Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer protection - Galderma Actinica

Galderma Germany had contracted me and my UV cameras for a Blogger Event in Berlin to show the effect of dangerous UV radiation on human skin and the effect of using their medical sun protection product.

Company info:
Actinica® Lotion is a highly effective medical device with broad spectrum UV protection. It has been developed especially for people who are at a higher risk than others to develop skin cancer due to UV exposure. It is the first and only medical device with demonstrated effectiveness in the prevention of various forms of NMSC (Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer) in a clinical study and showed a 53% reduction of actinic keratosis lesions within two years of regular administration of Actinica® Lotion and no new invasive squamous cell carcinoma within two years following regular administration of Actinica® Lotion. Actinica^® Lotion contains a combination of modern photostable UV filters, which cover a broad spectrum to absorb, reflect and scatter UV radiation. It is highly effective in protecting skin from ultraviolet B (UVB) as well as from ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation. Regulations for Actinica^® Lotion are different to those that apply to cosmetic products. The UV protection level of Actinica^® Lotion has been tested according to the European cosmetic requirements for sunscreens: its UVB and UVA protection level meets the highest category, “very high UV protection”.

So here a few shots from that Blogger event in Berlin with my UV camera in action, showing participants how to correctly apply sunscreen and the effect of proper protection.

Fotos (c) Ryan Hursh for sisterMAG    Eventlocation: GebrüderFritz, Berlin

I have previously written about that HERE

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

ZDFzeit August 25 20:15h CET - UV videography to show the effect of sun protection II

The ZDF had contracted me and my UV cameras to contribute to their series ZDFzeit. This episode has been aired on August 25, 2015 at primetime 20:15 hours CET and has shown the effect of dangerous UV radiation on human skin and the importance of using proper suncreme to protect against that.


Here now is the video, Suncreme + UV starts at 7:30m [click]:

Quite impressive results have been obtained, aside from it having been a great experience to work with such a great team of the ZDF. It is well worth watching to see what a human sees and how that same scene looks like in ultraviolet (UV) light!

I have written about that before HERE

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

UV video about Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer protection - Galderma Actinica

Galderma Germany had contracted me and my UV cameras to show the effect of dangerous UV radiation on human skin and the effect of using their medical sun protection product.

Company info:
Actinica® Lotion is a highly effective medical device with broad spectrum UV protection. It has been developed especially for people who are at a higher risk than others to develop skin cancer due to UV exposure. It is the first and only medical device with demonstrated effectiveness in the prevention of various forms of NMSC (Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer) in a clinical study and showed a 53% reduction of actinic keratosis lesions within two years of regular administration of Actinica® Lotion and no new invasive squamous cell carcinoma within two years following regular administration of Actinica® Lotion.
Actinica^® Lotion contains a combination of modern photostable UV filters, which cover a broad spectrum to absorb, reflect and scatter UV radiation. It is highly effective in protecting skin from ultraviolet B (UVB) as well as from ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation. Regulations for Actinica^® Lotion are different to those that apply to cosmetic products. The UV protection level of Actinica^® Lotion has been tested according to the European cosmetic requirements for sunscreens: its UVB and UVA protection level meets the highest category, “very high UV protection”.

I have previously written about UV videos and sun protection HERE

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

ZDFzeit August 25 20:15h CET - UV videography to show the effect of sun protection

The ZDF has contracted me and my UV cameras to contribute to their series ZDFzeit which will now be aired on August 25, 2015 at primetime 20:15 hours CET showing the effect of dangerous UV radiation on human skin and the effect of using proper suncreme to protect against that (in German language, with subtitles).

[click on image to see a larger one]

(C) ZDF, used with permission

Here is a LINK to the official announcement.


Quite impressive and graphic results have been obtained, worth watching to see what a human sees and how that same scene looks like in ultraviolet (UV) light!


There is a part II about it showing the video HERE

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

How the sun sees you - human skin and sun blocker effect as seen through reflected UV photography II

Today more about how the sun sees us and how bees might see us in UV. Well, in other words: how does human skin look like in reflected ultraviolet (UV) light compared to normal human vision. After shaving every morning, I usually apply some day cream to protect my skin. Shots were done inside using a modified for UV Xenon flash. A UV capable lens was used for this. All shots were done at about f5.6.

[click on image to see a larger one]

BW human vision VIS image (left), bw UV image (right)

So, the sunblocker in my daycream obviously has protective effects, clearly visible by the darkened skin. This shows that the used cream absorbs dangerous UV-B and also UV-A radiation (the latter being important to protect against the so called "white" skin cancer). Further its gets visible, that the reflected UV image clearly shows otherwise invisible freckles, about which some dermatologists say that it is skin damage getting visible, caused by the accumulated UV radiation exposure over the years. So whenever you're out in the sun, protect your skin!

To summarize, I would say that reflected UV photography is a very suitable tool to make all that so nicely visible!

I have written about that HERE before.

There is also a corresponding video about that topic HERE

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

How the sun sees you and how the bee sees you - human skin and sun blocker effect as seen through reflected UV photography

Today about how the sun sees us and how bees might see us. Well, in other words: how does human skin look like in reflected ultraviolet (UV) light and in simulated bee vision (BV) all compared to normal human vision. Sun blocking cream has been applied to the right side of the face to show which impact that has. All shots were done outside using sunlight. A UV capable 35mm lens was used for this. All shots were done at about f5.6.

[click on image to see a larger one]

Color human vision VIS image (left), false color UV image (right)

BW human vision VIS image (left), bw UV image (right)

Aside from the striking impact that SPF50 sunblocker has, it gets quite obvious, that the reflected UV image clearly also shows the UV pattern a Rudbeckia fulgida flower has. Human skin in UV shows otherwise invisible freckles, about which some dermatologists say that is skin damage getting visible, caused by UV radiation. Further to that, the otherwise invisible front tooth repair also gets nicely visible.

P.S.: my polo shirt massively reflects UV around 365nm - that is for the UV nerds only :LOL:

So what would a bee see of that I got asked. Well, let's see...

Color human vision VIS image (left), false color UV image (middle), simulated bee vision BV (right)

So the bee vision (BV) image also shows the effect of the applied sun blocking cream, as well as the flower UV patterns. It is not as striking as the bw image, but what do we know, how a bee really sees us...

So to summarize, I would say that reflected UV photography is a very suitable tool to make all that so nicely visible!

There is a corresponding video about that topic HERE


Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos

Making of Thomas Leveritt video "How the sun sees you" - reflected ultraviolet (UV) photography part I

Well, in August 2014 a video "How the sun sees you" by Thomas Leveritt went viral on the net, a video about using sun cream for skin cancer protection and raising awareness about the need for skin protection. Leveritt used materials and techniques which were known by UV photographers since many years and my readers here have seen my older videos which employed the very same techniques, however used to make visible what bees, butterflies and other insects see and we cannot - ultraviolet (UV) light. Usually I use a false color palette to make UV visible.

Have a look at the following HD black+white video clip to see that it is indeed doable. I would like to show in part II later that such a video can be made using a suitable camera, lens + filter.




Now the following is the same HD video clip, but this time in false UV colors. They have a meaning, but this might be revealed later on.


I hope you enjoyed this funny little clip today!

Stay tuned, more will follow on that fascinating subject...

More info on this very interesting field may be found on my site http://www.pbase.com/kds315/uv_photos