Today was a great day for winter scenery. I am a fan of Maxfield Parrish so I always enjoy seeing the strong color contrasts provided by clear winter days. The opening picture was taken at noon. On the way to the mailbox, I had to walk under a birch tree. As I did so, the contrast between the black of the birch branches and the brightly lighted spruce tree caught my eye. It reminds me of a stained glass window.
In the afternoon, Melissa and I went for a walk on the trails at our farm site and got to enjoy the sunset colors. In the sunward direction, the sky was a lovely pink color. At about 3 P.M., we stopped at a spot where we could see the sun peeking through the trees and took this picture. The sun is the bright spot on the lower right.
A little later, we passed through a shaded area and found a spot where we could see a spruce tree catching the light of the setting sun. The contrast with the shaded trees was amazing. In the deeper parts of the woods, the shadows are more purple than they are in the more-open areas. I double-checked with Melissa to be sure the color in the picture looks like what we saw in real life (at least on MY computer screen).
In the atmosphere, violet light scatters more than blue light, but human eyes are more sensitive to blue light, so the sky looks blue rather than violet. Fairbanks is located at 64.8 degrees North latitude. At higher latitudes, the sunlight arrives from a lower angle above the horizon, which means it travels through a greater thickness of air, which should increase the scattering of the light. Based on this idea, I think we should get to see more of the violet light here than is seen farther south. Another reason I think this is because on clear nights, after sunset, the sky opposite the sunset direction often has a distinctly purple look before it turns black.
