Digital composite photograph

New York, New York, and Madison, Alabama, United States

While color and brightness are familiar concepts to most, the polarization state of light is largely unfamiliar to humans since human eyes are almost completely insensitive to this spectrum. The state of polarization is represented as color in this image, revealing the striking pattern present in a clear blue sky. Some animal species, such as bees, use this polarization pattern as a navigational aid. The image was created from several digital images that were captured with polarizers. The images were then subject to mathematical post-analysis and synthesis.