small brag

[dancingcat]

A little brag, because all of you helped me learn how to do these things... my UVIVF shot of Lemon Beebalm (Monarda citriodora) aka Horsemint won a photography blue ribbon at the annual meeting of the Texas Master Naturalists last fall.  I was shocked, as there were several hundred entries by fiercely competitive folks who love flowers... :-).   Lemon Beebalm is a common prairie plant in the US, giving the land swaths of vibrant pink, beloved of bees...

 

Many thanks to you all.. you have a share of the blue ribbon for "Darkest Beebalm"!

 

There was no external lighting for this, just a Convoy UV flashlight paint in complete dark.  Olympus EM1mk2, Olympus 30mm macro lens, 640 ISO, f/11, 30 sec.

 

 

[dabateman]

Congratulations. 

On the Olympus cameras there is also the live composite mode, which you can use for light painting. 

You can preview the photo as it builds up. Ths also helps if you want to highlight something or know when to stop.

[colinbm]

This is worth bragging about.

 

[Andy Perrin]

It's really excellent, I'm not surprised it did well!

[Akira]

Congrats!  The image is well deserved the price!

[dancingcat]

Thank you all, and @dabateman for the Oly tip.. I haven't used that but will this spring soon as it quits being freezing.  Dallas and all of north Texas has been a huge skating rink for the last 4 days.  Sorry for the fluff on the background.. must have been room lint and/or pollen on my black background.  Note to self, clean it next time :-).

[microbat52]

Congrats! Its a beautiful shot!

[dabateman]

3 hours ago, dancingcat said:

Thank you all, and @dabateman for the Oly tip.. I haven't used that but will this spring soon as it quits being freezing.  Dallas and all of north Texas has been a huge skating rink for the last 4 days.  Sorry for the fluff on the background.. must have been room lint and/or pollen on my black background.  Note to self, clean it next time :-).

Yes its a fun trick in Olympus cameras to get a desired shot.

You don't need to apologize for the fluff, clearly it didn't bother the judges.

I hope things get back to normal soon in Texas.  I have read many trees are down and people are without power. 

[Andrea B.]

Congratulations! I am thrilled to see one of our UVP members winning an award for UVIVF. Keep up the good work!

 

I'm not sure what you were using for your black background, but I've experienced the same "fluff".  When I use the black velvet, I get both "lint" and a kind of reflection. Hard to know which exactly is what. I usually have to resort to my Photoshop Elements to brush it out if I'm being picky.

[Nate]

Congrats on the Beebalm winning the blue ribbon! This fluoresces nicely.

[dancingcat]

@Andrea B. the background is just a black posterboard, like what you get for school projects.  I suspect the "fluff" is just carpet lint and maybe pollen, both of which fluoresce strongly in my house.  I usually use a lint roller to clean the posterboard before I shoot, but this time I apparently forgot to do it. 

 

Texas is back to relative normal after a week of ice.. my street was a skating rink for four days, must have been a half inch or so of ice making driving and walking impossible.  Kids got the week off school, so grandson was happy.  Now waiting for the wildflowers to start coming up..

[Andy Perrin]

Looking forward to spring! Sometimes I think different bands of light are best for different seasons.

 

My suggestions:

Spring - UV is best because of the flowers! Closely followed by near infrared aerochrome simulations and similar NIR pics

Summer - UV and NIR (all presentations are good)

Fall - visible light! At least in the northeast US, the leaves are plenty colorful enough in visible.

Winter - thermal IR (LWIR). You get the best contrast in winter because of the temperature extremes.

 

[Doug A]

Just seeing this. Congratulations on the blue ribbon @dancingcat. This is a striking image. Have you had a chance to use the live composite mode yet? It sounds wonderful for light painting.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

 

[dancingcat]

Thank you @Doug A - I haven't used the live composite yet as I'm converting from the Oly Em1mk2 to the newer OMDS OM-1 and still working through differences in the setup.  Soon though when it quits being 100 deg F or more here in TX and the fall wildflowers come up.