Blog – Page 23 – The photography of Paul L.G. Morris

In our small greenhouse my wife grows different varieties of tomatoes. Wandering around with the UV torch I saw that how they fluoresce differs with the variety and state of ripeness with the fully ripe fruit not fluorescing whether the ripe colour is red or yellow whereas the yellow unripe ones seem to fluoresce blue as do the green unripe ones. Strange…

What I am showing here are 3 varieties each with ripe and unripe fruit together on the stems. I will show 3 photos for each: daylight type lighting, UV fluorescent lighting and a composite of the two. First up is a large variety ‘Supersteak’:

‘Supersteak’ tomato, both ripe and unripe, illuminated by a daylight torch

‘Supersteak’ tomato, both ripe and unripe, illuminated by a UV torch

A composite image of the ‘Supersteak’ tomato, both ripe and unripe, showing both daylight and fluorescent versions

Note that in the above the green unripe tomato shows a bluish colour and the ripe ones are black (and tasty!). In this next set I show a small yellow variety ‘Sungold’:

‘Sungold’ tomato, both ripe and unripe, illuminated by a daylight torch

‘Sungold’ tomato, both ripe and unripe, illuminated by a UV torch

A composite image of the ‘Sungold’ tomato, both ripe and unripe, showing both daylight and fluorescent versions

As before, in the above photos the green unripe tomato shows a bluish colour and the yellow ripe ones are black. There isn’t a lot of difference in the visible colour of unripe and partially ripe fruit but the unripe shows blue and the partially ripe shows black. In the next set I show a small orange unlabelled variety:

Unlabelled tomato, both ripe and unripe, illuminated by a daylight torch

Unlabelled tomato, both ripe and unripe, illuminated by a UV torch

A composite image of the unlabelled tomato, both ripe and unripe, showing both daylight and fluorescent versions

In this third set of photos the green unripe tomato shows a brighter blue colour and the orange ripe ones and the yellow partially ripe ones are black.

This has been an interesting exercise one that I shall continue with.

Author: Paul L.G. Morris

I am an amateur photographer whose photography is mostly of gardens, nature and the rural environment. My specialities are close-ups, panoramic views, or a combination of both that I call ‘Nearscapes’.

I also produce interactive virtual tours and virtual walk videos.

I work mostly for my own interest having closed my business PM Studios Ltd. View all posts by Paul L.G. Morris

If you would like to make use of any of the content, please contact me with details. Thanks. (I don’t rip-off other people’s content so I would expect the same courtesies to be extended to me!)