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UltravioletPhotography

Papilio glaucus [Eastern Tiger Swallowtail]


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The female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) has two variations (morphs)

  • yellow with black tiger stripes and a blue wash on the upper hind wings
  • dark grey or black with darker tiger stripes and also a blue wash on upper hind wings

Ref: http://www.naba.org/...s#phototable-11

 

We'll have to use that North American Butterfly Association link for a visible reference on those two morphs because I was only photographing in UV when I caught this yellow female E. Tiger on the buddleia bush this afternoon.

 

In UV it looks like the yellow E. Tiger has switched to her dark morph. Cool thing to discover. cool.png

This was the only good(?) photo. It was made when I attempted a little movie.

easternTigerSwallowtail_uvBaader_sun_co60_20180814wf_13102301.jpg

 

I was at ISO-1600 and stayed at f/5.6, but that did not quite permit fast enough speeds. And I couldn't manually focus fast enough - drat !! laugh.png It was still great fun to try.

easternTigerSwallowtail_uvBaader_sun_co60_20180814wf_130228.jpg

 

 

Most butterfly wings are iridescent. Compare that first photo to these which seem to be slightly more UV-reflective.

easternTigerSwallowtail_uvBaader_sun_co60_20180814wf_13083701.jpg

 

 

easternTigerSwallowtail_uvBaader_sun_co60_20180814wf_13123201.jpg

 

 

The underside of the wings seems to be a bit more UV-reflective.

easternTigerSwallowtail_uvBaader_sun_co60_20180814wf_13041301.jpg

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Yeah, I know. I just read that the IP Board software devs are planning to add inline video in some future release. So I will try to be on the lookout for that.

 

Hotlinked Vimeos play here should anyone want to use that site. I think I might have a login there from long ago, so I should check.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I meant to respond earlier, but I didn't think video would be possible with Badder U. Enjoyed seeing this video !!
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Thanks!

It does require good, strong sunlight. :D The Lumix Gees are so good for UV video. That little GH1 conversion of mine is really showing its age in many ways, but I just can't quite give it up yet.

 

I should try this with the Nikon D610 just to see what I could get. Will do!!!

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I only wish my D3200 could render UV tones like that.

If it's a converted camera, it should. You need to have a UV capable lens from the sticky, though (or other, if you can find one, but the sticky lenses are sure bets). The images I've seen from you look like the lens is probably the limitation. There is also the need to properly white balance.

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Andy, do you mean that you wish the D3200 would render those colors or the lights and darks?
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eye4invisible

If it's a converted camera, it should.

Yes, it's full spectrum converted.

 

You need to have a UV capable lens from the sticky, though (or other, if you can find one, but the sticky lenses are sure bets). The images I've seen from you look like the lens is probably the limitation.

Not really. I get the same magenta colour cast whether I use my kit lens or my EL-Nikkor 80mm.

 

There is also the need to properly white balance.

Yes, especially for video, but again it's very difficult to set a CWB on my D3200, regardless of which lens is attached. I normally set my camera to monochrome just to get rid of the magenta cast in UV video. Only yellow seems to make it through, and even then I need to reduce the magenta and boost the yellow by tweaking the HSL in Lightroom.

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Ok, the problem is 100% a white balance issue. You don't have to do the white balance in camera. There is software for doing it offline. PhotoNinja does nicely for stills. Adobe does not work at all. I don't know about Lightroom, but it sounds like a "no."
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eye4invisible

Yes, I use Nikon's own Capture NX-D for stills, export to TIFF, then finish tweaking in Lightroom.

 

There may be some trick in Adobe Premiere for video, but I haven't discovered it yet.

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Well your problem is not your camera anyway. You can probably get demo versions of various programs and try them out. I don’t have much interest in video so I haven’t got a program handy to play with it in. But definitely anything marketed as being for “color grading” which is the video term for color adjustments should have some control over white balance.
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Andy B, you can set an in-camera white balance in a Nikon which considerably lessens the red/magenta problem. Here are two examples.

 

Crop, sharpening. (Although it doesn't look too sharp here, does it? Hmm.....)

rudbeckiaHirta_uvBaader_sun_20180729shoreCottageSwhME_13671pfInCamWB.jpg

 

Crop, no edits.

mushroom_uvBaader_sun_20180822wf_13947.jpg

 

If you are interested, I'll write up the method.

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I have never had any success with in camera WB with my full spectrum Nikon D3200; tried various different approaches, lenses and filters. So would be interested to find out.

 

I do white balance in Lightroom using a calibration file to get it roughly right and then the usual tools to get it right. This works pretty well. I think that other software produces a slightly better result, but the conviencence of staying within the Lr workflow is good with this method. If anyone want the calibration file contact me via personal message (I cant guarantee it will work for other cameras though)

 

Re video I have found the tools in VLC player to be good and then I have been able to record the playback using tools provided with my graphics card. Not ideal, but I havent yet found a good solution for WB UV video.

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http://www.ultravioletphotography.com/content/index.php/topic/2209-crazy-white-balance-trick-for-converted-full-spectrum-nikon-dslrs/

 

So as it happens, I had already written up the procedure for creating a more useful in-camera WB for converted Nikons. Try it and let me know if it is useful to you. I've found it to be very useful, but it may not meet everyone's needs?

 

I did some re-writing of that topic to clarify the procedure and to try to clean up the terminology.

 

(You can comment at the end of the linked article, please.)

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