2d ago

the unseen worlds

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/glowing-flowers-ultraviolet-light?linkId=838005280

28 comments

Top left thing: "I bring you love!"
Lenny: "It's bringing love! Break its legs!"
Is this also how some animals see them?
- Yee. I saved this image for a Caption this.
  
  "Bird Vision activate!"
  Walks straight into glass door
  
  That's great! Any guesses what the bottom bars are about on either side of the 'heart thing'?
- Technically no, this photographer is putting flowers under a blacklight and photographing them, resulting in a picture of basically what a human would see IRL in that scenario (aside from things like contrast/exposure variances, etc). It's not really the same as what UV sensing animals would see. These photos are of regions of the flower converting UV light into human-visible visible light (via fluorescence, same thing as a blacklight poster). UV sensing animals are seeing actual ultraviolet being reflected by the flower as well as visible light, so it's not the same thing.
https://archive.is/2025.07.10-032920/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/glowing-flowers-ultraviolet-light
Ultraviolet induced visible fluorescence photography
Sounds complicated, but it's just shining UV light on an object in a dark room and taking a normal photo with long exposure. If you want to be pure about only picturing visible light, you might need a UV filter, since many cameras can already see a bit of UV despite inbuilt filters.
How to DIY.
Flowers? Banal. Boring. Do hotdog!
- Hotdog? Banal. Boring. Do a kickflip
Was wondering why this sounded familiar, saw the article was from 7 years ago (2018) and now I understand, lol.
What if the subjectisn't a flower? Skin cancer?
- It’s just a normal “black light” like at a dance party, or mini golf course, or like the little flashlights they use to check money and ID cards.
- Depends on the wavelength. Could be skin cancer, vitamin D, nothing, or your manicure is done
I need to get a UV filter for my camera...
- You don't need a filter. You need a source of UV light. Plants shine in visible spectrum after being treated with UV. It doesn't last long tho.
  
  I got a full spectrum converted nex6 in April so I've been looking around at filters
  
  Isn't the sun a source of UV light?
- I need to get UV cone surgery for my eyes. I want to be able to see these colors naturally, not have them fluoresce into a spectrum of colors I already can see.
That is just remarkable. Augmented glasses that can process this spectrum IRL when? So cool the things just beneath it all
- just get yourself a UV flashlight, or bring some flowers to your nearest laser tag arena. this is just how stuff looks under blacklight sometimes (which isn't to say it isn't cool, just that you don't need fancy tech to see it),

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