The versatility of FTIR spectrometry was explored by considering a variety of samples drawn from industrial applications, materials science and biomedical research. These samples included polymeric insulators, bauxite ore, clay, human hair and human skin. A range of sampling techniques suitable for these samples is discussed, in particular FTIR microscopy, FTIR emission spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance and photoacoustic FTIR spectrometry. The power of modern data processing techniques, particularly multivariate analysis, to extract useful information from spectral data is also illustrated.