Quick Look

Transmitted Light 

Watching Leaves in the Sunlight

The light transmitted through leaves and flowers often evokes the changing seasons more intensely than the light reflected off their surfaces. On a fine day, the leaves showcase brilliant transmitted light with sharp shadows from their overlapping layers. On a cloudy day, they produce gentle and soft gradients of filtered light. When these sunlit leaves are projected onto the clear water’s surface, their reflected images appear more translucent, as the scattered white light is naturally suppressed (see “Another Space in the Water”).

Green Light From the Bottom Layer of Leaves

To understand the beauty of transmitted light, we look inside the leaf. The light transmitted through leaves is a mixture of direct and scattered light. Within the top layer of the palisade tissue, green leaves strongly absorb red and blue light, allowing green light to reach the bottom layer of the spongy tissue. The green light is repeatedly scattered and gradually absorbed within this bottom layer. This multiple scattering proceeds through refraction and reflection between the water-rich cells and the intercellular spaces filled with air. Consequently, the diffusive green light from the inside of leaves yields fresh translucency. When leaves dry, the light simply passes through, losing its depth and resembling a translucent plastic sheet.

Perception of Transparency and Translucency

Natural transparency and translucency are generally preferred in art as well as in daily life. These textures serve as vital indicators for checking the freshness of our food and water. In fact, recent research has identified specific brain neurons that detect transparency and translucency. Therefore, this perception is considered one of the deep-seated human senses developed for survival since ancient times. This ability to perceive transparency and translucency and appreciate their beauty works in the modern age, and will remain essential in the future.

✦ Notes

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