Flower meadow in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee vision

Today shots of a flower meadow with, besides others,Orange coneflower - Rudbeckia fulgida var deamii, Helianthus spp. in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter as well as in simulated bee vision using my XBV6 filter. Lens was my CERCO 94mm quartz flourite 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 image using experimental XBV filter:  

Triptych of the above images:  


This overview of a flower meadow shows, how some flowers have developed specific UV patterns to make them stand out of the crowd for insects, as their petals have a UV dark bullseye pattern invisible to us humans and the flower centers are quite UV dark, and all this gets nicely visible.


Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...