The Beautiful Illusions of This Image

I recently got to be a part of a project where I photographed several natural specimens of butterflies, moths, etc. While researching each one to develop specific concepts, it was fascinating to learn about their beauty, mythology, real-life superpowers, and how they fit into the ecosystem. Although I can't post all the photos, I want to briefly dive into one I did post to showcase its transformative lightwork.

The winged species in the picture below belong to Chrysiridia rhipheus, aka the Madagascan sunset moth, which is native to the east African country. What's interesting is that besides it most likely being the world's most beautiful moth that flies during the day, all of the colors you see on the wings don't have any pigment. Manipulations/reflections of light give the wings a perception of color. Isn't that wild?

Simply put, without getting into the physics/optics of the why, the wings have a ribbon-like structure of scales. They are multi-layered and curved in a way that reflects wavelengths of light at different angles, which gives the wings that colorful metallic-like appearance without actually absorbing the light the way living organisms do to produce melanin. For example, people around the world closer to the equator, where the sun shines intensely year round, developed darker skin that absorbs the benefits of light while protecting them in that environment. In contrast, people further away from the equator developed lighter skin for those colder environments with less sun where they could still absorb the light. But like the colors of a peacock's tail, the sunset moth and others are real-life Lightworkers divinely mirroring the universe's light through beautiful colors of reflection.

Bonus: Try this trippy game of color below.

Color can look different depending on its neighboring hue.

❤️‍🔥🌊🌙

*I was watching Coneheads the other day and forgot this fire song "Soul To Squeeze" was in the movie when Ronnie (Chris Farley) was on his date 😂🔥. The music video sparked some new ideas too.