Photographer and Filmmaker Thomas Leveritt had a radical idea: find people on the street, film their faces with an ultraviolet camera, and show his subjects the not-yet-visble changes to their skin. The participant's reactions range from shock to laughter, but it is obviously that no one had ever seen their face in this light.The most notable hidden traits on most people's faces are freckles. Participants who have no noticeable freckles on their faces all of a sudden display hundreds of small dots around their eyes, across their nose, and even into their ears.
The most interesting part of the video is when Thomas asks the subjects to apply sunscreen to their faces. In ultraviolet, the sunscreen appears like a thick tar. While shocking, the ultraviolet camera clearly shows the advantages of wearing sunscreen, which maybe can prevent the unseen skin changes from ever appearing outside of an ultraviolet camera.
With the success of this video, it's only a matter of time before we start seeing portfolios of subjects photographed in ultraviolet.
To see more from Thomas, visit his website or follow him on Twitter.
Why does the last girl shown at the end of the film have perfect teeth in color, but terrible looking teeth in UV? Is that because she had them worked on?
Don't ask me...I am just a writer. Maybe we can get that dentist/Wildlife Photographer Jaco Marx to chime in. :)
That's exactly why. Pretty cool. The filling material must absorb it similar to the sunscreen.
Could you imagine a shoot with people with fixed smiles, you could call it, "the hidden darkness within" or something, lol.
Wow, that's awesome! Luckily I don't have alot of fillings. I am ready for my close up!
Once upon a time I was a dental assistant...
It looks like she chipped her tooth and it was built back up with filling material. The composite reacts differently than enamel. Some staining and decay will react differently too.
Simply not true - if that was the case every 75 year old would have a face full of freckles
Scott, true. Some of these conditions may never come to light and be hidden underneath your skin for life.
Great idea.
What do I need to photograph Ultraviolet?
Depends on the camera. Maybe a filter is enough (which blocks almost everything else than uv light). In any case most of the time you must get rid of the uv filter that ist blocking v light from your sensor (irreversible). That's how far I got into it a couple of weeks ago. How video works I don't know. But it looks like a 5d that is used so no uv camera at all.
this is cool!
Right? I want an ultraviolet camera :)
This would make a great marketing campaign.
Some cosmetics company was using this in TV ads and in fancy dept stores about 8 years ago. maybe longer
You can do nearly the same thing just with contrast sliders...