Infrared Portrait Page

One day, while we needed to test our 256x256 InSb infrared array camera, we decided to mess around a bit. We found a camera lens, and a mirror, and started taking infrared pictures of the people in our group.

This page shows a collection of those infrared portraits. The pictures were taken two different wavelengths, J (1.2 microns) which is just a bit longer than optically visible red light, and K (2.2 microns), which is longer yet.

The images taken at J were taken with the room lights on, and most of what you are seeing is scattered light, similar to what your eye normally sees. The images taken at K were taken with the room lights turned off, so most of what you see thermal (heat) emission.

All of the small images are links to full sized versions, so click on them if you would like a better look.


Faculty Photos

Bill Forrest (Near IR Group) at K Judy Pipher (Near IR Group) at K Dan Watson (Far IR Group) at K
Judy Pipher at J

Notice that Bill's glasses are transparent at K, but Judy's are not. This is because Bill's lens' are glass, while Judy's are plastic, and plastic does not transmit light at this wavelength (though it does at J, as you can see from the second picture of Judy).

Notice also that Judy's hair looks blond at J. At this wavelength, hair is very reflective. At K, hair shows up as darker material. This is because hair acts as an insulator and is cooler than the underlying skin.


Near IR Group Photos

Brendan Fisher at K Eric Howard at K Jenn Goetz at K Jian Wu at K Kevin McFadden at K
 
Brendan Fisher at J Eric Howard at J Jenn Goetz at J   Kevin McFadden at J

In addition to the glasses and hair effects mentioned above, notice the mug that Eric is holding. In both pictures the mug is full of hot tea. At K this shows up very brightly, and you can even see the heat from the mug lighting up the side of Eric's face. In the picture of Eric at J, you can see that the mug doesn't give off nearly as much light, but the top half of the mug is lighter than the bottom half (the mug was just filled, and the top half is thinner than the bottom). The mug is actually black in visible light.


Far IR, Astro-theory, and Other Photos

Andrew Markiel at K John Bloomer at K Marilee Montanaro at K Nick Raines at K David Branning at K
       
      Nick Raines at J  


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Last modified: Mon Sep 24 18:15:46 EDT 2001