Treasury flower - white Gazania rigens in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee vision IX

Today studio shots of a long blooming summer flower, a white variant of a Treasury flower - Gazania rigens in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee vision. All shots were done at f8 in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter, as well as my XBV filter for simulated bee vision. Lens was a UV-Nikkor 105mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was a modified Xenon flash, background was a dark gray. [These shots were done with a new camera system and are available on request in very high resolution (40 and 60 Mp)].

[click on image to see a larger one]

Human vision:
 

Reflected UV:
 

Simulated bee vision:
 

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

This Gazanias' outer petals massively reflect UV around 370nm (around 60% as measured, much higher than any other UV reflecting flower so far known), contrasting strongly against its dark UV center, all invisible to us humans, but all this gets nicely visible, also in simulated bee vision.

I have written about Gazania previously 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