Brandon Smith (Redwoodtwig)

It was a dark and stormy night...

Actually it was a rather pleasant night, though a bit on the humid side.  The moon was full, but remained hiding behind the clouds as I walked around to a few plant models to see how a black light LED flashlight would work.  Some of the results were good, though in most cases, in fact all except the very last one, what my eyes were seeing in the black light and what the camera captured were different.  The camera didn't see the hues the black light revealed to me. 

Plants do not make ideal models, because, even when the air is still, they are constantly in motion.  Just breathing toward a plant model when doing a 10 second exposure is bound to produce a touch of model movement.

I found a $7 LED black light flashlight that certainly appeared to behave like a black light. However, the camera didn't see what my eyes saw. Shot on tripod with exposure being around 10 seconds at f8 and painting the subject with the black light LED flashlight


Full moon in the clouds

  • What was apparent to the eye was not visible to the camera. The black light aspect showed portions of this texture to be bright blue to the eye.

  • What was apparent to the eye was not visible to the camera. The black light aspect showed portions of this texture to be bright blue to the eye.

  • Glowing Thistle

    by holding the black light flashlight close to the flower for a few seconds, then painting it in general, got this.

  • To my eyes, the black light showed a distinct brownish tinge on the surface of the leaf. Lightroom tells me there is only blue and purple there, no red, orange or yellow.

  • Full moon in the clouds

    10 August 2014

  • river birch bark

    different areas of the peeling bark of a river birch show different hues.

  • crepe myrtle

    The inside of these flowers showed quite bright under the black light.

  • Pine needles

    The delicate nature of the pine needles show the central strip clearly.

  • Thistle

    I like how the core seemed to glow under the black light.

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