Saturday, August 31, 2013

Jerusalem artichoke - Helianthus tuberosus in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee vision

Today shots of an attractive flower, Jerusalem artichoke - Helianthus tuberosus 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 attractive flower has a specific UV pattern, its petals are UV dark inside, but UV bright on the outside and the flower center is also quite UV dark, both invisible to us humans, forming an UV bullseye pattern and all this gets nicely visible as well as the aging spots only visible in UV and BV.

I have previously written about that flower HERE

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