Chameleons viewed in infrared lighting

[stephencartolano]

I've recently come across photos taken in the infrared light spectrum and its pretty spectacular to see the difference, Im wondering if anyone has ever taken infrared photos of different chameleons. Ive read that chameleons can see infrared light so I'm interested in seeing what colors come out in this spectrum. I saw pictures of flowers under such lighting and the flowers looking completely different and show patterns that aren't visible to the naked eye. If no ones tried this yet, some one should, for science!


Tl;dr does anyone have pictures of chameleons under infrared?

 

[Lathis]

I have access to an IRT camera through work... I could probably sneak it out for "research purposes"

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I have access to an IRT camera through work... I could probably sneak it out for "research purposes"

Do it!! For the sake of the chams.

 

[stephencartolano]

You really should! otherwise I'll have to wait until I get my own

 

[PANDEMIC]

I have on I will post pictures tomorrow

 

[stephencartolano]

you are my hero!!

 

[Lathis]

Our IRT camera is in Houston. I've requested it be shipped back for a "project". No one asked if it was a work project or a personal one It should come back in later this week.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

It would be awesome to get comparison pics of a cham that's been basking vs one just cruising around...

 

[coldbloodedAL]

I can get one from work as well. I will get some shots tomorrow or thursday for y'all

 

[Chris Anderson]

There is a paper on this, but I've not seen much more done on it since and the results are interesting:

Dodd, K.C. (1981). Infrared reflectance in chameleons (Chamaeleonidae) from Kenya. Biotropica 13(3), 161-164.

The paper talked about photos taken of T. hoehnelii, T. schubotzi, T. jacksonii, C. gracilis and K. "fischeri" (actually K. boehmei since the specimen was collected in the Taita Hills in Kenya) using infrared film. According to the paper, C. gracilis and K. "fischeri" both reflected infrared light, while the others did not. Interestingly, all these species were classified as Chamaeleo species at the time, so its interesting to see that none of what we know now as Trioceros species showed the infrared reflectance but the Chamaeleo and Kinyongia species did. It would be interesting to sample more broadly.

Chris

 

[stephencartolano]

It makes me happy to see two different mods interested in my thread! This is a link to an infrared photo, its interesting to see a landscape in a totally different color spectrum, I'm wondering if chameleons will look purple or white or anything else that might be interesting >

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs45/f/2009/107/f/c/Spring_Trees_infrared____by_MichiLauke.jpg

Just to clarify I'm not looking for a heat signature type image like this > http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/images/irbody.jpg

This is a link to the documentary that sparked my idea, its a bit graphic but it has beautiful cinematography > http://nofilmschool.com/2013/06/infrared-cinematography-documentary-the-enclave/

^ thats the kind of result I'm looking for!

Chris would you have a link to that study/photos?

 

[Lathis]

Ah, I have a heat signature type camera - infrared thermography. I was playing with it this evening to try to get a good scan by adjusting the degree range. With my cham being just about room temperature, it's difficult to get a detailed image.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Chris would you have a link to that study/photos?

Here ya go: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.23...2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102195762183

Chris

 

[Lathis]

Not what you were asking for, but still pretty cool. I had to really squeeze the temperature scale way down to get any sort of legible image. Not ideal conditions for IRT; there was a lot of light pollution and not a good temperature differential between the subject and ambient conditions (darn reptiles being all room temperature and stuff!).

I might play with it and see if I can get a clearer image with IRT. We don't have a near-infrared spectrum camera, so I can't help you there.

 

[laurie]

That is so cool, thanks

 

[Video Master]

My video cams that I have on the cage and environmentals have IR lights to look at the cage at night. It is really cool to look at!