What is UVIVF photography?

Ultraviolet-Induced Visible Fluorescence (UVIVF) is a process in which given wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation are absorbed by a material’s molecules, causing them to achieve an excited state. Through this, fluorescent materials reach an unstable excited state and lose small amounts of energy through other mechanisms until they can drop to a suitable ground state by releasing a photon of a specific energy and wavelength. Since energy was lost before the remainder was released as a photon, the wavelength of that photon is longer than the stimulating source, which means an ultraviolet light is able to produce dramatic visible fluorescence.

This phenomenon is commonplace enough that everyone has likely seen it in some fashion. The way a white T-shirt glows blue under a blacklight, the way a piece of printer paper gets bright in the sun, and even fluorescent light bulbs all result from the same process. The main difference is the subject and intensity of the ultraviolet light source.

Though a camera can see some ultraviolet, a normal camera has a built-in filter which blocks the great majority of infrared and ultraviolet light. By using a light source with a wavelength shorter than 400nm, one can eliminate most of the ultraviolet, allowing just the fluorescent light to create an image. This means that all the light in the photograph is originating from within the subject itself!

Is this how bees and butterflies see light?

There’s little direct correlation between UVIVF photography and the way butterflies and bees see light. Butterflies, bees, some birds, and even reindeer see ultraviolet light reflected from what they are looking at, mixed in with whatever portion of the visible spectrum they are capable of seeing. Honeybees for example do not see red light which tells you that red flowers are intended for other pollinators such as birds or beetles.

In contrast, well-done UVIVF photography actually must reject as much ultraviolet light as possible from the camera’s sensor, instead imaging strictly the visible light emitted from the subject.

There are likely to be some small commonalities, such as flowers nectar guides and pollen absorbing UV (which would then appear dark in reflected-UV) and radiating that energy as visible light. Given that my UVIVF is done with a specific wavelength when the UV spectrum is even wider than the visible light humans can see, the actual crossover between the two worlds is extremely minimal and is far from a prediction of insect-vision, which has a whole separate category of photography dedicated to it.

What equipment do you use for UVIVF photography?

For UVIVF I use 365nm LED light sources. It is possible to use any wavelength of ultraviolet, such as a common 395/405nm light, but you would need to take the camera’s sensitivity, and your own body’s sensitivity into account. For anyone looking to try the technique themselves I recommend purchasing a Convoy S2+ with Nichia LED and some form of UV-bandpass filter such as Schott UG11 or Hoya U340.

What is false-color infrared photography?

False-color infrared photography is done using a modified camera which has the built-in filter removed and replaced, allowing the sensor to record in its full range of sensitivity. Since cameras are only made to photograph red, green, and blue light, the infrared light has no specific color it should be in the camera. Instead, the infrared is unevenly mixed into those 3 colors, which creates a colored impression of infrared light, hence being called ‘false-color.’ By exploiting this characteristic of digital cameras, one can greatly influence the way infrared light should appear, whether blue, green, pink, or yellow, some of the most common colors for infrared in this type of photography.