UVIVF Photography: Capturing Hidden Fluorescence
Lately I’ve been experimenting with using UV light to shoot some things.
I have a large flashlight that gives off true ultraviolet — it’s called the UV Beast, and it really is. It’s powerful enough that when I illuminate something with it over a long exposure, I can capture the fluorescence the UV light creates.
Everything has to be very dark. As little visible light as possible. What the camera sees then isn’t reflected light, like we’re used to. It’s light that’s coming from the subject itself — the glow released when those molecules get excited by UV.
The effect is surreal. Things seem to shine from within, like they have their own small fire. I’ve shot flowers this way — they take on a strange, alien look, glowing in blues and greens you’d never notice in daylight. I’ve also tried it with urbex subjects when I can find a truly dark place. The glow that comes off old paint or metal is sometimes brilliant. It turns something dull and forgotten into something alive again.
Here is a visible light image of a collection of yellow flowers and the identical image under UV light showing the fluorescence.
This is another set of flower images showing the visible light and UVIVF
Next, I want to take this outdoors. I’d like to find a quiet spot in the woods on a moonless night and see what happens when the forest wakes up under ultraviolet light. I imagine lichens, bark, or even the forest floor showing patterns and colors you’d never know were there. I’m also planning more flower and still life work — building small setups in the dark where the only light is that invisible beam and the soft, impossible colors it draws out.
There’s something addictive about this kind of seeing. It reminds me how much of the world stays hidden until we find the right way to look at it. The camera becomes less about capturing what’s in front of me and more about revealing what’s underneath. Every time I switch on that light, I feel like I’m standing at the edge of a discovery — one that’s been waiting in the dark all along.