Sun Reflections Through Window
March 20, 2011
Photographer: Alfred Herbel
Summary Author: Alfred Herbel; Jim Foster
The photo above shows Pacman-like reflections of the rising Sun as seen through a window of my home in Waldenbuch, Germany. As I awoke on this bright but bitter winter morning, I noticed this series of multicolor reflections of the partially obscured Sun. The rightmost image is the “true” Sun (partly covered by my neightbor’s roof); whereas the the other two images are reflections that result from looking through double glazed windows. I snapped the photo with an angle between the glass and the camera of about 15-20 degrees. Just to the left of the conifer is yet another reflection likely from my camera lens. Note that the reflected suns are more reddened as the reflections take them closer to the horizon -- their path length is effectively increasing. The blue, green, yellow colors (shorter wavelength colors) are scattered from our view causing the oranges and reds dominate. Double or multiple Suns cannot result from refraction or reflection of sunlight in ice crystals. Photo taken 7:37 a.m. February 23, 2011.
Photo details: Nikon D90 camera; 1/100 second exposure; f/5.6; 200 ISO; 105mm lens. Photoshop corrections with brightness/contrast. However, the "Suns" are not manipulated in any way.