A few UV portraits

[nfoto]

I might as well post a handful of UV portraits to show the range of UV appearance of fair-skinned people. All are informal work captured with a hand-held Panasonic GH-2 (broad-band modified), Baader U 2 (Venus) filter, and the Coastal Optics 60 mm f/4 APO lens. At the time the aim was simply to show various co-workers how they were rendered in UV.

 

 

 

 

 

The last picture indicates the efficacy of a sun lotion ....

[Damon]

Bjorn, that's fantastic and some willing subjects who I suppose you did not fill them in on all the details of what UV photography exposes. :P It makes me think even more that Andrea was right and that I underexposed my friend. What is the deal with the purple teeth? Also the bluish hair is interesting. Artifact of the sensor I guess. I can see through their glasses so I suppose that means they are not blocking UV? I am going to try to get some co-workers next week to dive in.

 

I discovered something really cool today regarding my flash setup thanks to you guys. I wil share later. Sufffice to say I as able to capture UV at 1/1250s and maybe even higher but I had to change gears and clean the deck as we are having guest over tomorrow. I tried to tell my wife that this is more important but for some reason she has not come around on that yet.

 

-D

[nfoto]

Actually, they were eager to see whether what I already told them of UV response could come out true.

 

The glasses are ordinary ones not sunshades. UV shows dental work pretty clearly. The colour palette is our familiar one so hair coming out bluish is for 'real' (if that notion applies to false colours).

 

It is interesting that I managed hand-held shots of these subjects. ISO 160-400, f/4, and shutter speeds up to 1/30 sec. The Coastal 60 is peaking in performance at f/5.6 (Brian Caldwell told me this and being its optical designer he should know), but near equally sharp wide open.

[Damon]

Good stuff to know--thanks.

I was going to say earlier how crazy sharp those photos are--the 1st 3 especially. You must have some steady hands for 1/30 and get pics that sharp. Since I got my flash to get me some shutter speeds now, I thought-great now I can handhold a bunch of shots. But then I realized that I can't see what I am taking so how did you manage to know they were in focus? Faster shutter speeds will help me in slight wind etc. but I guess I will never be able to accurately handhold anything with the D70. That lens is simply amazing.

 

-D

[nfoto]

I used a modified Panasonic GH-2 and had the Baader U2 inserted into the mount adapter (rear filtration). No problem using LiveView to focus the lens. Keeping a steady hand at 1/30 sec is not always easy, and your subjects may well move on their own.

[Damon]

Ahh ole live view. That must be nice!

 

-D

[nfoto]

There is also an EVF for the Panasonic of course which could be used, but I don't like these so prefer Liveview with these cameras (I also have one body set up for UV video).