Adventures with Lab Colour Mode and Recovering 'False Colour'

Clive R. Haynes FRPS

Delving into the mystery and magic of so-called 'False Colour' to be found within IR files is rather like raising the lid upon Pandora's Box of digital weirdness. 

The results are influenced by many factors, including  the transmission of IR by the lens, the choice of IR filter, how the camera sensor array responds to IR, whether one processes the original IR file or the Channel-Swap version and all this is before making adjustments to the 'a' and 'b' Lab Channels via 'Levels' and the option of  'Curves'.

Note: Chromatic Aberration, if present, can be a problem and is particularly relevant for 'False Colour' processing. Click here for a comparison page which includes screen-grabs illustrating the effects with and without chromatic aberration.

Since my original exploration of the topic when I used Photoshop CS3, things have moved on and I've modified my working practices.  For those interested, I'm retaining the older CS3 method as it contains some valuable extended information and options, plus users of older versions of Photoshop may find it more appropriate.

At this point there's a choice. Click on the appropriate link below.