So this weekend I had a chance for a short trip to France/Alsace and visited Strassbourg and a private butterfly parc in that vicinity. I brought my equipment as well as my "Bee Vision" filter XBV2 with me, which turns out to also be a "Butterfly Vision" filter! Fortunately photography was allowed there but unfortunately no tripods so I had to shoot all handheld, which was quite tricky considering the relatively long exposure times needed (so it is not my usual quality).
So here now a selection of the outcome...
[click on image yields a larger one]
Butterfly resting (VIS=B+G+R):
Butterfly resting as seen with tetrachromatic vision (UV+B+G+R) using XBV2 filter:
Butterfly resting as seen with trichromatic vision (UV+B+G) using XBV2 filter:
There were also animals in that park, one chameleon catched my attention due to the very prominent pattern:
Chameleon (VIS=B+G+R):
Chameleon as seen with tetrachromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G+R) using XBV2 filter:
Chameleon as seen with trichromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G) using XBV2 filter:
Some decorative flowers at the entrance were an ideal subject to also show the different effects of having human or trichromatic resp. tetrachromatic insect vision, since two flowers happen to have a prominent UV pattern (one is Bidens). So if you were a butterfly, which flower would catch your attention?
Flowers (VIS=B+G+R):
Flowers as seen with tetrachromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G+R) using XBV2 filter:
Flowers as seen with trichromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G) using XBV2 filter:
Of course all these tri- or tetrachromatic images are simulations only, trying to give an idea how that would look like, had we tri- or tetrachromatic vision including UV vision!!
Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...
More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos