Lichens

 Been experimenting a bit with lichen photography - these are with full-spectrum camera which demonstrates some of the colours etc that invertebrates might be seeing with their different sensitivity  to us to the various wavelengths of light. Only the yellow/orange colours stood out to my eye - others were dull grey.

Wrest Park 3

I was using a full spectrum camera at Wrest Park, which is a modified camera that has had the internal infrared (IR) blocking filter removed, allowing it to capture the full range of light—ultraviolet (UV), visible, and infrared (IR). Often these cameras are used with different wavelength filters to capture particular wavelengths for monochrome work. I was using mine without filters and doing adjustments to colour in lightroom. 

Challis Gardens

Francoise and David kindly dressed up in their Edwardian clothes and joined a group from our camera club at Challis Gardens in Sawston  for an evening shoot. We were lucky with the weather so there was beautiful golden sunlight just breaking through the trees. I decided to use a legacy f1.8 50mm lens which is ideal for an evening shoot except that it is manual focus only which I didn't always get spot on. I also used a full spectrum camera as the light faded  - have included one colour balanced and one b/w from that camera (interesting which clothing absorb, radiate or reflect infrared etc. Thanks David and Francoise for an enjoyable evening.

Insects Photographed with Full-Spectrum Camera

A normal camera has filters that remove ultraviolet and infrared light and adjusts the spectrum to the human visible light. I have a  cheap Panasonic camera where the filters have been removed so you can photograph the full spectrum. The images if not adjusted in software are shades of red as that end  of the spectrum is dominant. However, by setting the white balance of  black or white areas to be neutral gives insects that are close to their original colour but the foliage is very light and the flowers/seed heads may be a different hue from what the eye sees. The subdued colours and the softness gives a new dimension to my garden friends.

Paxton with Full Spectrum Camera

I took my Full-spectrum camera to Paxton today to experiment with ultraviolet illumination of toadstools in the afternoon. I took a few images on my way to and from the morning work party and in Rory's Wood area later. A late Red Admiral was enjoying the warm sunshine.