Jump to content
UltravioletPhotography

Why do you shoot UV?


Recommended Posts

Hi!

 

I was thinking to start this topic and ask this question. :D

 

It's a lots of fun to shoot UV, but it's also a very expensive way of photography. Even if you use one of the "accidental" lenses, the camera conversion and the filters are not on the cheap side. So it makes me wonder why would anyone ever bother to do it? Well as I am a hobby UV shooter it sounds a bit funny for me asking this, but actually I kept asking this question myself as well...

 

For me UV (and IR) is a way of art. I find it fascinating to bring out a world that we have absolutely no chance to see. It's like a travel to a different planet :D Also people look so much different in UV / VIS / IR and to me it's really like magic. I always liked to experiment different things. I've first met IR photography around 2007 and soon I invested in a Panasonic FZ-50, just to get it converted. I was always thinking about trying UV, but seeing the UV-Pass filter prices I always gave up. When I read Bjorn's website (my father was a Nikon user and any time he wanted to buy a lens he always read his reviews first... I can say he's a fanboy LOL) I get more and more tempted to invest in a UV filter. Then when I upgraded my Invi-Shoot ™ equipment from the Panasonic FZ-50 to the Sony NEX-6, I finally decided to bite the bullet and acquire a UV-Pass filter set. With the help of uviroptics on eBay I ended up with a Hoya U-360 and a Schott BG-40 (67mm x 1mm both) and with the help of this forum a few UV capable lenses (as of now my favourite is the E. Ludwig Meritar 50mm f2.9 Exakta Silver version and recently the Meyer-Gorlitz Primotar 135mm f3.5 for it's unique rendering, even if it's UV capabilities are a bit low).

 

So as you can see for me it's pure hobby and I only do it for the artistic value the different rendering holds. :D

 

How about you? Why do YOU shoot UV?

 

post-61-0-93287800-1462459930.jpg

A dandelion in grass

Shot with the Meritar :)

Link to comment
Bill De Jager

I haven't been... recently. But I have in the past and I'm looking forward to doing so again. The reasons below also apply to IR.

 

First, curiosity. It's fun to just watch live view and see UV streaming in through the windows- yet, it really does get inside! Or to see how different or rather similar many things look compared to their usual appearance.

 

Second, the coolness factor of photographing in invisible wavelengths and seeing what nobody else around me is seeing, and what I myself have almost never seen before.

 

Third, the challenge.

 

Fourth, the fascinating technical intricacies which I still have so much to learn about.

 

Fifth, the lens world turned topsy-turvy, with otherwise mediocre lenses suddenly desirable and vice versa.

 

Sixth, the way that photographing in invisible wavelengths can make the commonplace special or even amazing.

Link to comment
For me it is primarily the exploration of an artistic frontier--with the added bonus that the images I make might actually say interesting and real things about the subject matter. This is in contrast to merely jiggering image parameters in Photoshop, which may produce images that are at least as surreal but from which I learn relatively little. Unlike many here, I am not an invisible-light specialist, and most of my best images are conventional; but the unknown and unexpected always beckons.
Link to comment

Reason one - scientific interest in documenting animal vision (although my main research animals can barely differentiate light from darkness...).

Reason two - artistic interest in displaying invisible or partially visible (some people can see near-UV) in pictorial form.

Reason three - great opportunities for tinkering with lenses and cameras.

Link to comment

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...