Coastal palette -- Part 2

Okay, so I received several guesses about last night's mystery photo (re-posted below)...thank you!  I knew this would be tricky, and I wouldn't have known the answer either.

 

 

If you've been following the NHBH blog for a while, you'll know that I'm fascinated by light and color in the environment.  And you might recall my photos of strands of silk in spider webs as well as close-ups of foam bubbles along the shore.  This is very similar!

 

Here's a zoomed out version of the original view:

 

 

 

These are foam bubbles left behind on a sandy beach after a wave has receded.  Sunlight is interacting with the film on the bubbles to create small colored reflections.  The bottom half of the image has sharper focus (and the colors are more subtle), but notice how the top half of the image is out of focus and in that case the colors become broadened into circles.

 

Here's another example (below) where I've purposely blurred the image to make the colored reflections in the foam become more visible:

 

 

Once I've downloaded the image I can zoom in on interesting sections of the photo, like this:

 

 

I don't know why there are so many different colors...or why the colors appear as perfect circles (but see this article on "Understanding bokeh").  It's intriguing to see what colors and patterns appear as the foam and light interact.  (You might recall that I've noticed a seasonal pattern where it appears that the foam is the most colorful during the spring upwelling season.)

 

 

 

So there you go — the colorful mystery dots are a blurry view of sea foam and sunlight.  Who knew?