Well, here comes my first try showing some of my work regarding reflected ultraviolet (UV) photography as well as simulated (tetrachromatic/trichromatic) butterfly and bee vision.

Humans see blue, green and red, whereas butterflies can see UV, blue, green and red and bees see UV, blue and green only. So I developed a method to make that visible by mapping their color space into ours we can see.

This is a Apache beggarticks - Bidens ferulifolia flower as an example.

Human Vision (400-750nm):


Reflected Ultraviolet (300-400nm):


Simulated Butterfly Vision (300-700nm):


Simulated Bee Vision (300-600nm):


Quadriptych to compare:


It gets quite obvious that this Bidens flower has a prominent UV pattern, completely invisible to us humans.
Its petal tips are UV bright around 365nm, its center is quite UV dark, thus serving as a landing guide (nectar guide)
for bees which gets nicely visible also in the simulated vision images.

I won't go into the details of how to achieve this here, as it is shown in detail on my Blog (last link in my signature)

[PJ1]

Interesting shots. I like the way you have shown these differences. I had noticed when photographing some small parrots here that some of the blue colour on them fluoresced a bit in the digital image although it was not visible to the naked eye. That was with a K10D so the sensor must have been catching something just outside the visible range. I guess the nm range of sensors is buried somewhere in the technical data.

[manntax]

Fascinating work! Thank you for sharing these awesome photographs !

I know it might not be seen as relevant by some - but it does spring to mind nevertheless... I get the impression that whereas the human vision is clearly designed for appreciation of the beauty of these flowers, for they reflect in visible spectrum the most appealing combination of colours - I perceive the way that bees, butterflies and other insects sees as a clear evidence that they have been designed to see only what's necessary to perform their intended actions.

Somehow these flowers have matching areas that clearly are the most attractive to those insects - and it gives me the impression like they have been deliberately marked with circles similar to landing places for those insects. One could clearly see how both the flowers and the animars have by design matching properties. And yes I believe in creation and the Designer who stands behind all of that

,,,
' >' manntax

[calculator01]

Cool! Thanks for sharing. Can you duplicate what my cats see? I feel like they don't appreciate the sweaters I knit them.I think it is the colors.

[kds315]

Thanks guys!

About animal vision incl. how cats see, have a look here: How Animals See the World - Issue 11: Light - Nautilus