Color In Nature: Water

Pure water has a light blue color due to the absorption and scattering of the spectral wavelengths. As the thickness increases, water becomes a deeper blue. The common misconception of water being blue due to a reflection of the sky’s similar hue, just isn’t true. Though water obviously has reflective properties, and the blue of the sky can make water appear even more blue depending on your observation angle.

Water can be full of color outside the normal shades of blue. With the help of nature’s color mixing, using silts, algae, and other organic matter, water can take on many different colors, like the Colorado River which has a muddy red tint due to red silt. Water adds wonderfully to any landscape palette and is obviously one of the best sources of inspiration for your next blue.


Photo from wikipedia
Havasu_Falls

The Color of Water

Scattering from suspended particles also plays an important role in the color of lakes and oceans. A few tens of meters of water will absorb all light, so without scattering, all bodies of water would appear black. Because most lakes and oceans contain suspended living matter and mineral particles, known as colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) light from above is reflected upwards. Scattering from suspended particles would normally give a white color, as with snow, but because the light first passes through many meters of blue-colored liquid, the scattered light appears blue. In extremely pure water as is found in mountain lakes, where scattering from white colored particles is missing, the scattering from water molecules themselves also contributes a blue color.

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Photo by ramson
Thailand_waters

One other phenomenon that occurs is Rayleigh scattering in the atmosphere along one’s line of sight: the horizon is typically 4-5 km distant and the air (being just above sea level in the case of the ocean) is at its densest. This mechanism would add a blue tinge to any distant object (not just the sea) because blue light would be scattered into one’s line of sight.
Wikipedia: Color of water

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Photo by joiseyshowaa
Central_Park_water Sneferu

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Photo by Arnasia

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Photo by elbisreverri
Phi_Phi_Islandoff_Miami


Photo by Wonderful_World**

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Photo by -Nat
Morrell_park_waterAmazon River

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Photo by idua_japan

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Photo by tarotastic
Atlantic_oceanRio Xingu

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Photo by leoffreitas

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Photo from wikipedia
Red tidelines_in_the_water

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Photo from Wolfgang Staudt

Water Inspiration from the CL library

Water_Weaving watercolorist_blue

Waterways Very_Handsome_Man

Waterfalls Clear_Ocean

watery_green watercolor

water_caress water_wings

the_water_is_wide water_slime

Header Image by Shanti ॐ

Author: evad
David Sommers has been loving color as COLOURlovers' Blog Editor-in-Chief for the past two years. When he's not neck deep in a rainbow he's loving other things with The Post Family (http://thepostfamily.com/), a Chicago-based art blog, artist collective & gallery.