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Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of a novel Schiff base ligand, (Z)-5-((pyren-1-ylmethylene)amino)-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one (<b>PMDP</b>). The characterization of ligand <b>PMDP</b> was carried out using ESI-MS, ¹H NMR, and UV–Visible spectroscopic techniques. As a probe, <b>PMDP</b> displayed a detectable, colorimetric colour shift in the presence of Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺ ions. The solution was seen to have a light brown colour and to exhibit a fluorometric “turn off” response when Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺ ions were present in a DMSO solution (HEPES 0.01 M, pH = 7.4) at room temperature. Job’s plot revealed that the <b>PMDP</b> binding ratio to Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺ ions was in 1:2 ratio. In contrast to the other metal ions (Cd²⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Na⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu⁺, Fe³⁺, Hg²⁺, Mg²⁺, Zn²⁺, K⁺, and V⁵⁺), the synthesised probe showed exceptional sensitivity and selectivity for detecting Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺ metal ions. The results indicate that the detection limits for Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺ are 0.42 μM and 0.51 μM, respectively. Furthermore, <b>PMDP</b> was efficiently utilised for the quantitative analysis of Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺ in real water samples, RGB colour values in smart phones, logic gate construction, and cell imaging in HeLa cells.