Fountain in the morning

I have returned to the same fountain for the last time to observe it in the morning light conditions. It is about 9:15 am. The first thing I notice is that it is at its greenest, but this time it looks less like the water is actually green (which was the case at the other times). The sky is bright blue right now, and there are no clouds to speak of. The sun is shining from behind me, poking through the trees. The shadows are distinct, but long. They are not as stark or sharp as they were last time, but they are definitely longer. Unlike the last time I observed the fountain, this time it is off. There is much less disturbance in the water, however, than when I observed it at night. There is only one source rippling from the drops of water slowly falling from the center edge of the pool by the second level of water. However, as I continue to observe a second source on the other side of the pool becomes apparent in the ripples of the water, but it is obscured from my vision due to my position and angle. This time the reflection is nearly a perfect image of the surroundings. There are only a few gentle waves here and there. The reflected greens of the tree are in almost perfect focus aside from some movement of the water's surface. The reflections of the surrounding stone lip looks almost white as though it were being hit directly with an intense light (but that can't be so, because the sun is coming from the opposite direction). It appears to be almost metallic and has a silver quality to it. There are moving lines on the stone rims. During my other observations these were dark shadow lines that moved quickly, but in this light they look more like light glows. They seem to be lines on the stone that are just a slightly brighter color than the stone, and they are moving at a much slower pace than they were yesterday. This is likely because they are a bounceback of the water surface light, and yesterday the fountain was on and therefore there was more rapid movement. As time passes, the ripples begin to move a little faster. Another distrubance develops on the surface towards the outer side of the pool. I am not sure why it has happened, but the result makes the reflection of the surroundings look much more distorted, as if it were painted in impressionistic, Monet style brush strokes. By the end of my observation time, the glow of the water's movement on the stone (the glow lines) seem to have vanished. I think that this is because the sun's angle is a bit more steep than it was a few minutes ago, so the light has evened out the glows a bit more than they were before.

Fountain in the Morning from Lady Subrosa on Vimeo.

Fountain in the Afternoon

So, my subject is the same as my previous post, only a different time. This time I'm observing it in broad daylight at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Like the other night, there is not a cloud in the sky. Unlike the other night, my light source is all natural (aka the sun). From where I observe the sun is at about 11 a clock from my head. The world is bathed in a sort of golden, sunny light. People are walking around and enjoying the afternoon, but I sit at a nearby bench and watch the water, occasionally walking up to the edge to change my perspective.

The first big difference I notice between the lower tier pool at night and during the day is the color of the water. I still suspect this has more to do with the water quality than the light necessarily, but instead of looking like a dark blue green, it looks like a fairly yellowy green lime color. It appears more saturated in this light. Another big difference is the fact that the fountain is actually on now, making for more hectic waves in the water. Because of this, the reflection of nearby objects in the water is difficult to make out because it keeps moving. There is an echo of the image, however, and you can see the basic shapes and colors of the nearby objects like the buildings and the trees. The colors that are reflected from the surrounding area are mainly the yellow greens of the trees (which are difficult to distinguish from the green of the water), the yellow/tanish reflection of a six pack building, and a few spots of bright blue from the sky. Again, because of the amount and rate of water spilling from the above level, the ripples and waves of the surface distort the reflections. This pace, however, make for a little flicker and sparkle effect the way the lamp posts did at night.

As time progresses, I begin to notice tiny bubbles develop on various spots of the water. These bubbles look like little sparkling spots, as the light of the sun hits them and travels through their thin, transparent shells at a quicker rate than it can travel through the water of the whole pool. They pop and form at random rates, and there are around 20 to 30 of these on the water's surface at a given time. I am not sure why they form, but the light reflects brightly in a yellow-white glow.

Finally, I take stock of the possible shadows. The shadows of nearby objects are dark, sharp, and distinct, stretching over the ground at about the size of their corresponding object. This obviously has little effect on the water, but I see a really slight glow emitting from the water's surface on the stones surrounding the fountain. These aren't exactly shadows, but little lines of violet-grey shimmer on the light-tan (nearly white) stone. Again, the sky quality has changed very little over time, so the pool appears nearly identical at the end of 15 minutes as it did when I first started my observation.

Fountain in the Afternoon from Lady Subrosa on Vimeo.

Fountain at Night

I begin my observation at around 8:30 or so at night of the fountain at the six pack. I had hoped to start earlier and get a little more of the light from sunset, but I am running a little later than I'd like and so the sky is already set a dark violet/indigo. It is a cloudless sky, and this near to the city makes for too much light pollution to see any stars. As it has been the case with my other evening observations, unnatural light is unavoidable, especially in such a high traffic area as campus. It's alright, though, because the nearby street lamps make for an interesting effect on the water.

I focus on the lowest of the three tiers of pools. The fountain is on at this time, but some water from the upper levels is still steadily dripping into the otherwise still pool. The water appears to be a very dark green, almost even black. I cannot tell if it has the green tint because of the quality of the water or because of all of the nearby trees. This is because the dark quality of the water makes it highly reflective. Since the water is mostly still, the image that is reflected on the surface is nearly identical to the actual object (whether it be a building, tree, or the rim of the pool). However, the detail of the image is a little fuzzy due to the really subtle movement of the water. It ripples slightly because of the incoming water from the above pool, but it also looks like otherwise isolated there are small ripples forming in areas of the pool that are far from the previously described waterfalls. Most notably, this gentle current in the water makes the reflection of the lamposts that line the sidewalk just beyond the pool flicker and seem to sparkle. The light from these looks yellow at the source, but in the green-tint of the water the light is rendered bluish. The spots of light grow and shrink with the flow of the water, making the reflection of reality a far more interesting picture. Another thing I notice is the way the reflection changes with my angle of perspective. The closer to the ground level, the less reflection is apparent. This is also true if I look at it from a perpendicular angle. As I get close to the end of my observation time, I take notice of the way the shadows on the stone around the fountain move. It is not very clear in my video, but to my eyes a very obvious set of sharp shadows (which look like really thin lines) seem to run up from where the stone meets the water through the topside of the stone. The lines move quickly, perhaps quicker than the apparent flow of the water. The shadows aren't very dark, as there isn't much light to make the contrast in the first place, but they are a sort of blue grey on the light tan of the stone. Since the sky conditions changed very little over my observation time, I can't say there is any big difference between the beginning and the end of my observation. Still, there was a lot to take in, so I may have missed a subtle change in conditions.

Fountain at Night from Lady Subrosa on Vimeo.