Friday, October 18, 2024

UV Reflectance in Fungi

I own a cheap full spectrum camera which I use without extra filters so it will be recording all the light around including UV ('normal' cameras have a UV filter that cuts out these wavelengths). I also have a UV torch (mainly sold for revealing rodents etc by their uv-fluorescent urine!). Yesterday I photographed fungi with extra illumination from the UV torch with the full spectrum camera (this renders foliage, fungi a greenish brown colour under daylight). The Sulphur Tufts are the most dramatic with the stems and caps reflecting different wavelengths. On other toadstools the effect is more subtle! One Clitocybe was fairly well advanced and it appears that the released spores and the gills themselves reflect different wavelengths when illuminated. (There are some fungi that actually emit UV light but I think these are mainly  foreign and would require a special and very expensive filter for the camera to block all wavelengths except ultraviolet). 

1 comment:

Ian said...

Fascinating technique and resulting images