Six great tips for creating freakishly awesome UV photography

A few weeks ago, the folks from the Cooperative of Photography brought us an excellent video on taking our photography to the next level. One of the projects highlighted in that video was on UV photography. Starting simple and building it up to produce something amazing.

This time, the Cooperative are back with photographer Markus Berger and some amazing practical tips that will definitely help to take your UV photography to that next level they were talking about.

The great thing about UV photography, at least this kind of UV photography, is that you don’t need any special kind of camera, or sensor conversion, like you do with infrared. There are also a whole bunch of different lighting options out there for all budgets to get you started.

But whether you use a simple UV flashlight, a CCFL lamp, or a UV flash strobe, the tips and tricks shown in the video offer some great ideas for shooting with UV.

1. UV Makeup. Hair, lipstick, nails, and more can all add interest and unique colour.
2. Glowing cocktails. Fluorescein will dye liquids to give them a glow under UV.
3. UV Bubbles. This one was my favourite from the video, and goes great with the model’s makeup.
4. UV Wool. Whether hung up to make a web, wrapped around your subject, or knitted into a garment, it looks pretty surreal.
5. UV holi powder. Yes, it’s even cooler than regular holi powder.
6. Glowing hair. Dipping hair into a tub of water dyed with Fluorescein makes for some pretty cool results, especially with UV flash.

So, why not give it a go on your next shoot?

This one’s definitely my favourite.

Have you had a go at UV photography? Do you shoot it regularly? If you haven’t are you thinking about giving it a try? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.  Images used with permission.