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I've photographed hundreds of glowing flowers since 2014 after seeing Oleksandr Holovachov's work with ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVIVF) photography.
Each time I do a set of UVIVF photos, it starts with going out under the cover of darkness to snatch unsuspecting flowers growing around the neighborhood. I rarely know what to expect from a flower before I get it back to shoot. Some I think will dazzle end up flopping, and others I am surprised by their colors or light. Every one is a surprise!
In the same way a tee-shirt blue glows under a black light, most organic material glows at least a little with UV stimulation and in all kinds of colors. To make the most of it, I make sure I'm working in the darkest environment I can and use a 365nm light so the camera can't see the UV light.
Any time the flowers are hit by sunlight, they're letting off their own glow in response and it's simply overwhelmed by the sunlight we can see. These photos capture something we always see, but never can observe.
More info: cpburrows.com
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#2
Final score:
135points
Judy Orcutt 8 years ago
Oh WOW-I do scanography of flowers-with beautiful results-this is a whole new level-congratulations!
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
I had to look up scanography, but that's really cool. Gets me thinking - what if you could replace the light bar in a scanner with properly filtered UV lights. ;)
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Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
You can buy 365nm lights all over online. They use LEDs which helps keep the non-UV emission down, but you'll also need a filter that blocks non-UV light.
Load More Replies... #3
Final score:
132points
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
It is. Many flowers have glowing pollen, especially ones in the sunflower family. The smaller one hasn't started opening its florets yet, but once it did, it would also be covered in pollen.
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Jacques Beaugrand 8 years ago
We can see the honey-guides used by bees to find where to forage the flower.
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
Definitely. This specific one shows them in visible light, but if you found a monochrome coreopsis, they'd be there. Sunflowers have the same guides. Interestingly, due to the dark coloration, plains coreopsis has been used for a very long time to make a muted yellow-red dye. I have personally used the flowers crushed in water as a substitute for watercolor and ink.
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Lori Roman 8 years ago
What a gift. Do you sell these photos? They are so inspiring and they just make you appreciate the world so much more.
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
Hi Lori. I do offer prints of all my photos. Take a look at my website. :)
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Sharon Taylor 8 years ago
They look like the most beautiful unbelievably indescribable flowers I hope are in Heaven...
#4
Final score:
131points
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
This one is a blanketflower. :)
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Vivian Silverio 8 years ago
Wonderful. I need to get it printed! I feel inspired with your photography.
#5
Final score:
124points
Lori Roman 8 years ago
Omg my favorite. I seriously want to buy these and put them all over my home they just are amazing
Rhonda Parker 8 years ago
This one's my favorite; the blue is so beautiful! God is such a creative God; His handiwork is amazing. Thank you for sharing your talent.
Rhonda Parker 8 years ago
This one is my favorite; the blue is so beautiful. God is such a creative God; His handiwork is amazing! And thank you, Craig, for sharing your talent so that we can see these amazing works.
#6
Final score:
121points
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
If they're on LSD, or you are? ;)
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Cardimples Escuyos-Palomo 8 years ago
wow..its so beautiful that I can imagine tinker bell flying around..
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
This is an ornamental pear.
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#7
Final score:
114points
Shame Less 8 years ago
gli insetti hanno una visione ad ultravioletti,quindi credo sia la maniera in cui gli insetti vedono i fiori.......
Hayden Colvin 3 years ago
I love the way you used a shallow depth of field and leading lines to direct the viewer's focus. The colors are astounding and complement each other perfectly. Great job!
#8
Final score:
108points
Annie Tronetti 8 years ago
Absolutely stunning. It's a good thing we do not see them this way in daylight--we'd never leave the garden!
#9
Final score:
94points
Milissa Martin 5 years ago
All are so magical, this one is fabulous! Zoomed in and it’s really alive! I enjoy night time photos of orb weaver spiders and their webs.
#10
Final score:
92points
Bobby Beebe 8 years ago
Now I'm mad because I want to see flowers like this all the time! Waaahh!!!
#11
Final score:
67points
Bobby Beebe 8 years ago
This could come from 1 person's dream and another's nightmare. Love it
Annie Tronetti 8 years ago
Such vibrant color. I wonder what animals or insects can see it this way.
#12
Final score:
65points
Bobby Beebe 8 years ago
Disney's new Avatar land in the Animal Kingdom should be watching this post....
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
Feel free to let them know. :D
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Amaranthim Talon 8 years ago
This one is exceptional!! I need a tutorial please :) (UV light now sitting in my Amazon cart...)
#13
Final score:
63points
Bobby Beebe 8 years ago
Ok this one is giving me "Independence Day" alien death ray and I'm ok with that.
Beata Somogyi 8 years ago
oh god.i jus cant find word for that..:') Dear Craig, can we download somewhere this pics in full resolution?*.* i want to watch them all day long! <3 :D
#14
Final score:
54points
Bobby Beebe 8 years ago
Meh, when you see 1 UVIVF photo you've seen them all. J/K this is incredible!!
Rachael Durkin 8 years ago
I wish I could upvote this one more than once. It is really beautiful and I love it.
#15
Final score:
54points
Diana Crick 8 years ago
Does this petal have a texture that is discernible? Is there magnification involved?
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#16
Final score:
54points
#17
Final score:
53points
Jennifer Johnson 5 years ago
What kind of flower is this? So Stunning, I want to hang this up in my house!
#18
Final score:
52points
Bobby Beebe 8 years ago
You may say Mother Nature's a b***h, but I say she is one beautiful, freaky b***h...
#19
Final score:
52points
#20
Final score:
51points
Carol Coombe 5 years ago
Just like an ocean-bound jellyfish that washes up on our beach in Cape Town!
#21
Final score:
46points
#22
Final score:
44points
#23
Final score:
44points
#24
Final score:
43points
#25
Final score:
42points
#26
Final score:
41points
Gretchen Miller 5 years ago
Australian ti-tree I think? I can't find this one on your website but at some point soon will go looking to buy one for my soon to be 'room of my own'... :)
#27
Final score:
40points
Clarence Moore 2 years ago
Even the pollen glows with the life force God has put in all his creation.. Thank you Craig for these awesome pictures.
#28
Final score:
40points
#29
Final score:
39points
#30
Final score:
38points
Bobby Beebe 8 years ago
I love the reoccurring space theme found throughout the photos. The duality of earth and sky is mesmerizing and hypnotic.
#31
Final score:
37points
Shawna Poechhacker 8 years ago
If there were flowers in space, I think they'd look like these! 😍
#32
Final score:
37points
Rachael Durkin 8 years ago
For some reason, at first glance, these made me think of Micky Mouse.
Alex Mamacos 8 years ago
this reminds me of the slow motion photograph of a milk splash. stunning photos
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
Definitely! I got that impression quite a lot while working on the photos of these leptospermum flowers.
Load More Replies... #33
Final score:
36points
#34
Final score:
36points
Diana Crick 8 years ago
It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison between this and our every day sight.
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
Hi Diana. I have only done a couple comparisons. I just finished preparing another one recently of a bottlebrush flower cluster. Bottlebrus...5e0ccf.jpg 
#35
Final score:
36points
#37
Final score:
34points
Ariadne.bat 8 years ago
These photographs show that there is more to plants than we think. They have a very stunning beauty that can't be seen in everyday life.
Craig Burrows (Submission author) 8 years ago
Absolutely! This is just one of numerous facets of how they can be viewed. If you're curious, you can also look up reflected-UV photography. Some photographers use specific combinations of filters to simulate bee, bird, and butterfly vision, all of which can see ultraviolet light as well as the visible (to us) spectrum.
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#39
Final score:
33points
woodbehr 8 years ago
Appears molds or fungus on the leaf also glow under this light, if I'm correct.
Bradley Roon 8 years ago
Look up "foxfire" - a glowing mold in Appalachia at the least. Have seen it a few times in the wild there...
Load More Replies... #40
Final score:
33points
#41
Final score:
33points
#42
Final score:
33points
Ralph Müller 8 years ago
...the answer to all questions is... 42 ( The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy )
#43
Final score:
32points
#44
Final score:
30points
Helena Kingwill 5 years ago
The medicinal songlines are magic as a fantasy fairy palace at night.
Ambre Nulph-Forêt 5 years ago
But you said the same flower was a petunia earlier...
Load More Replies... Paul Simola 8 years ago
beautiful beyond belief!....And something about the 5 petals repeating in all the flowers!?
#45
Final score:
30points
#47
Final score:
28points
#48
Final score:
28points
#49
Final score:
28points
#50
Final score:
26points
Tiyana Maksimovich-Binno 5 years ago
Amazing! Thank you for taking these photos and for sharing! <3
Judy Findley 5 years ago
Breathtakingly beautiful!!! I was hoping to see an African Violet though...would love to see one here💖
Bonnie Scharf 5 years ago
These are simply magical. Cannot believe I'm just seeing these now! Makes me believe there's unicorns, but I just can't see them in normal light.
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What do you think ?
Sofia Bellavista 8 years ago
Thank you for your work Craig. I feel so lucky to live in a time when technology allows us to see beyond our senses
Craig Burrows (Post author) 8 years ago
Me too. While it was possible to do this sort of photo in the past, it would've been much more challenging. Particularly the branches of photography dealing with hidden light (reflected-ultraviolet, infrared, and UVIVF) are enabled spectacularly by modern technology. I am glad you enjoyed looking.
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Nim McCoan 8 years ago
These are so stunning. I'd love to see more. They're the type of inspiring that makes you want to keep them, but putting them on a wall wouldn't do them justice.
Craig Burrows (Post author) 8 years ago
Hi Nim. If you want to see more, please check out my Flickr and Instagram accounts. I do group uploads to Flickr, and post smaller updates more frequently to Instagram. I'm thinking of experimenting with translucent or metallic prints instead of the standard matte I've been using. I think they might work well with the luminosity in the pictures. https://www.flickr.com/photos/34303190@N06/ https://www.instagram.com/cpburrowsphoto/
Load More Replies... Vervelende Panda 8 years ago
"These photo's capture something we always see, but never can observe'... that's a beautiful sentence!
Priyanka Sarsaiya 8 years ago
Wow ..Just SPECTACULAR.. Great to see the beauty of nature in this way .Beautiful and Magical work by Artist L<3ved it.
Lynette Grobler Botha 8 years ago
I often measure my life in moments that takes my breath away. Thank you Craig, you just did.
Toni Gucho 8 years ago
What if oxygen is a drug and when we stop breathing it we will see the real world? Remember Avatar? Oxygen was so little in Pandora.
Sofia Bellavista 8 years ago
Thank you for your work Craig. I feel so lucky to live in a time when technology allows us to see beyond our senses
Craig Burrows (Post author) 8 years ago
Me too. While it was possible to do this sort of photo in the past, it would've been much more challenging. Particularly the branches of photography dealing with hidden light (reflected-ultraviolet, infrared, and UVIVF) are enabled spectacularly by modern technology. I am glad you enjoyed looking.
Load More Replies... Nim McCoan 8 years ago
These are so stunning. I'd love to see more. They're the type of inspiring that makes you want to keep them, but putting them on a wall wouldn't do them justice.
Craig Burrows (Post author) 8 years ago
Hi Nim. If you want to see more, please check out my Flickr and Instagram accounts. I do group uploads to Flickr, and post smaller updates more frequently to Instagram. I'm thinking of experimenting with translucent or metallic prints instead of the standard matte I've been using. I think they might work well with the luminosity in the pictures. https://www.flickr.com/photos/34303190@N06/ https://www.instagram.com/cpburrowsphoto/
Load More Replies... Vervelende Panda 8 years ago
"These photo's capture something we always see, but never can observe'... that's a beautiful sentence!
Priyanka Sarsaiya 8 years ago
Wow ..Just SPECTACULAR.. Great to see the beauty of nature in this way .Beautiful and Magical work by Artist L<3ved it.
Lynette Grobler Botha 8 years ago
I often measure my life in moments that takes my breath away. Thank you Craig, you just did.
Toni Gucho 8 years ago
What if oxygen is a drug and when we stop breathing it we will see the real world? Remember Avatar? Oxygen was so little in Pandora.
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