sunlight!

[dannyday5821]

lets pretend your in a forest on a sunny summers day. the sun beams through the trees. is there a name for that effect where the sun shines through something, and leaves a sort of shadow hanging in the air? sorry, i can picture the scene perfect, but i cant really think of any other way to describe it. if there is a name for it, what causes it, and why does it happen?

check this link from the cool shooting game BLACK...

http://img.game.co.uk/ml/3/2/6/4/326417ss1.jpg

see how the light shines through the smoke, casting that cool dream like shadow effect from the concrete pillars? thats the effect im talking about...why does that happen?is it just the same as if you used smoke on a lazer beam?

[dannyday5821]

actually, this screenshot better demonstrates what i mean...

http://www.game.co.uk/gallery.aspx?cat=9&Index =326417&Image=3

[wildwood]

Don't know if there is a name for it but the phenomenon is easily explained. Your eyes [and the camera lens] adjust to the dark environment, therefore the light appears exceptionally bright.

Take an outside photo of smoke in an clear sky background. Paint some brown or black broad lines across it as if it is the shadows of trees in a forest. What's left will now appear a lot more like the light you mentioned.

Early in the morning when the sun is low, bright and shining through your window, put your arm in the lightbeam and rub the sleeve of your jersey/shirt. You will see the dust floating in the light similar to what the smoke does.

[Mortartube]

Whilst I don't think that there is a particular word to name this specific effect, a close description would be Chiarascuro. Which describes the contrast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro

[Clanad]

It's called Crepuscular Raying... also applies to the rays the sun creates at time shining through clouds...

[Peter Pedant]

and is quite important in biology

as the light going through trees in the way you describe allows a different set of plants and insects to thrive.

Anglo Saxons lived quite a lot in this environment - wood clearings, open fires and smoke, crappy houses, crepuscular sunlight, no bogs, taxis televisions or mobile phones.

[jhiker]

Dappled sunlight? - lovely word, 'dappled'!