UV1 028   (15 of 18)   View Original Image

First Ultraviolet Photography Experiments  -  I modified a camera so that it could shoot in ultraviolet (though some visible light is not being filtered out). I expected to see the phenomena one notices with IR photography wherein there are obvious differences in the color and reflectiveness that the camera picks up, but I was fascinated by two things that I immediately noticed about plants. First, if you look closely on some of the plants 'fields' of color change that are normally unseen (or blended in with what is around them) appear. Note the leaves in 009 and the obvious and intense differences in coloration in the budding flowers (I suspect that this phenomena would be much more prevalent on the plants if they were shot in spring). The second unusual thing I noticed was that flowers of the same species had petals that were colored (nearly) the same way in UV even if they were different colors in visible light. The flowers on the ground, for instance, are colored red, pink, and white in 'real' life. In UV they are all violet. The potted plants in 018 are dark red, light red, and dark, rusty brown in real life. In UV they are all goldenrod. Another, less obvious, phenomena is that some flowering plants, in UV, are the same color as their stalks. Note the various all yellow plants (which are many colors in visible light). My theory: All of the flowering plants must look similar in UV so that they will be fertilized by insects. If they have the varying colors that humans have selected for for their eyes the insects might be less likeky to harvest pollen from them and then spread genetic material between plants. The color differences that humans have bred the plants for are not visible to the insects. At the same time, however, plants that are producing fresh pollen have the deep, almost neon blue color so that they can attract insects. Humans cannot see this.

James Dinnerville  

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