The Secret Life Of Bees

These images aim to show the secret patterns and colours of flowers by using a technique called ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography, or UVIVF for short. The method involves shining a UV light onto a subject in a dark room while taking several 10-30 second long exposures at different focal points, these are then photo stacked in software to provide a detailed macro shot. By shining the UV light on the flowers, it causes parts of it to fluoresce which makes small particles like pollen glow as well as revealing secret patterns that bees can see. Bees can see UV light which allows them to see these patterns themselves, as humans cannot see UV it is difficult to get an exact idea of how this looks but we can make an approximation.

While UVIVF does involve UV it does not actually show UV light in the pictures, what is being shown is the UV light reflecting off parts of the flower in the form of visible light. This is not exactly how bees would see the flowers but more of a means of showing how UV helps them see pollen as well as patterns on the flowers that help guide them to the pollen and nectar. See how on image 3 of the Celandine the centre of the flower contrasts more and is darker than the rest of the flower: this is to help guide the bees towards the centre where all the nectar is. Different flowers look different to each other under UV meaning that bees may favour some flowers over others.