IR/UV photography

[DuncanE]

Its not something I'd do myself but has anyone ever tried to use IR or UV photos of animals birds etc?

[BruceP]

Are you talking Black & White or Colour IR photography?

Are you wanting to take the Image with IR filters or use IR lighting, or are you getting confused with thermal imaging?

The easiest way to produce IR images Digitally is in post processing.

Let us know what you actually want to do, as I'm sure I can find a tutorial.

[HowlinWolf]

Infra-red for wildlife photography? Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with it, but with mono you'll be restricted tonally, and with colour IR you will get false colour. I still shoot mono Kodak infra-red film using a Nikon F5, but this is purely for aesthetic reasons, and landscape subjects only. Your best bet is to adopt what BruceP suggests: do a conversion using software like Photoshop. That way, you will still have the colour original. With film, you'd be totally committed!
Check out the website of Bjørn Rørslett (see link). He specialises in this type of photography. It may be of some use to you.

HW

Nærfoto Bjørn Rørslett: Professional Nature Photographer

[GME]

Very interesting link HW. Some fascinating images

[ollyk]

I would love to know how you do U/V photography hehe that would be a first. Regarding above I think wildlife subjects are not great for IR but landscapes, when done properly can be stunning

[BruceP]

Originally Posted by ollyk

I would love to know how you do U/V photography hehe that would be a first. Regarding above I think wildlife subjects are not great for IR but landscapes, when done properly can be stunning

You can photograph things under UV lighting, and you may be amazed at how many things flouresce, or just look weired, that hard part though is not damaging your eyes with the UV light. In fact we have UV microscopes with cameras attached at work.

[ollyk]

Originally Posted by BruceP

You can photograph things under UV lighting, and you may be amazed at how many things flouresce, or just look weired, that hard part though is not damaging your eyes with the UV light. In fact we have UV microscopes with cameras attached at work.

True, but would items that fluoresce in the visible spectrum under UV light in any way represent the light a UV sensitive detector would pick up? The reason I ask this is that I know flowers look completely different to UV sensitive organisms (bees etc.). Would they look different again to us or a camera if excited by a UV source?

[DuncanE]

The reason I asked was that I thought of the "Life of Birds" programmes earlier and the film they showed of the birds in UV light. ie the whites glowing hot etc etc, and just wondered if anyone had tried it. of course its a false colour but some animals/ insects do see in IR/UV.

I'm not getting confused with the IR thermal imaging - have used this many times before - there is probably a video around somewhere of me in my "thermal best". Its amazing how the hotspots show places you don't want people to see! ...and see they did all 50 or so in a presentation!

I purposly kept it vague to see what responce I would get.

B&W IR is something that interests me but in landscape photography only - as HowlinWolf.

[eeyore]

Ive used IR for landscape photography (by fitting an IR only filter to my lens) if you are shooting digital you need to check that your sensor is IR receptive as not all are (you do this using an IR tv remote) - using film you need IR sensitive film and to check that you camera doesnt have an IR light in the film counter (you also need to load the film inside a changing bag) - Ive also mimciced the effect in photoshop which is probably easier than doing it live.

Ive also used IR lighting for nature photography (no filter on the lense , but IR only lights combined with darkness means that only the IR image is recorded) and also butchered a webcam to recieve IR for similr puposes

Ive never done anything with UV, principally due to the risk posed both to your eyes and to those of the subject by the lighting.

[BruceP]

Originally Posted by ollyk

True, but would items that fluoresce in the visible spectrum under UV light in any way represent the light a UV sensitive detector would pick up? The reason I ask this is that I know flowers look completely different to UV sensitive organisms (bees etc.). Would they look different again to us or a camera if excited by a UV source?

You are quite right, using UV lighting to cause flourescense will appear completely different to viewing something directly under UV lighting with a UV senstive sensor (? bees )

Using a UV sensor, the resolution of an image ultimately depends on the wavelength of light producing it—the shorter, the better. Ultraviolet radiation can probe smaller nooks and crannies than visible light, for example, which has a longer wavelength. Whether a bee can resolve to this level though I have no idea!

Maybe, I'll find a leaf at lunchtime and see what it looks like under a strong UV source.