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Your storiesYou are in: North Yorkshire > People > Your stories > Photographing phosphorescence  Photographing phosphorescenceTrevor Morris first noticed the phosphorescence of certain minerals while a member of the South Wales Caving Club. He set about building a device to let him photograph 'glowing' minerals in his own home, with stunning results. Trevor Morris takes the most remarkable photos. At first glance his pictures of ammonites look digitally enhanced, or cleverly lit, but all of his photos are taken using an old manual film camera and printed directly from the negative, and there's no artificial light at all.
What he's done is build a device that allows him to photograph the phosphorescence of various minerals; visible light of various colours emitted for fractions of a second after exposure to another light source. One of the striking items photographed is, what looks like, a small nicely rounded crystal pebble. In daylight it's a dull grey colour, but under UV light it glows bright pink. But, as Trevor explains, there's more going on than meets the eye. "When I turn off the light, the glow persists for a few moments, just long enough for you to see. That's the phosphorescence. But it will change colour from the pink to yellow and then green, faster than you can see."  These colour changes are too quick to see The key to Trevor's photographic technique is speed. The phosphorescence may only last for milliseconds, so the camera shutter has to open as soon as the light source is turned off. Any delay would mean a blank frame. Trevor has been experimenting with phosphorescence photography since the late 70s, but it was a caving trip that first got him started. "You take nothing from caves, only photographs, and leave nothing but footprints. One day I was playing around with a UV lamp. When I turned the lamp off the whole cave continued to glow. "Another time I took a photo with a flash bulb and the afterglow was so bright I had to cover my eyes. "I take the photos against a black background and sit the items on a black film case, because these don't phosphoresce. I never know how a picture will come out and I've spent a lot of money over the years on developing blank films.  Trevor's modified camera "Calcite crystals tend to give the best results, and that's why I started photographing ammonites. The shells of these fossils would have been calcium carbonate (the same mineral as calcite).听 As the fossil has developed different minerals will settle, so you get different colours of phosphorescence. "It gives me a real thrill, not knowing how the pictures will come out. Sometimes I get nothing, other times a crystal can phosphorescence so brightly it's all over exposed. But as far as I know I'm the only person taking photos like this." last updated: 16/10/2008 at 16:26 Have Your SayWant to tell us what you think about Trevor's amazing photos? Then fill in the form below.
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