[UV] Do flowers have an ultraviolet aura?

Today something artistic, hence the rhetoric title question. So for your hopefully viewing pleasure without any technical or scientific ado, here my images...

[click on image to see a larger one]

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

[UV] Mirabilis jalapa in reflected ultraviolet

Today about a very interesting flower, Mirabilis jalapa. This flower, also called "four-a-clock" uses a very special technique to enhance the visibility to its pollinators, in that case hawkmoths, that are active when the light gets dimmer, i.e. in the late afternoon and evening hours (hence that name). I have presented that here on my BLOG already. Here now how this flower looks like in reflected UV to other insects, able to see UV.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Reflected UV image (320 - 390nm):

Reflected UV image (mainly at 333nm):

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

Mirabilis jalapa UV induced fluorescent pollen

Today about a very interesting flower, Mirabilis jalapa. This flower, also called "four-a-clock" uses a very special technique to enhance the visibility to its pollinators, in that case hawkmoths, that are active when the light gets dimmer, i.e. in the late afternoon and evening hours (hence that name). Scientists have found out, that the pollen of this flower is highly fluorescent i.e. ultraviolet light, which is proportionally more present in early morning and later afternoon hours, is "used" and downconverted to visible light (i.e. fluorescence light) according to Stokes Law. So this down converted light overlays the visible light present and so enhances the visibility to its pollinators. The yellow parts of the flower petals also exhibit green fluorescence, but to lesser extent and in green light. Now let's see how that looks like...

[click on image to see a larger one]

Left: visible image; right: UV induced visible light pollen image:

It gets strikingly visible, how intense this effect actually is!

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

[UV] Clivia miniata flower through a quartz soft focus lens

Here again a shot of a Clivia miniata flower as shown in a previous entry here. But this time it is not about technical aspects, but how special such a soft focus shot in reflected ultraviolet light looks like.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Here a true soft focus lens was used, which gets easily visible for the trained eye. Unfortunately an art style which has gotten somewhat lost. But a few still hold on to that slow form of photography to bring out the "light from within"...

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

[UV] Clivia miniata flower in ultraviolet light

Here shots of a Clivia miniata flower. This flower exhibits some different longer wave UV reflection, in blue/violet color corresponding to a about 385-395nm UV reflection in the deep center and whitish color i.e. UV reflection around 370-375nm from the middle to the petal tip (cf my false color UV palette).

[click on image to see a larger one]

This UV image here also uses my Standardized false UV color normal + high intensity palette:



UV image:


VIS image:


A spectrometric confirmation of these above mentioned assumptions concerning the reflectivity of this flower petal is here:



The max. reflection of the whitish tip in UV using my standardized false UV color palette is around 373nm and the deeper parts of the petal which looks violet has its maximum at 389nm which both confirms the expectations mentioned above.

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