European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris in reflected ultraviolet and simulated bird vision photography

Today again about that a well known, attractive bird, the European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter. But this time it will also be about bird vision and a simulation how that might look like to us humans. Lens was my CERCO 94mm quartz flourite lens. Light source was a modified for high UV output Xenon flashlight. All shots were done at f8.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Triptych (left to right): Human vison, reflected UV and simulated bird vision (left to right):


This attractive bird has iridescent feathers with a metallic magenta shine around his throat, chest and back, which reflect at maximum under a 45 degree reflection angle, however it also reflects UV quite strongly, peaking at around 365nm (shown as yellow) and to a much lesser quantity around 385m (shown as purple). This UV image was then combined with the visible image to result into a simulated bird vision image (as birds can see UV, Blue, Green and Red) invisible to us humans (but made visible here using special photographic methods), and all this gets nicely visible here.

I have written about this bird HERE

And HERE is more about bird vision.
 
Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

Science Center Singapore 2016 exhibit about butterfly vision

The Science Center Singapore  will open an exhibit in 2016 which will include a showcase about butterfly vision. Some of my Treasury flower - Gazania rigens images will be used for this purpose, as these clearly demonstrate the difference between human and insect vision.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Triptych of human vision, reflected UV and simulated bee vision (left to right):

 

They have chosen my work, as it "shows a great and interesting contrast between how we usually see this flower, and how the same flower might be perceived by a butterfly, particularly the colours and directional markers"

I have written about this flower and how this was photographed HERE
 
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