Friday, June 23, 2023

Cobweb house-leek flower - Sempervivum arachnoideum in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee and butterfly vision III

Today in 2023 more shots of a Cobweb house-leek flower - Sempervivum arachnoideum in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee and butterfly vision. All shots were done at f11 in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter, as well as my XBV filters for simulated bee and butterfly vision. Lens was a UV-Nikkor 105mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was a modified Xenon flash.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Human vision:
 

Reflected UV:
 

Simulated butterfly vision:
 

Simulated bee vision:
 

Quadriptych of human vision, UV, simulated butterfly and bee vision (left to right, top to bottom):
 

Sempervivum flowers have a distinct UV reflection, their petals have a dark center center line, the outside part is UV darker and all this gets nicely visible here, also in simulated bee and butterfly vision.

I have posted about this flower before HERE

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Cliff maids - Lewisia cotyledon in reflected ultraviolet photography, simulated bee and butterfly vision IX

Today in Spring 2023 more shots of an pink long blooming, perennial flower Cliff maids - Lewisia cotyledon in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee and butterfly vision. All shots were done at f11 in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter, as well as my XBV filters for simulated bee and butterfly vision. Lens was a UV-Nikkor 105mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was sunlight.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Human vision:
 

Reflected UV:
 

Simulated butterfly vision:
 

Simulated bee vision:
 

Quadriptych of human vision, UV, simulated butterfly and bee vision (left to right, top to bottom):
 

Lewisia has a visible UV pattern, its petal tips are UV bright around 385nm, its center is UV dark, so this gets quite nicely visible, also in simulated butterfly and bee vision. 

But there is also a highly UV reflective area visible, formed by those shiny petals which is especially quite visible in UV! This has recently been discovered by Prof. (em) Klaus Lunau of the University of Duesseldorf, Germany and he has published about that in NATURE 2020 here: Lunau, K., Ren, ZX., Fan, XQ. et al. Nectar mimicry: a new phenomenon. Sci Rep 10, 7039 (2020). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-63997-3

I have written more about that flower 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

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum in reflected ultraviolet photography and simulated bee and butterfly vision

Today in June 2023 shots of a flower, hardly ever seen, but we have its fruit on our table often: Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter, as well as in simulated bee and butterfly vision using my propriatary XBV filters. All shots were done at f8. Lens was a UV-Nikkor 105mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was sunlight (shade) as well as a 365nm UV-LED for another UV shot..

[click on image to see a larger one]

Human vision:
 

Reflected ultraviolet (UV):
  

Reflected ultraviolet (UV-LED 365nm):
 

Simulated bee vision:
 

Simulated butterfly vision:
 

Quadriptych of human vision, ultraviolet, simulated bee and butterfly vision (left to right, top to bottom):
 

This flower shows a very prominent and strong UV reflection around 365nm on its petals as well as dark lines leading to the UV-dark center, and all this gets nicely visible, also in simulated bee and butterfly vision.
 
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