Sunday, May 24, 2009

On Butterfly (Lepidopterae) Vison

I have been asked about Lepidopterae (butterflies) and their trichromatic resp. tetrachromatic vision, i.e. to see like bees three colors (UV, Blue, Green) or even four colors (UV, Blue, Green, Red). The main difference to us is the ability to see ultraviolet (UV).

So this weekend I had a chance for a short trip to France/Alsace and visited Strassbourg and a private butterfly parc in that vicinity. I brought my equipment as well as my "Bee Vision" filter XBV2 with me, which turns out to also be a "Butterfly Vision" filter! Fortunately photography was allowed there but unfortunately no tripods so I had to shoot all handheld, which was quite tricky considering the relatively long exposure times needed (so it is not my usual quality).

So here now a selection of the outcome...

[click on image yields a larger one]

Butterfly resting (VIS=B+G+R):


Butterfly resting as seen with tetrachromatic vision (UV+B+G+R) using XBV2 filter:


Butterfly resting as seen with trichromatic vision (UV+B+G) using XBV2 filter:


There were also animals in that park,  one chameleon catched my attention due to the very prominent pattern: 

Chameleon (VIS=B+G+R):


Chameleon as seen with tetrachromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G+R) using XBV2 filter:


Chameleon as seen with trichromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G) using XBV2 filter:


Some decorative flowers at the entrance were an ideal subject to also show the different effects of having human or trichromatic resp. tetrachromatic insect vision, since two flowers happen to have a prominent UV pattern (one is Bidens). So if you were a butterfly, which flower would catch your attention?

Flowers (VIS=B+G+R):


Flowers as seen with tetrachromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G+R) using XBV2 filter:



Flowers as seen with trichromatic butterfly vision (UV+B+G) using XBV2 filter:


Of course all these tri- or tetrachromatic images are simulations only, trying to give an idea how that would look like, had we tri- or tetrachromatic vision including UV 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

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Invisible border

This is the invisible border. Invisible? Yes, of course - I made it visible! This is the region of a tiny Bidens petal where all of a sudden the UV reflection changes from bright to very dark at around 10x magnification. And that cannot be see at all in visible light; all we see is a beautiful bright yellow!

Shot using off the shelf D70, UV Rodagon 60mm lens, Baader U-filter, UV High Power Xenon Flash lamp.

[click on image yields a larger one]




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

Friday, May 15, 2009

More on Gazania ... Bee Vision etc.

More on Gazania today, a flower which starts to more and more fascinate me...

Shot using off the shelf D70, X35mm lens, UV High Power Xenon Flash lamp.

[click on image yields a larger one]

VIS shot:


UV shot using Baader-U filter (310-390nm):


UV shot using slightly blue leaking UG filter:


"Bee Vision" Filter XBV2 shot:


UV induced Flourescence shot:


IR Filter shot:



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

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Surprise Flower "South African Daisy" ... Bee Vision

Walked over a flower market some days ago, where this beautiful Gazania plant catched my eye. Had to get it of course and today it way time to see if there would be some surprises....and yes they were!

Shot using off the shelf D70, X35mm lens, UV LED lamp.

[click on image yields a larger one]

VIS shot:


UV shot using Baader-U filter (310-390nm):


"Bee Vision" Filter XBV shot:


It gets quite obvious, that this flower has a double (inner + petal tips) UV prominent pattern which it uses to attract pollinators. Both gets nicely visible in the UV and "Bee Vision" shot using these specialized filters + light source.

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

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Bidens ferulifolia Bee Vision video - one step beyond still photography

Well, I thought it would be about time to go one step beyond still photography and show it as video now!

[ click links to see the videos in 1280x720 resolution and 16:9 format]

Bidens ferulifolia VIS
Bidens ferulifolia VIS HD video



Bidens ferulifolia Bee Vision using XBV2 filter
Bidens ferulifolia Bee Vision HD video


I have not seen videos of flowers in ultraviolet (UV) before,  but the second video clearly shows that prominent UV pattern Bidens exhibits.  The spectrometric reflection measurement of such a flower clearly shows the UV reflection of the petal tip (white line), whereas the rest of the petal is  just bright yellow (turqouise line).


Using the XBV2 "Bee Vision" filter and an UV sensitive video camera, it is now possible using a UV transmitting lens (my X35 lens which allows up to 320nm in that case) and lightsource (ambient light plus my Nichia 365nm UV LED) to make that pattern visible - also in a video. So what you see in the 2nd video actually is a mapping of UV+B+G+R channels into our human visible B+G+R channels. [Since bees don't see red, the R channel could be (easily) suppressed in that 2nd video, but that hasn't been done here yet]

The XBV and XBV2 filters are my special development, so if that interest you, just ask me about it.

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