Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale flower in reflected UV ultraviolet photography and simulated bee vision

Today about another early spring flower, Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter as well as my XBV filters for simulating butterfly and bee vision. Lens was a CERCO 94mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was sunlight. All shots were done at about f5.6.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Visible light image:
 

UV image using Baader-U filter (approx. 320-395nm, effective peak approx. 375nm):
 

Simulated bee vision (UV - VIS) using XBV6 filter:
 

Triptych of the above:
 


This Dandelion flower has quite a prominent UV pattern, its petals are UV bright around 365nm, its center is UV dark, especially the anthers, and this gets quite nicely visible.


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