The classic false-colour IR look
By swapping the red and blue channels, green foliage glows bright while skies darken — imitating how converted infrared cameras render a scene in false colour.
ImageRuns in your browser
Infrared Image Effect
Simulate false-colour infrared with glowing foliage and surreal skies.
- Upload
- Single file · 25 MB max
- Privacy
- Nothing is uploaded
- Cost
- Free · no sign-up · no watermark
Loading tool…
The tool is loading its code on your device. This happens once and is cached for later visits.
Processed entirely on your device
Your file is read, transformed and re-encoded inside this browser tab using JavaScript. There is no upload endpoint — nothing leaves your machine, nothing is stored, and the result is created as a local object URL that disappears when you close the page.
Overview
About the Infrared Image Effect
Create an infrared effect free online with a false-colour channel swap for glowing foliage and surreal skies. Adjustable shift, in your browser with CollabsTool.
The false-colour infrared look
Infrared photography records light beyond the visible spectrum. Healthy vegetation reflects enormous amounts of near-infrared, so it appears bright white, while skies turn deep and dark. The famous colour-infrared film rendered these invisible wavelengths as vivid false colours.
How this tool simulates it
We approximate the effect by blending the red and blue channels toward a swap and rebalancing the result. Green foliage, rich in red after the swap, glows luminous, while blue sky deepens — producing the dreamlike, surreal quality infrared is known for.
Best subjects
The effect shines on outdoor scenes full of vegetation and sky: parks, forests, fields and gardens in sunlight. Without greenery there is little to make glow, so indoor or bare subjects show only a colour shift rather than the signature look.
On-device and adjustable
The channel remap runs per pixel on an in-browser canvas with a strength slider, and the result is exported as a lossless PNG, so your photo stays private and full resolution.
Step by step
How to use the Infrared Image Effect
Drop a landscape or foliage-rich photo onto the upload area.
Raise the IR-shift slider; greens turn luminous and skies go surreal.
Outdoor scenes with vegetation give the classic infrared look.
Download the infrared PNG at full original resolution.
Why use it
Benefits and common use cases
What this tool is good for, and what it deliberately does not try to do.
Surreal, dreamlike landscapes
Infrared turns ordinary outdoor photos into ethereal, otherworldly scenes with glowing trees and deep skies, a favourite of fine-art landscape photographers.
Local and adjustable
The channel remap runs per pixel on an in-browser canvas and exports PNG, with a slider to dial the shift from subtle to fully infrared.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short, honest answers about quality, limits and privacy.
Is this a real infrared photo?
No. True infrared needs a modified camera or IR film. This simulates the well-known false-colour infrared look by remapping the colour channels of an ordinary photo.
Why does foliage glow white?
Healthy leaves reflect a huge amount of near-infrared light, which IR film records as bright. Swapping the red and blue channels reproduces that white-glowing vegetation effect.
Which photos look best?
Outdoor scenes with greenery, sky and sunlight — parks, forests, fields and gardens. Indoor or foliage-free shots show the shift but lack the signature glowing-green look.