Infrared editing with PL3: swap red/blue channels?

[Reisender]

I have just recently taken to infrared photography. Great fun!

One of the most crucial editing steps in IR editing is to swap the red and blue channels. This transforms the pictures from having orange skies and light blue foliage into pictures with blue skies.

I currently process my raw files in PL3 and then do the channel swap and other editing in Affinity Photo. I do this by using their “Channel mixer” tool, set the reds in the red channel to 0, the blues in the red channel to 100 and vice versa for the blue channel.

Is there any way to do this in PL3? It would save me a ton of hassle, especially since I could batch edit my raw files with PL3.

[platypus (Canon & Mac (Intel and M1))]

I’d try the HSL tool.

Click the red button and shift the outer segment to blue. You can also adjust the scope of red by using the handles of the inner segment.

Click the blue button and do as above.

[Reisender]

Thanks! That did work. Not quite where I want it to be yet but it is definitely possible.

For anyone else wanting to try this: just sliding the red or the blue does nothing. You have to extend the range to a third of the wheel by dragging the two inner points on the circle outwards. Best results (so far) by then sliding the outer point to the opposite end of the wheel.

[Egregius ((Greg) - Windows 11)]

FYI, there are a lot of threads covering this concern:

Channel Mixer Requirement

Would really like to see a Channel Mixer to enable colours to be switched within each RGB, more or less essential for Infra Red Image manipulation but sadly missing from PL. The Elite version has a b&w one but no use for colour images.

Developing infrared images

I’m very new to Photolab2, my previous raw developer was Darktable, but i fell in love with Photolab2 Elite Prime denoise feature. As i shoot many infrared pictures with a converted camera I’m trying to find a workflow to develop them properly in Photolab2. So far I couldn’t find a way to swap Red and Blue channel that would be the first step to start with. Could anybody anybody address me to find the right workflow? I didn’t find any tutorial on the web. Cheers.

Infra Red Photography

I’ve been thinking about trying this for a while but not sure PL does what is needed but i may just not be looking hard enough. All of the online tutorials talk about “Channel Swapping” IE switching red and blue in both Red and Blue channels using the channel mixer. How would i best go about this in PL ? Using Elite latest edition. Thanks.

Infrared processing in DXO PL

I have converted a camera to infrared, but have beeing using DXO programs for many years. I have made up my own presets to process the IR shots, because I don’t want to use Photoshop, for various reasons. Any tips or suggestions for processing IR using the HSL colour wheel in PL3?

[platypus (Canon & Mac (Intel and M1))]

@Reisender

Not quite where I want it to be yet but it is definitely possible.

This is what I do when I want to change a very specific color (range), e.g. red

• click the red pill
• move the outer segment to, say, green
• move the outer handles of the inner segment close to each other (remove feathering)
• narrow the range using one of the inner handles nearer to the other
• move the remaining red segment until the object that needs to be changed turns green
• narrow or widen the range in order to get exactly the things green that you want
• move the outer segment to give the selected things their new colour

Example

As an example, I made this night shot b/w using the white pill with max desaturation and then changed the red balloons to blue using the steps mentioned above. Lastly, I desaturated some leftover blues using the local adjustment paintbrush.

[GothicSerpant (William Alexander Kazmarck)]

i love the blue