An IR View of Winter

Winter looks quiet.
Bare trees. Brown grass. Frosted mornings. A landscape apparently asleep.

But switch to infrared, and winter tells a very different story.

What infrared sees (that our eyes don’t)

Infrared photography doesn’t record colour as we see it. Instead, it records reflected near-infrared light, which vegetation reflects strongly when it’s alive and photosynthesising.

That means:

• Healthy vegetation often appears bright white

• Stressed or dead vegetation appears dark

• Soil, water, buildings, and paths stay comparatively muted

So even in winter — when everything looks lifeless — IR reveals what’s still ticking away under the surface.

Grass: brown to blazing white

One of the biggest winter surprises is grass.

To the naked eye, winter grass often looks dull, muddy, and half-dead. In infrared, it frequently glows bright white — proof that:

• Chlorophyll is still present

• Photosynthesis is still happening

• Growth hasn’t stopped, it’s just slowed

This is particularly striking on mild winter days when grass is dormant rather than dead.

Trees: not all “bare” is equal

Deciduous trees lose their leaves, but that doesn’t mean the story ends there.

In infrared:

• Some trees show residual reflectivity in buds and fine twigs

• Others appear completely dark, genuinely dormant

• Evergreens stand out strongly, clearly alive and active

Two trees side by side that look identical in visible light can behave very differently in IR — a great reminder that appearances are misleading.

Frost and cold mornings

Frosty scenes are especially interesting:

• Frost itself reflects IR differently from living tissue

• Early morning shots can show sharp contrast between frozen ground and still-active vegetation

• As the sun rises, IR reflectivity changes rapidly — winter scenes evolve fast

It’s one of the few times of year where revisiting the same spot an hour later can produce a dramatically different image.

Winter isn’t dead — it’s paused

Infrared photography gently challenges the idea that winter is lifeless. Instead, it shows:

• Survival strategies

• Energy conservation

• Life waiting, not gone

Under the surface, plants are still functioning, just playing the long game until spring.

For teaching, photography, or simply seeing familiar places in a new way, infrared turns winter from a grey waiting room into a quiet, ongoing experiment in survival.