Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale in deep reflected ultraviolet photography, simulated butterfly and bee vision

Today shots of a very well known flower I have written about before, Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter, my Jupiter-U and Saturn-U deeper UV filters, as well as my XBV filters for simulating butterfly and bee vision. Lens was a CERCO 94mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was a Xenon flash. All shots were done at about f8.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Visible light image:
 

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

UV image using Jupiter-U filter (approx. 280-385nm, effective peak approx. 365nm):
 

UV image using Saturn-U filter (approx. 300-350nm, effective peak approx. 325nm):
 

Simulated butterfly vision (UV - VIS) using XBV3 filter:
 

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

Quadriptych of the above (with bee/butterfly vision):
 

Quadriptych of the above (with deep UV):
 


A Dandelions outer petals reflect strongly UV around 365nm, there is a dark UV center and anthers, all invisible to us humans, and all that gets 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