Photography of ultraviolet fluorescence

The lights I use are standard Blacklight fluorescent tubes I (the University anyway) have a Kaiser copy stand with 2 foot tubes which can be replaced with Blacklight ones.

Philips produce these blacklight tubes and also screw fitting bulbs. They are used in Discos and other places so should be readily available.

The lights are set at 45° to the subject with a 2B filter in front of the camera so only the fluorescence, light emitted, is recorded.

As most of my are subjects are still I have used Fuji Velvia which gives greater colour saturation but a faster film can be used or a digital camera. Exposure at 100 ASA, f/5.6 - f/8 is of the order of a second can be longer or shorter. The exposure is dependent on the light source as usual but of more significance is the amount of light emitted by the subject a dyed fluorescent object e.g. paper, pencils and bought items are strong emitters, some rocks are very strong others weak, lichens are weak, eggs are in the middle. Testing and adjusting exposure is necessary. Can also use a flash with a UV filter over the flash for example an 18B or 18A glass filter.

For further information download my 'Guide to infrared and ultraviolet photography' (750Kb Mb pdf file) from my Publications page more about principles than a simple how to do it.

Weblink - Medical and Scientific Photography Online resource http://msp.rmit.edu.au/