 7D requires different instructions, they are the same for every camera. In case you are using the latest version of Lightroom Classic CC, you might want to read the comments below, as there are issues with that version. Photoshop is not required.
Great tutorial, worked perfectly. Many thanks :)
Thank you Manny, I am glad you found it useful!
Regarding the proper location for “Lightroom CC Classic v7.3.1” Custom Profiles created via the Adobe DNG Profile Editor on a Mac OSX System; This is the Path for Mac: Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / CameraRaw / CameraProfiles /
The DNG app will place your new profile in the correct path but you may have the same issue as I have had = Although everything checks out as far as the conversion and creation of the new Profile, as well as the path being correct, for some unknown reason the Profile will not be visible in the Lightroom Profile Browser. I have been searching for a solution for this issue without any success!
Thank you very much for the update John. Like probably many others, I am searching the Internet for a solution to the missing profile issue in the new Lightroom CC Classic. I have posted questions in some expert forums, maybe someone knows what causes the issue. I will definitely provide an update once I get a promising answer.
I have found that the DNG editor no longer finds the correct folder. You will need to navigate to it (I pinned it to my quick access list – favorites on a mac – to make it easy to find.). These are the locations on a PC. Sorry, you will need to find the similar location on a mac.
On Lightroom Classic 2015 and older version of Lightroom profiles are located in the program data folder here on a PC:
C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles (they do not need to be in a subfolder)
In Lightroom Classic 2018 it has been moved to the user folder here on a PC:
C:\Users\[YourUserFolder]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\CameraProfiles (they do no need to be in a subfolder – substitute your own user folder name)
Thank you Lynne, this is extremely helpful!
Can someone check this on a Mac and let me know the correct folder names for OSX? I would be more than happy to update the article, we can help a lot of people with this information.
Lynne – I just found out that the Lightroom Classic 2018 folder name you mentioned is the folder where my Lightroom 6 (perpetual license) stores the profiles, so unfortunately I don’t believe this is the solution.
Profiles has been moved to the top of Develop Module. Go to Profiles > Browse. Custom Profiles listed there. However, still working on details. It isn’t consistent. Any ideas?
Susan
Thanks for your comment, Steve. I also tried to create a Custom Profile for my Infrared camera, and it wouldn’t work. Does anyone out there know how to create a Custom Profile with LR Classic?
Robert, thanks very much for your great articles on Processing Infrared! As a newbie to IR, they’ve been a huge help!
Susan
Thanks a lot Susan, I really appreciate your feedback! I am sure we will soon figure out how the profiles work with the new Lightroom.
Hi guys,
With the new Lightroom Classic, Camera Calibrations is no longer there. They just call it Calibrations and doesn’t list any cameras.
I have tried adding the profiles as stated above, but they don’t show at all.
Any help or ideas on a way to get around this problem?
Cheers,
Steve
Hello Stephen, thank you for letting me know about the issue with Lightroom Classic. Unfortunately at this point I do not have access to the new Lightroom. Should I get access to the new Lightroom Classic and figure out a way to make the profiles show up, I will update this guide.
Thanks mate.. If I do come across anything, I will let you know as well.
Cheers and thanks for the rapid response.
Steve
My apologies Robert, I must have been sidetracked by commenter Brian below me in the line up.
Anyway my sentiments are still the same, THANKS HEAPS for putting this information out there.
Regards Donna
No worries Donna, I knew it was a typo. Thanks a lot for letting me know it was useful to you, that motivates me to produce more content ;-)
Brian thanks providing this helpful and valuable information. I am new to infrared so many things are new. So new it’s scary. I am not even sure if I have tried to previously import my photos to Lightroom before this past weekend. But you can appreciate my shock and horror when my fabulous greys and blues turned to red and pinks!!! I couldn’t look at them, I had to shut Lightroom down in disgust.
I found your article when searching for the answer. Your detailed instructions were perfect and resulted in me now seeing the images in Lightroom as I see them in my camera, as I decided I wanted them to look ?.
Thank you very much much.
Thank you Donna! I am not Brian, but I still appreciate your comment ;-)
Good luck with your Infrared pictures, it is a really magical world you are about to explore. Have fun!
I followed the instructions on creating a camera profile, both changing the Temperature and then for the Red/Blue saturation for “deep red” filters.
Using a B+W 092 (850nm) screw-on filter, a custom in-camera white balance, 3 minute exposure, f8.0, ISO 100, and then importing to Lightroom and applying the profile, my images are not as I want. Using the Temperature profile, the images have a yellow/brown tint. Using the Saturation profile, they are grey.
So far, nothing is producing the high contrast–white grass, black sky–result I was hoping for.
Any suggestions?
Brian – it is hard to make suggestions without knowing what camera you are using and without seeing the pictures. If you could send me JPEGs of the picture a) right after import and b) after applying the profile, I will gladly take a look. The JPEGs don’t have to be full resolution, just leave the EXIF data intact. You can find my email address on the Contact Page.
Hello Robert,
Thanks for the great tutorial. I just took my first IR shots this weekend, and your tutorial was exactly what was needed to bring my raw files back to black and white, instead of the ruby-red they were upon import to Lightroom.
I have a B+W Dark Red 092 filter and a B+W Light Red 090 filter.
I was using the 092 filter to take the pictures, then create the custom profile.
1. Do I need to create a new custom profile each time I shoot, based on the custom white balance I’ll set in camera at the time? Or is the profile I created for the 092 filter sufficient for future shooting?
2. Do I need a separate profile for the 092 and the 090 filter? A separate profile for each camera/lens/filter combination?
Thanks for the help.
Brian, thank you for the feedback and the great questions. I did look up the B+W filters you mentioned and while the 092 appears to be the equivalent of a “Standard IR” filter, the 090 is not specified as an IR filter. With that, I would stick to using the 092 filter and here is what I recommend to do:
Hope that helps.
Hi Brian. Have you updated this for the current version of Lightroom cc? I use a Nikon D800e with830 mn conversion. 8/2/2021
Thank you . . Gary
Hi Robert,
I just received my infrared filters, and your tutorial was exactly what I needed to convert my ruby-red imported raw files back to the black-and-white I was expecting.
Brian, I am really happy to hear that it worked out for you. Thanks a lot for leaving feedback and enjoy your true black-and-white infrared pictures! :-)
Hi Robert
Great Article with easy to follow information. Quick question since I have a 850nm converted camera which shows up blue no matter the temperature change unless it’s all the way down at -100 then it’s yellow, is it also alright to change the tint. If I change the tint to -65 with a temp change to -98 then I’ve got a very neutral image. Obviously it’s going to B&W since it’s an 850nm conversion but you are so right, getting the WB correct is essential, I’ve just been having difficulty doing it with this camera (my others which are a 720 and 590 were much easier!)
Hello Hali, thanks a lot for the input! You are correct, for cameras with 820nm (and higher) filters, changing only the temperature slider does not work really well. I have now extended this article to specifically cover infrared cameras with “Deep B&W” filters. The solution worked for my 850 nm filter, and I would appreciate your feedback on how it works for you.
Nice write, thanks a lot. This should be very helpful. I just bought an IR camera and will give this a go.
Thank you Eric – if you have additional questions, please let me know. I know IR photography can be challenging especially when you just started, and I am happy to help out. Good luck!
Thank you for the article, but I’ve found the biggest issue with this approach is that it requires the user to use two programs: ACR/Lightroom and Photoshop ( if you want a red/blue channel swap). Jarno from CaptureMonkey has created a profile that swaps the red and blue channels inside of Lightroom/ACR so there’s no need to launch Photoshop–and this is fantastic. Obviously, however, the issue is that you only have one option for profile selection so if your white balance isn’t in range you can’t use both the WB correcting profile and the R/B channel swap. If you, or anyone reading, is proficient in dcpTool for the creation of custom profiles, please let me know as I’d gladly donate towards a profile that gets a ballpark white balance along with swapping the red and blue channels. Thanks!
Thanks Jacob for the comment. I have read that article too (the link is here, if others are interested), and I agree with your assessment. I am not an expert in that area, so we will have to rely on someone else to create such custom profiles. If you own nik Viveza 2 (part of the nik collection), I have described in another article how to achieve the Infrared Blue-Sky Effect in Lightroom. At least, this removes the Photoshop dependency.
Thank you for pointing out the Viveza option. I’ll pursue the creation of a custom (ballpark) white balance profile merged with an R/B swap profile and see where it gets me. I’m of limited technical ability when it comes to modifying dcp’s manually as well. It does seem it would be relatively simple for anyone in the know, however. Could probably be done with only one or two profile white balance options. I’d assume those shooting under 700nm are the only ones concerned with preserving the color anyhow, so I wonder if one profile white balanced off a 630 filter could service shots between 500–700nm and the white balance could be perfected via GUI sliders from there.
The approach you describe sounds really promising. I am not sure about the feasibility of a 630 nm filter, though. With such a filter, there is still a lot of color left in your picture, and the red/blue channel swap might result in yellowish foliage. But this is just a guess and anyway a matter of personal taste. Still – if you ever get some usable results, I would appreciate if you let me know!
I’ve found 630 to be the perfect balance, but maybe it’s more contingent on the sensor than I thought (T2i/550d). Anything in the 500s for me is way too polluted by visible light and 700 requires too much saturation in post.
Your tutorial was precisely what I needed. Your instructions are easy to follow and work perfectly, thank you.
Many authors advise setting a custom WB in camera for IR photography, usually involving photographing grass or a grey card.
This is irrelevant for RAW processing but useful for previewing images on the camera’s LCD to avoid the dreaded red.
Would it not be easier and quicker to set an appropriate colour temperature in camera to obtain reasonable previews?
I really don’t want to go to the trouble of photographing a patch of grass every time the light changes – particularly when none is handy!
What might be a sensible temperature to set as a starting point and how much might I expect it to change between sunlight and shade?
Thanks for the comment Peter. From personal experience I can share that a grey card will not work with an IR camera the way you expect. Green grass usually gets you close. What I do is to take a WB reading from green grass and store it as custom white balance in the camera. This usually gets me close to where I want to be, even for different lighting situations. You might also use the picture you took for the custom WB and run it through the raw converter of your camera maker – they usually indicate the color temperature, which you can then set in the camera. And for the red camera display – I keep my camera in B&W mode when taking IR pictures, this will display the preview picture in the camera in B&W, but as soon as you import it into Lightroom, it will revert to color version. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for sharing this Robert! I’ve been looking for a fix for months now. I’m a recent transplant from Aperture and I never had any issue importing infrared images in it. Not sure why Lightroom behaves so differently. thanks again, you made my day!
Lili – thank you for the kind remark. I am glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much for the information and tutorial, I rented a IR camera for a recent trip and have not done much IR before, so I am learning it all right now. Can’t wait to get them all processed now.
Thank you Brian. I appreciate you took the time to leave a comment.
This is a wonderful tutorial, I can’t wait to have a chance to use it more.
Thank you Joshua. You got some really nice pictures on your website!
Good blog posts never grow old…! Just found this and it’s excellent. Had a D70 converted to IR some time back, and hadn’t used it for a couple of years. Just came back from the mountains and needed to get to grips with IR and Lightroom (having long ago finally dropped away from PS – and of course it’s color mixer!)
Good stuff! Thanks.
Thank you for the feedback Sean! Like for you, Lightroom does the job for me for most of my pictures now. This did streamline my workflow significantly, saving me a lot of time. Good luck with your IR mountain pictures!
hello robert
just purchased nikon d200 ir converted
i have found using preset white balance on d200 gets
you into the ball park pictures look ok on camera also look ok
when read into lightroom but white balance adjustment is limited
using the information in your article has cured problem
thank you for your help
tony saunders
Thank you Tony for letting me know it did work for you, I wish you a lot of fun with your IR converted D200. I had a D200 myself, what a lovely camera!
Thank you so much for publishing this article! It is EXACTLY what I needed to eliminate using CNX2 to set WB. It has streamlined my processing substantially.
Lovely galleries, BTW!
Glad it worked out for you – and thank you for the kind remark!
Thank you very much for this extremely clear concise method for converting IR into Lightroom. I just got my camera, 5D classic, back yesterday after an IR conversion and have been scouring internet for solutions…
Thanks again! Cal
Thanks for the feedback Cal – I am sure you will have a lot of fun with your IR 5D!
Thank you so much for this. Just dived into IR photography for the first time and panicked when I saw the red image in Lightroom.
I know how you feel, it was the same for me. Thanks for the feedback.
Great article. Helped me a lot. Thanks a lot..
I am glad it worked out for you. Thanks for the feedback.