Saturday, March 12, 2016

Gasometer Oberhausen Museum, Wonders of Nature Exhibit 2016 II

Been at the vernissage and grand opening of the exhibit "Wonders of Nature" at Gasometer Oberhausen Museum where I participate with some of my works. It will be open to the public from March 11, 2016 until December 30, 2016. An impressive location it is, the highest Museum in Germany (116m high, 66m wide) showing some amazing exhibit areas inside:



My contribution are some images of a Zinnia haageana flower in large prints, on display in their exhibition area below that globe, demonstrating the difference between our human vision, as well as a video presentation shown on LCD panel which originates from the BBC series "How to grow a planet - The hidden World of UV" which has several VIS and UV images of different flowers in it.


Gasometer Oberhausen, video presentation of my works: visible and ultraviolet images of the same flowers, showing nectar guides, invisible to us humans, but visible to bees!
Posted by Klaus Schmitt on Friday, March 11, 2016

Printed image in background, LCD video display in foreground:


approx 3m / 9ft wide image:


Zinnia haageana: Triptych Human Vision, UV, Simulated Bee Vision (left to right):  

The exhibit shows in total some 150 large images and video presentations by the most famous nature photographers and is not only visually stunning, but also highly educative and suited for interested individuals as well as families and schools. Go have a look, it will be well worth it!

There is also a book available about it: Wunder der Natur, Die Intelligenz der Schöpfung ISBN/EAN: 9783837514629 (in German language)

I have written about that exhibit previously HERE

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

Friday, March 4, 2016

Ducks in visible, infrared and simulated bee vision photography

Today about some duck shots I took on my trip to California, shot at Shoreline Park in Mountain Vew, CA in visible light, infrared as well as in simulated bee vision using my XBV6 filter. Lens was my CERCO 94mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was sun. All shots were done at f8.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Diptych: Human vision and infrared (left to right):


Diptych: Human vision and simulated bee vision (left to right):


These attractive birds shows some prominent patterns, also visible to bees, and all this gets nicely visible.

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

Bermuda Buttercup - Oxalis pes-caprae in reflected ultraviolet (UV) and photography and simulated bee vision

Today about a very common weed flower Bermuda Buttercup - Oxalis pes-caprae I shot shot at Mountain Vew, CA in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter as well as in simulated bee vision using my XBV6 filter. Lens was my CERCO 94mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was sun. All shots were done at f8.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Bermuda Buttercup - Oxalis pes-caprae in Human vision, reflected UV, simulated bee vision (left to right):


This attractive yellow weed flower shows quite a tricky UV pattern, as shown in the following enhanced reflected UV image, a UV bright ring set on a negative space around the dark in UV petals, hence massively increasing contrast. Plus you also see the pyramidal cells in this enhanced resolution image (UV gives approx. 1.6x higher resolution) , which allows pollinators a much better grip while being at the flower.
 

All this invisible to us humans, but visible to bees and butterflies, and all this gets nicely visible here.

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Californian flowers in visible, reflected UV and simulated bee vision photography

Today about some flower shots I took on my trip to California, shot at Shoreline Park in Mountain Vew, CA in reflected ultraviolet photography using my "work horse" UV filter, the Baader-U filter as well as in simulated bee vision using my XBV6 filter. Lens was my CERCO 94mm quartz fluorite lens. Light source was sun. All shots were done at f8.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Triptych: Hibiscus sp in Human vision, reflected UV, simulated bee vision (left to right):


Triptych: Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) in Human vision, reflected UV, simulated bee vision (left to right):


Triptych: Brassica sp in Human vision, reflected UV, simulated bee vision (left to right):


These attractive flowers shows their prominent UV patterns, invisible to us humans, but very visible to bees and butterflies and also hummingbirds which were feeding on them, and all this gets nicely visible.

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...