Biofluorescent fun with your HID light

[Blazinator]

Night Diving just took on a whole new look with just a $30.00 dichroic Wood's Glass (Black Light) dichroic filter and your favorite HID light:

Shot in a local aquarium cuz I'm in Ohio and won't be night diving until SB Invade the Keys in July (Friday night dive is currently booked up, but hopefully another boat will be added to show off this light).

And here's the system: The new Darkbuster HID 24 Watt from Scubatoys for under $400.00:

I was able to do a VERY short night dive with this light in Ft Lauderdale last Feb with ample support from some very nice Conch Divers I met here on SB (who invited me to Invade The Keys 08 - thanks Kim, Tracy, Mr. Lee and all others!), but my cheaper UW camera didn't allow manual focus, long exposures, and a tripod would not have worked.

Still looked real cool to my eyes and found some soft corals that fluoresced but showed up blurry on the video and stills (UV light fools the autofocus - different wavelength), so when I got back to Ohio, I decided that my local aquarium would be a great opportunity to try it out, and WWWWOOOOWWW did the corals jump out of the tank with all their colorful glory!

Pretty much every coral fluoresced due to the green fluorescent protien inside, and some even fluoresced red and orange!

The Clown Wrasse that swam around showed no signs of hidden markings, but bright red marks along the gill area and dorsal fins jumped out under the strong UV from the HID (has to be HID - UV output from the mercury in the bulb)

Will write more later - gotta get back to work.

 

[SparticleBrane]

:11: VERY cool.

 

[Blazinator]

Here is one of the corals that fluoresced both green and red. The comparison pic may lead you to think that the pinkish parts are already reddish and the UV light is simply illuminating the natural pigment, but if you were actually seeing it, you would see the glowing red polyps. The ccd in the camera had a hard time picking up the red polyps, as it was overwhelmed by the violet.

All the shots in the UV light were stopped down to F7.1 for maximum sharp focus because I had to turn off the autofocus and manually focus, as the UV is a longer wavelength. Shots were also at 1 full second of exposure time, with tripod.

You can see the blurryiness of the non-fluorescing areas really well in the first pic of the "cup" corals (don't know the species).

 

[Divergirl4U]

Wow very cool John ..... be sure to book on the Friday night dive at the invasion I'll be your buddy (no exploding tanks this time)

 

[CompuDude]

Cool!

Do you need a tripod to get those shots in near darkness?

 

[Blazinator]

Cool!

Do you need a tripod to get those shots in near darkness?

Yep, I'm afraid you would need a tripod - very low light, long time exposures, stopped down as far as possible etc., unless you do your UV photography with blacklight UV transmittance filters on your strobe, which is the way your supposed to do Biofluorescence photography - see NightSea Home

That is why I am NOT proposing to reinvent the wheel here on Biofluorescence photography, but rather showing a method to do UV video (can't do with strobes), or simply fun viewing of glowing coral without photography - it really is cool to see, and you are constantly wondering what will fluoresce next.

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

I just did a night dive with UV lights in Bonaire and it was spectacular! Totally wild. Certain corals light up brightly and fish as well. I spotted a lizardfish and it almost looked fake. I highly recommend the experience. I felt like I was swimming in the Disney World ride, Space Mountain.

 

[CompuDude]

Yep, I'm afraid you would need a tripod - very low light, long time exposures, stopped down as far as possible etc., unless you do your UV photography with blacklight UV transmittance filters on your strobe, which is the way your supposed to do Biofluorescence photography - see NightSea Home

That is why I am NOT proposing to reinvent the wheel here on Biofluorescence photography, but rather showing a method to do UV video (can't do with strobes), or simply fun viewing of glowing coral without photography - it really is cool to see, and you are constantly wondering what will fluoresce next.

Gotcha. That makes perfect sense, I was just hoping there was some neat trick to make it easy.

Neat tip re video, though... that may be worth playing with someday.

 

[Doc]

Here's a simpler and cheaper option:

Stick one of these: Inova X5-UV Ultraviolet LED Light inside an old UK4C underwater flashlight housing.

Get these results: http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/94755

$39

 

[CompuDude]

I actually picked up one of the Inova's based on your recommendation, about a year ago, if memory serves. One of these days, I'll actually pick up the UK light so I can take it under! LOL