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How Do I Make a Black and White Photo Infrared in Photoshop?

Last updated on September 23, 2022 @ 11:57 pm

One of the great things about black and white photography is that it can make even the most ordinary subjects look interesting. But there’s a whole other level of interest that can be achieved by making your black and white photos look like they were taken with an infrared camera.

Infrared photography has a distinctive look, with deep blacks, bright whites, and often-eerie red tones. If you want to give your black and white photos an infrared look, there are a few things you can do in Photoshop to make it happen.

The first step is to convert your image to black and white. There are a few ways to do this, but one of the simplest is to use the desaturate command.

Go to Image->Adjustments->Desaturate, or use the shortcut shift+ctrl+u/shift+cmd+u. This will turn your image into grayscale.

Once your image is in black and white, you need to increase the contrast to give it that classic infrared look. You can do this by going to Image->Adjustments->Brightness/Contrast, or using the shortcut shift+ctrl+l/shift+cmd+l. Move the contrast slider up until you’re happy with the look of your image.

PRO TIP: This tutorial is for Photoshop CS5 and earlier. If you are using a newer version of Photoshop, the steps will be slightly different.

Also, be aware that infrared photography can damage your camera sensor, so proceed at your own risk.

The next step is optional, but it can help give your image more of an infrared feel. Go to Image->Adjustments->Channel Mixer.

Check the “monochrome” box at the bottom, then play around with the sliders until you get an effect you like. Reducing the blue channel and increasing the red channel will often give your image more of an infrared look.

Finally, go to Filter->Render->Clouds. This will add some random noise to your image, which can help give it a more natural infrared appearance.

And that’s all there is to it! With just a few simple steps in Photoshop, you can give your black and white photos an infrared look.

Kathy McFarland

Kathy McFarland

Devops woman in trade, tech explorer and problem navigator.