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UltravioletPhotography

Hi, everyone!


Andy Perrin

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Hi, all. I’ve been lurking on your extremely helpful forum here for a year or so. I'm 37, American, and I have a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, in computational fluid mechanics. I’m a near beginner in photography generally — I’ve never owned an SLR (though I’ve used one), and my current UV setup is a self-modified Nikkon CoolPix E995 with the IR blocker removed according to the instructions on Life Pixel, with an 18mm 330WB70 filter from Omega Optical that I got on eBay.

 

I’ve also made several infrared- and UV-enabled iPhone 4’s by replacing the backplate of the phone with ones containing an embedded piece of Hoya RM-72 and UV 12.5mm filters from Omega. Aside from those, I do landscape thermography using my FLIR cameras (and a lot of Photoshop).

I'm mainly interested in photographing landscapes and buildings overall, although in UV I've done the usual flowers (who hasn't?).

 

My experimental goals are to photograph in as many different spectral bands as I can afford, and also to get into computational imaging, hyperspectral imaging, and light field photography. I have a cheap Lytro that I plan to modify at some point for UV, if it's possible to do so.

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Some pics! (All have been extensively postprocessed in Photoshop and other programs.)

 

With the CoolPix E995 and 330WB70 (I think this is Potentilla Reptans L., but with the frankly terrifying amount of botanical knowledge floating about on this site, I'd rather not be too dogmatic about that!):

post-94-0-90158300-1451942977.jpg

post-94-0-18600700-1451943112.jpg

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Welcome. I look forward to seeing more landscape work. The Lytro conversion sounds like quite a challenge, as I do not know if the microlenses transmit UV very well. OTOH, a plenoptic flower macro in UV would be something formidable indeed.
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Thank you! I have no idea if the Lytro will be possible. It's going to be luck of the draw, but I'm hoping that since it is (in some ways) rather cheaply made, it will be more likely to transmit UV. Even unmodified, it definitely transmits IR (I managed to get a cruddy IR photo with my NEEWER IR720 filter).

 

Here is my standard test photo that I use with new cameras and filters. The bandwidths written on there should be taken with plenty of salt (they are based on the spectra provided with the filters by Omega Optical, and I am sure my setup does not pass all the way to 350nm).

Far infrared pic is with a FLIR i7 (8-13 microns)

Visible is with iPhone 5S

Near IR and Blue/UV, are with Hoya R72 and Omega 400AF30 filters and the modified iPhone 4,

and the UV one is with the Nikon Coolpix 995 and Omega 330WB70.

post-94-0-03318600-1451957683.jpg

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Hello Andy and Welcome to UVP !! We are always happy to have another UV photographer.

 

I love it that you converted your Coolpix 995. I surely did love mine when I owned it.

And how cool that you are modding iPhones!!

 

We will certainly look forward to your experiments and posts. While we are small in membership, we do get a lot of readers and I'm sure they will enjoy any write-ups of your investigations.

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I have a bunch of assorted newbie questions for whoever is kind enough to answer them. I hope these can go in this thread? Most of these probably have brief answers.

 

1) This has really been baffling me — what is the relationship between this forum and the subforum on Fotozones? I see at least some of the same people in both places, and I'm kind of unsure why there are two forums for the same group. Is the Fotozones subforum the predecessor to this forum? Are some of the threads here copies of the ones there? Which site gets more traffic?

 

2) I'm in the midst of assembling a better UV setup. I've got a full spectrum Sony NEX-7 now, but I'm in the midst of selecting lenses, adapters, and a filter. I have some selections I would love to run by the community here in hopes that if I'm making any egregiously bad decisions they can be caught before I put money down. If that's okay, where should I put that thread?

 

3) I notice that when people post pictures here, they nearly always give details about the gear and settings. How are you keeping track of those? Are you extracting the from the file metadata? How do you remember what lens you used? Also, for post-processing, how to you recall what your workflow was for a particular image? In the shots above, I have a only my own vague memory of what I did to process them at this point, and I was wondering how professionals keep track of it all.

 

Thank you again for anyone who has answers for these!

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1)

We used to hang out on Fotozones. But Bjørn and I wanted a botanical reference website for our floral UV signatures, so we started UltravioletPhotography.com a couple of years ago. The current site grew from that.

 

Bjørn and some friends about 6 months ago started a new general photography forum Nikongear.net.

So neither of us have been hanging out on Fotozones any longer.

 

I would imagine that Fotozones has more general photographic traffic, but the UV/IR board there seems fairly inactive these days. We have a small but responsive audience here. Although please note that sometimes the responses may not happen immediately - especially during the active shooting seasons.

 

I also now maintain the various "Stickies" here on UVP and just have links to them posted on Fotozones in their UVIR board.

 

BTW, you certainly can post in multiple sites as you want to. We have several members who post to their own websites and blogs and then drop by UVP to discuss other topics or offer comments to existing posts or to post a summary of results detailed elsewhere.

 

2)

Be sure to check our Lens Sticky for a huge list of UV-capable lenses. But also please start a thread in the Tests & Techniques section to ask any specific questions or to run any lens choices past everyone for comments.

 

3)

Posters making a formal post in one of the sections requiring a formatted post do keep track of what lenses and filters they are using. Various methods are employed such as file names or folder names or simply dated text notes stored along with your photos.

 

I typically name my UV/IR files with identifying information so I can track the filter and illumination. The photo file's EXIF provides a record of other stuff like focal length, exposure and other data. Sometimes I store photo sets in a folder named to indicate what lens was used. For some photos, whenever I see the focal length I know immediately what lens I've used. Example: If I see 105mm in the EXIF of a UV file, I know immediately that I've used the 105/4.5 UV-Nikkor.

 

My typical file name might look like this:

gazaniaRigens_UG11S8612_SB140_20151103yellowstoneNpWy_34709.nef

That indicates, in order, subject, filters, illumination, date, location and shutter actuation. The shutter actuation as a final number is simply used to give the file something unique to its name. You could use a sequence number or anything else.

 

****************

 

Now about editing (or "post processing") - how do we keep track of it?

 

Basically, when converting and editing a UV photograph, I have already worked out base presets which I initially apply to a raw file and then tweak from there as needed. What is specifically done need not be remembered as long as you have some basic approach to your editing workflow. After all there are only so many things you can do to a photo file. Nevertheless, in (at least two) converter/editors all edits to a raw file are preserved either in the raw file itself or in a "sidecar" file.

 

For example, when converting and editing in Capture NX2 for my Nikon raw files, the edit steps are written directly into the raw NEF file, so there is no need to try to remember. All you have to do is re-open the raw file in NX2.

 

Similarly, when converting and editing in Photo Ninja for any files, the editing is preserved in the slider settings and stored in an XML "sidecar" file which is saved in a sub-folder, so again to see your edits all you do is re-open the raw file in PN.

 

For UV photos an essential part of the base preset is the white balance and colour correction. These settings are usually measured and saved separately on a per-camera/lens/illumination basis and later incorporated in to larger presets.

 

I hope these answers help a little bit. Please do ask more questions as needed in the UVIR Tests & Techniques section. :D

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Forgot to mention: You can record all kinds of information in the IPTC of photo file. Various viewers or editors support IPTC editing. For example, Photo Mechanic, which I use to import, name, sort and rank my files has a superb IPTC editor with configurable fields. Once you make a template for a particular photo set, you can batch apply it.

I'm offering Photo Mechanic only as an example. As mentioned, many other apps support IPTC editing.

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Thanks for typing all that out! I'm very glad of the detail, especially for the last two questions. My file names were starting to look like that recently, but had only evolved as far as <descriptor><filter/spectrum><unique number>, like "maple leaf IR720 1.jpg" and "Potentilla fruticosa L. UV 3.jpg." Yours looks like the logical conclusion of that process.
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We have to be thankful that looooong file names are acceptable these days !! :lol:

 

BTW, Andy, that is a lovely building in your photos. What can you tell me about it?

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To what Andrea already has written: keep notes, if possible extract necessary data from EXIF (one of many reasons for me initiating a CPU project for non-CPU enabled lenses many years ago), build a viable archive and retrieval system, and in general, describe all procedures followed. For UV having reliable tools such as UV-neutral w/b standards, Color Passport, etc. is necessary and these tools should be used at all times. Build repeatable procedures and shooting setups so you arrive at the final results by a well-described, not random, process.

 

Whether you put the meta data into a database or use [parts of] them for a descriptive über-long file name is immaterial. If you shoot say botanical specimens, you also should make it a habit of obtaining documentary footage of the plant in visible light to aid in the later identification.

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With regard to the question of the UV/IR forum on Fotozones, that forum is no longer actively used by many of its former contributors. Why this has happened is of no relevance and only serves as a background to why the significant material is posted elsewhere, for example, on UVP.

 

Do take into account that while members of UVP are most willingly sharing their vast experience in a surprising range of fields, we are few and stuff might go under the radar for some time. Just be persistent and ask again if required.

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Andrea, the building is in Brighton Center (Boston, Massachusetts) and it's called the Washington building or Rourke's building:

Also known as Rourke's Building, by the mid-'20s J.M. Rourke's Drug Store was housed in the Washington Building's corner store. Still located in this commercial space, Rourke's Drug Store retains the appearance of an early 20th century pharmacy and soda fountain. By 1930, tenants of the Washington and Imperial Buildings included Dennis F. Rourke, Drugs, Brighton Beauty Shoppe, Francis P. Devlin, dentist, James E. Devlin, dentist, Arthur R. Falvey, dentist and Estella N. Tierney,dressmaker.

— from the Brighton-Allston Historical Society website.

 

Thanks, nfoto.

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Is that fairly close to Cambridge? I keep thinking I've seen this building. But it's been a couple of years, so memories are fading.
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Sort of. If you go down either street shown in the photo, then in about 2 or 3 miles you'll be in Cambridge. (Actually the street parallel to the crosswalk is Washington St. which turns into Cambridge St. a few hundred feet down the road from there.)
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