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Ocean sunset at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Painting or photo?
Although this sunset snapshot may remind you of an abstract expressionist painting, Mother Nature creates these colours not by adding together pigments but by cutting light apart. At sunset or sunrise, white light from the sun must travel further to reach your eye, striking more tiny atmospheric particles along the way, than at high noon. The particles scatter light like a prism, preventing portions of the colour spectrum from entering your retinas – particularly cool, low-wavelength blues and greens. Your optic nerves supply your brain with what remains – a wash of warm brushstrokes in orange and violet.
Painting or photo?
Although this sunset snapshot may remind you of an abstract expressionist painting, Mother Nature creates these colours not by adding together pigments but by cutting light apart. At sunset or sunrise, white light from the sun must travel further to reach your eye, striking more tiny atmospheric particles along the way, than at high noon. The particles scatter light like a prism, preventing portions of the colour spectrum from entering your retinas – particularly cool, low-wavelength blues and greens. Your optic nerves supply your brain with what remains – a wash of warm brushstrokes in orange and violet.
For a dose of pure beauty, it's hard to beat a sunset seen through misty clouds on a calm ocean.
© Constantine Johnny / Moment / Getty Images 2026-09-11 08:45:51 :