22 replies to this topic

[UlfW]

The Tussilago is special to me, as it was the very first flower I tried to take UV-pictures of.
One day when I was out taking NIR-pictures in the late spring of 2017 I saw a tussilago and decided to try UV-imaging of flowers.
I had a Baader U and filters to make BUG3 and BUG5-stacks.
Due to fumbling the UV image was not well i focus. The best one was from the BUG3-stack. (S8612, 2mm + BG3, 2mm)

Camera: Canon EOS 60D, Lens: EL Nikkor Nippon Kogaku 80mm, Filter: BUG3-Stack

I think the green patterns on the closed floretts are quite interesting. It is not visible in the pure UV images.

Fast forward to the spring of 2020:
A 25% crop:

Camera: Sony A7III, Lens: Novoflex Staeble Katagon 4,5 / 60 mm, Filter: BUG3-Stack, Illumination 2x Godox AD200 with quartz tubes. Four Images stacked with Zerene Stacker

A 100% crop


A pure UV image show IMHO less interesting information
A 25% crop:

Camera: Sony A7III, Lens: Novoflex Staeble Katagon 4,5 / 60 mm, Filter: S8612, 2mm + U-360, 2mm, Illumination 2x Godox AD200 with quartz tubes. Four Images stacked with Zerene Stacker

A 100% crop


These images are from me starting to use focus stacking for UV and unfortunately the pure UV image is slightly out of focus.
I have no idea of the correct names of the different reproductive plant parts in this flower.

Edited by UlfW, 03 February 2021 - 12:28.

[Andy Perrin]

It came out wonderfully sharp with the stacking and such nice colors!

I prefer the pure UV. Possibly I am not seeing all the colors in the BUG images due to my vision but they seem to have less color contrast than the UV to me.

Edited by Andy Perrin, 03 February 2021 - 08:58.

[nfoto]

The Daisy Family (Asteraceae) has quite complex floral arrangements. So no wonder you are "lost for descriptive terms" here. The illustration below (lifted from the ever so helpful Wikipedia) might illustrate some of the pecularities.

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Schemes and floral diagrams of the different flower types (Leucanthemum vulgare agg.): a – disc flower; b – ray flower. 1 – style with stigmas; 2 – anthers; 3 – corolla (petals), in the ray flower three petals are joined to form a strap (in other species, 5 petals can form a ligule); 4 – reduced calyx; 4’ – in many other species (like Carduus acanthoides shown in the circle), it forms a pappus; 5 – inferior ovary fused of two carpels containing one abaxial ovule (basal placentation).

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Basically your Tussilago has two kinds of florets, viz. ray flowers (ligulate florets) and disc florets. The ligulate florets are either sterile (outer parts of the composite flower head) or female (intermediate parts). The disc florets are male or dioecious depending on the development stage. The anthers are fused to an anther tube through which the styles are pushed.

The "UV-standard target" Dandelions Taraxacum spp. have only ray florets. These are, similar to the Tussilago, distributed with female flowers in the outer parts and male/dioecious florets in the centre area.

Excellent images, by the way. They have textbook clarity.

[Bernard Foot]

Beautiful images, Ulf.

But you are being very coy about the lens you used - "Lens: to comment later" and "Lens: a lens optimised for slide -copy". Come on - what was it?

[nfoto]

EL-Nikkor 80mm according to the first post.

[UlfW]

It was a Novoflex Staeble Katagon 4,5 / 60 mm

My copy works very well for UV and is as you can see quite sharp.
It has a slightly less deep UV-reach than the Noflexar 35mm f/3.5.

That lens-type was quickly dismissed by Birna here: https://www.ultravio...dpost__p__23819
It might be that the lens only work well in the range around a magnification of 1:1 and were tested at infinity only, or a spread in quality between different copies.
Either the lenses she has are not good or they did not get a chance at their optimal operation distance, as she had better lenses.

The images above are between 1:1 and 2:1 in magnification

These lenses were made by Staeble-Werk just as the Noflexar 35mm f/3.5, that also is sharp.
That company seems to know how to design sharp quality lenses.
Among more recent designs are the industrial Staeble-Ultragon copy lenses.
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Staeble

Eventually I intend to write a post in the UV Lens data section about this Staeble Katagon lens.

Edited by UlfW, 03 February 2021 - 12:39.

[Stefano]

Very nice Ulf. We don't have this flower here (at least, I have never seen it), but looks cool. It is like a dandelion with a prettier inside and a hairy outside.

[nfoto]

Hm. I read EL-Nikkor? Oh well. I do have that lens (Katagon) floating around somewhere. Perhaps time to give it a second spin?

[nfoto]

Stefano, on 03 February 2021 - 12:25, said:

Very nice Ulf. We don't have this flower here (at least, I have never seen it), but looks cool. It is like a dandelion with a prettier inside and a hairy outside.

Tussilago is according the the standard distribution maps widespread in Italy.

[Stefano]

nfoto, on 03 February 2021 - 12:26, said:

Tussilago is according the the standard distribution maps widespread in Italy.

Really? I think I need to go outside more then.

[UlfW]

nfoto, on 03 February 2021 - 12:25, said:

Hm. I read EL-Nikkor? Oh well. I do have that lens (Katagon) floating around somewhere. Perhaps time to give it a second spin?

It was an EL-Nikkor for the first image only.
The later images are taken with the Novoflex Staeble Katagon 4,5 / 60 mm.

It took me three years after your dismissal to even try the Novoflex Staeble Katagon 4,5 / 60 mm.
I was truly surprised by the quality of the images, but then I have no Coastal 60mm to compare with.

Lessons learned:
Never fully trust the impressions from other persons without verifying, not even from Birna.
Impressions can always be affected by other aspects.

I have two more of those lens heads and when I have figured out a solid way of comparing them properly I will do a sharpness-test.
It is a bit tricky to do so as test targets normally are designed for either low magnification or high magnification, like in microscopes.

Edited by UlfW, 03 February 2021 - 12:40.

[UlfW]

Stefano, on 03 February 2021 - 12:25, said:

Very nice Ulf. We don't have this flower here (at least, I have never seen it), but looks cool. It is like a dandelion with a prettier inside and a hairy outside.

In visual I cannot see much details as everything is so YELLOW!

I agree that it in a way is looking a bit like a dandelion.
Here it occurs only from very early spring and a few months.
In shaded places they can be found later.
The dandelion comes later and is then visible far into the autumn.

Edited by UlfW, 03 February 2021 - 12:47.

[nfoto]

Hultén (1971) shows this distribution of Tussilago in the Northern Hemisphere.



Stefano, you do need to go outside more


Like Ulf, Tussilago was the first flower I did in UV. So yes, it is special and each spring I eagerly await its arrival. In a mild winter, the first flower heads can be seen already end of February/beginning of March. Late March and early April are more common and usually the period in which one can enjoy larger stands on disturbed clayey soils. Tussilago is a pioneer invader and usually disappears when the vegetation cover is fully consolidated.

[UlfW]

One tip is that a well cut tussilao survives rather well standing in fresh water in the fridge.
The one above was collected at least a week or two before I took the pictures.
When it came out into higher temperatures and brighter light it evolved rather fast, opening up.
Other flowers are not that tolerant.

[nfoto]

A tangential note concerning the Katagon: I finally found it lurching deep inside a cupboard, tested in UV, and it seems indeed to be doing acceptably well. Probably my earlier verdict was influenced by using camera gear with less UV response than the current (NEX-5N monochrome)? Anyway, it is no contender for the pole position of the Coastal 60 APO, however I will certainly experiment with the Katagon for macro stacking a purpose for which the Coastal lens is impractical due to its size.

[Cadmium]

Ulf, Wow, very very nice shots! Amazing.

[Andrea B.]

Ulf, I also love the little tough Tussilago plants.

I think you should make a botanical entry with your photos. If you would like to do that, let me know and I can provide a template for you to copy/paste into an entry in Asteraceae [S-Z].

[Andrea B.]

Ulf -- here you go.
I was making some of this "boilerplate" today, so it was easy to make a set for your Tussilago.
Please arrange it as you see fit after the copy/paste into a new topic in Asteraceae [S-Z].

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Title: Tussilago farfara [Colt's Foot]: More Examples

Wilhelmson, U. (2021) More Examples of Tussilago farfara L. (Asteraceae) Colt's Foot. Flowers photographed in ultraviolet light. LINK_to_this_topic_goes_here

Location_goes_here, Sweden
2017, 2020
Wildflower

Synonyms:

• Cineraria farfara (L.) Bernh.
  
• Farfara radiata Gilib.
  
• Tussilago alpestris Hegetschw.
  
• Tussilago umbertina Borbás

Other Common Names:

• If the flower has other common names besides "Colt's Foot", then add those names here.
  
• Perhaps the Swedish name for this flower?

Comment:
Write anything you would like to write about this flower or the experience of photographing it.


Reference:
1. Rørslett, B. (2013) Tussilago farfara L. (Asteraceae) Colt's Foot. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light, with fluorescence.
2. Wikipedia (10 Feb 2021) Tussilago. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA.


Gear for BUG-3 Photos
Canon EOS 60D-conversion + EL Nikkor Nippon Kogaku 80/5.6
UV/Blue/Green Filter Stack [BG3 (2mm) + S8612 (2mm)] aka "BUG-3"

{photos go here}


Gear for UV Photos
Sony A7III-conversion + Novoflex Staeble Katagon 60/4.5
UV-Pass Filter Stack [U-360 (2mm) + S8612 (2mm)]
Godox AD200 Flash
Four Images stacked with Zerene Stacker.

{photos go here}

[UlfW]

Andrea,
Thank you very much for preparing this template.

I like the idea very much to do a botanical entry with this and will do so.
After working with the UV Lens Data posts I feel more comfortable with formal posts.

Earlier I have been looking at Birna's entry for this flower.
Then I felt like I could add more useable information for this very interesting charming flower.

Edited by UlfW, 11 February 2021 - 07:17.

[UlfW]

The botanical post is now up as far as I can shape it.
Please let me know if something is wrong.
I tried to edit the map-links as I have done before, but cannot find a way to do that now.
Maybe a different browser can be the solution?