Ultraviolet Macro Photography 

Hi Allan, your explanation and the graphics made a complex topic fairly easy to follow. Here on the southern tip of Africa we use UV torches to find scorpions at night as they fluoresce particularly well and can be spotted from some distance away. I must admit though that the torch I am currently using falls into the "cheap" category you refer to and I will definitely follow up on your recommendation to source one of the more expensive unit.

Hi Allan, which camera has the most sensitive sensor for dark photography. I am trying to substitute a microscope camera for fluorescence microscopy with commercially available camera that generally cost much less.

9 mins: This is why scorpions glow in the dark when you use a UV light to look for them....... nb Many invertebrates (notably bees) can see UV light. What looks like a plain white flower to us looks very different to bees and other pollinators -. often having target markings to attract them..... So when we were made to sing at school "God made the beautiful flowers for us...." well maybe not..... :)

Fluorophore

Well explained but i admit it's to heavy for my mind.

A very interesting topic, one the many that I have been meaning to start again on non medical/scientific objects. I still have a darkroom from my film and fluorescein retinal angiography days, maybe a topic that has crossed your path in a previous life ? I still have some bits and pieces, plus a nice UV source and some filters- time is the enemy these days with too many projects on the go. I need to clean out the darkroom and set it up for a new use. I am setting up a Pluto Trigger Dropper system that has been waiting patiently to be fired up-quite a popular activity from what I have seen . I want to try something a bit different to what most folks do, so another layer of complexity. Your range of topics and detail with insect macro photography must be very welcomed by newcomers to the field, which is so easily affordable given the wide range of equipment now available from that well-known country. Thank you for sharing your experiences in this fascinating area of photography. Stay safe. 👍🇬🇧🇦🇺🔭

Any clear plastic safety glasses (something you would wear using power tools) will very effetely absorb UV light. To check if they work, just shine the UV on something fluorescent and then hold the safety glasses in front of the UV light and see that your subject no longer fluoresces. Typically speaking any optically clear plastic is a strong absorber of UV. (I’m an engineer that works with optics and lasers or a living)

Hello Allan, I’ve just watched this video about UV light which is fascinating and really looking forward to you doing a full length on it’s use. Once I’ve watched that then I might shell out and buy one. I use UV light at work to check coverage of a moisture proof coating we put onto circuit boards which shows up under this type of light.

I would never try and modify a modern day dSLR in any way by opening it up and try and get to the sensor. I did buy a Nikon d3100 and had it sent off to be professionally converted over to full spectrum. I’m pretty happy with the IR and UV outdoor pics I get by using different filters, though the UV filters tend to be somewhat spendy. I agree the UV side of photography is pretty interesting overall. Thanks as always Allan for dropping us another terrific video!

Hello, Allan. Another enjoyable video! I especially enjoyed the stop-motion segment. Your creativity knows no bounds! Reminds me of the penny cartoons from Pee-wee's Playhouse, and of course Gumby. Looking forward to part two of this UVIVF process. I am still unsure about the output of the UV flashlight or the converted speedlights, maybe more than one or two speed lights. My goal is to get shutter speeds and ISO down sufficiently to do some Focus stack images. All the best, Robert

another very interesting and unique video Allan . Please keep it up because you have a growing number of fans now who need an Allan Walls fix regularly. I won’t be trying this UV stuff though, my dwindling brain cell count might spell disaster

Hi Allan! I'm looking forward to see the full length video how you do ultraviolet photography.

Allan.. So I am connecting a few videos together here.. but I had an interesting idea. Lets see if this all makes sense. First.. this video has some very interesting ideas. My perspective: I am committed to using a flash set up, so any foray into UV would have to go down the path of Flash Speedlights. So lets hold onto that thought... In an earlier video you talked about making a home built Fiber Optic strobe system. Well I found a dual gooseneck dolan-jenner light source and I constructed a lens focused speedlight box that works like a charm. I had to mill out the connector from aluminum and construct a custom box, but honestly, it really is amazing. Currently, for light modifiers, I have a couple of ping pong balls which I have yet to test, but I suspect the plastic material is too thick and the light will be too modified or in plain english, too dulled down. I have been interested in making something better. Oh and BTW, I completed a macro light cage made of wood parts which can be knocked down for storage and rebuilt into a strong unit each and every time. Its very much your basic design but I added my thoughts on the wood frame and strength and modularity. I'm still adding some refinements but pretty awesome so far. Back to light modifiers - I also just watched your video on polarized light modifiers, the large over the speedlight filter tubes - great idea which I am likely to construct.. however, I had this thought about using that same idea to make various small modifiers for the fibre optic strobes. It will be super simple to create softboxes that slide onto the ends of the gooseneck optics. I will be making those ASAP using foam and maybe a screw-in filter set up.. I have all sorts of old red, green, yellow, orange filters I never use anymore from my B&W days.. they could be become useful again. As well, I also have many polarizers that would suddenly become extremely useful. 1: I may be able to alter a speedlight to be a dedicated UV light source and utilize it through the fiber optics 2: I can create several modifiers for the fiber optics, such as a softbox or use color gels (often free gifts included from godox) or Y, O2, R glass filters - they just need to be small 3: On top of normal modifiers, I can add polarizers and control the light output - plus they can utilize very small, less expensive polarizing filters I imagine there is an idea of two in there that might interest you.

yep been very intreasted in UV macro, i have a second hand adaptalux with two uv arms, they dont really put out alot of uv power, i have heard that the nitecore uv is a good option. i'll be very intreasted in you future uv vids

OFF TOPIC: What brand shirt are you wearing in this video.

Would really like to se how you set up and shot us lit subjects and what subjects work the best.

Looks like fun Allan. Hope you're doing well.

Fluorescence need not necessarily be done with UV excitation. It could be done by at any spectral range. The only limitation is that at least in nature, the exciting light must be done at a shorter range than the emission range.

Ty Allan

Interesting to see how many subscribers you’ll lose due to sudden blindness or even sudden death after this video. By the way, not only flashes have high voltage capacitors in them; cameras do too! I've sometimes thought of having an older camera modified for IR and UV photography, but it’s certainly not something I’d do myself, because you’ll have to take it completely apart. I saw a recipe online, and you really have to know what you’re doing, and you can NOT afford to be clumsy!