Carnivore plant shows UV pattern

A friend of mine, Dr. Andreas Wistuba, collects and breeds special forms of carnivore plants and we were both wondering if some would show some UV reflective patterns. Well indeed, some do on these "needles" which prevent their prey to escape!!

Shot using off the shelf D70, UV-Nikkor 105mm, SB-140 flash + 2" Baader U-filter (310-390nm) (resp. UV blocking filter for the fluorescence shot)
[click on image to see a larger one]
UV shot:


UV shot detail:


Fluorescence shot:

Not sure what caused that, but evolution surely had a reason to develop that UV pattern!

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

A multispectral example using Mexican Zinnia

Just a few quick shots today using the UV Rodagon 60mm for multispectral analysis in visual light, UV, UV fluorescence and IR. As usual I used a Nikon D70, SB-140 flash w. SW-5UV filter, UV Rodagon 60mm, Baader 2" U- and UV/IR Cut- filter (for UV and UV fluorescence), B+W 092 filter (for IR).

Target was a Mexican Zinna; the little flower head is about 12mm in diameter, i.e. magnification was about 0.5x which still is within the 
design range of that lens. Here now the visual shot:




The UV shot reveals that special pattern this flower shows:




UV fluorescence shows the intensive light of the pollen:




IR finally looks quite transparent:




Quite interesting how the very same flower appears in different wavebands!

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>