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UltravioletPhotography

[Filter Test] BugU3, Hoya 330 Stack, Schott UG5 Stack: UV+Blue+Green Filters


Andrea B.

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While the jar of grocery store Helianthus was in prime condition, I made some "insect vision" photos using three UV+Blue+Green-pass filters: the Uviroptics BugU3, the Hoya U330 and the Schott UG-5.

 

During this shoot the sunlight was variable, so please do not read anything into exposure times.

 

When presenting the raw composite versions of the finished photos, I have added a bit of sharpening and BW-point adjustment so the raws don't look so bland. That might be cheating a bit on the notion of a raw composite, but it does look a lot better. :rolleyes:

 

Equipment [Nikon D610-broadband + Nikon 105/4.5 UV-Nikkor]

 

Visible Reference [f/11 for 1/80" @ ISO-100 with Baader UV/IR-Cut Filter]

helianthus_vis_sun_20170907wf_6477pn01.jpg

 

Ultraviolet Reference [f/11 for 15" @ ISO-100 with Uviroptics LuvU2 UV-Pass Filter]

Repeat: The sunlight was quite variable. I had other exposures with the LuvU2 which were 4" at f/11 and ISO-100. This version was the sharpest, so it was the one I chose to convert. The LuvU2 has a nice false blue component which can be brought out as I did here. I also gave the yellow a very small saturation boost.

helianthus_uvLuvU2_sun_20170907wf_6504pn2pn2.jpg

 

 

 

UV+Blue+Green [f/11 for 1/2.5" @ ISO-100 with Uviroptics BugU3 Filter]

After white balance and a little nudge on the color wheel, the BugU3 can produce a cyan-orange false colour combination. There are other possibilities.

helianthus_uvBG_bugU3_sun_20170907wf_6530pn.jpg

 

UV+Blue+Green [Raw composite for the preceding BugU3 Filter]

There are two distinct colours here, so you can see why it makes sense that a two-colour final rendition can be extracted from this. Push the blue background towards blue-cyan and push the magenta flower tips towards red/orange.

helianthus_uvBG_bugU3_sun_20170907wf_6530rawCompPn.jpg

 

 

 

UV+Blue+Green [f/11 for 4" @ ISO-100 with Hoya U330 (1.5mm) + Schott S8612 (2.0mm) Filter Stack]

Typically I would expect this U330 stack to have the same exposure time as the UG-5 stack (next), but I had that variable sunlight thing going on.

helianthus_uvBG_u330-15_s8612-2_sun_20170907wf_6570pn.jpg

 

UV+Blue+Green [f/11 for 3" @ ISO-100 with Schott UG-5 (1.5mm) + Schott S8612 (2.0mm) Filter Stack]

helianthus_uvBG_ug5-15_s8612-2_sun_20170907wf_6559pn.jpg

 

 

 

UV+Blue+Green [Raw composites of the two preceding photos]

The raw composites of the photos made with the U330 and UG-5 filter stacks are slightly different. But the finished photos can be made almost identical, as just seen. Here is a comparison of the two raw composites.

helianthus_uvBG_ug5-u330composite.jpg

 

UV+Blue+Green [Histograms of the two preceding UV+Blue+Green photos]

If you expand your browser, these two histograms will appear side-by-side.

There is so little difference between the UG-5 and the U330 when used in a stack for recording UV+B+G. There are some minor differences in saturation and possibly contrast which amount to nothing after editing. Maybe the U330 records a bit more red, but it does not seem to make much difference either. Note that the blue channel oversaturates very quickly for both filters.

helianthus_uvBG_u330-15_s8612-2_sun_20170907wf_6570histo01.jpghelianthus_uvBG_ug5-15_s8612-2_sun_20170907wf_6559histo01.jpg

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Andrea, The UV and BUG U 3 shots are simply some of the best such shot of sunflowers I have ever seen. You are a very good photographer.

The UG5 and U-330 stacks, I had forgot that sunflowers are not rudbeckias, and therefore don't have quite as much color saturation... nor differentiation between the yellow and green as do rudbeckias,

but all of these are very well done. I am very impressed by your #2 and #3 shots for sure.

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Well, thank you Cadmium!

*****

 

I totally agree that the UG5 and U-330 are a bit lacking in differentiation between the green and yellow. I think what happens is that one's eyes get very tired when processing such strong saturated colours. So we miss seeing some things until we revisit a conversion at a later time. Anyway, *I* certainly do miss seeing some things sometimes!!

 

Here is one of the UG5 photos re-worked. I slightly brightened the yellow and slightly darkened the green. Added a little bit of sat. I also pulled the associated green hues "together" using the Photo Ninja Colour Enhancement Hue Affinity slider for the green patch. Setting that to something past 50 (70 in this particular case) drew the greens away from the yellows a bit. And I eased up on the PN Shadows slider which I have a tendency to overdo.

Looks a little better now.

helianthus_uvBG_ug5-15_s8612-2_sun_20170907wf_rework.jpg

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Oh that is lovely! Now it looks like a rudbeckia. :-)

The UG5/U-330 don't look as good as strong with sunflowers usually, as they do with rudbeckias.

Have you tried the UG5/U-330 shots white balanced using NX-D?

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Here is an initial attempt with NX-D. Doesn't look too good. But then I'm not too good myself when using NX-D. :rolleyes: The false green still looks too bright. But NX-D doesn't have any tool to fix that.

helianthus_uvBG_ug5-15_s8612-2_sun_20170907wf_6559nxd.jpg

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