Spider Web Colors

December 07, 2018

Piero_Spider's web (1)

Photographer: Piero Armando 
Summary Authors: Piero Armando; Jim Foster

Shown above is a spider web photographed from Montferrat, Italy, showing beautiful coloration as a result of diffraction of sunlight. The web threads are the right diameter (comparable to the spectral range of the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum) to diffract or reflect sunlight. When sunlight falls upon the thin threads wave interference causes colors to overlap, so they aren't as pure as the colors observed by refraction of light in raindrops, for example. Note that variations in the intensity of the metallic reds and greens shown here are likely due to differences in the thickness of the web. Photo taken on July 4, 2018.

Photo Details: Camera: Canon EOS 600D; Software: ACDSee 15; Exposure Time: 0.0008s (1/1250); Aperture: ƒ/8.0; ISO equivalent: 800.