Skypools on Spring Lake, Utah
March 06, 2012
Photographer: Ray Boren
Summary Author: Ray Boren; Jim Foster
The photo above shows sky and clouds reflecting on the gentle waves of a pastoral pond in Spring Lake, Utah. These horizontally stretched-out pools, appropriately called skypools, create an abstract vision of shimmering, molten blue. In essence, they're distorted images of the sky. One side of the wave gives an erect image while the other side gives an inverted image. Skypools are most noticeable when the observer's line of sight is greater than about 15 degrees -- sufficiently high so the entire surface of the wave can be detected. When you look at the part of a pool nearest you, you're seeing light reflected from higher and higher in the sky. However, when you look toward the far side of the pool, light is now coming from much lower in the sky -- in the same direction that you're looking. Photo taken on November 13, 2011.
Photo details: Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION; Camera Model: NIKON D60; Focal Length: 95.0mm; Aperture: f/8.0; Exposure Time: 0.0063 s (1/160); ISO equiv: 100; Exposure Bias: none; Metering Mode: Matrix; Flash Fired: No; Orientation: Normal; Color Space: sRGB; Software: QuickTime 7.6.4.