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74 LIGHT AND WATER These instances show how much depends upon the angle of vision, and the importance of taking it into account in painting reflexions. If we look at the image of the reflected trees, we shall see that those parts of the foliage which appear in the immediate foreground are modified by the colour of the water itself (whether it be the pure blue of the Swiss lakes, or the muddy bottom and slimy water of a duck-pond), that this local colour shows less in the foliage reflected a little farther off and disappears altogether in the distant reflexions. This gradation is so subtle that it may easily pass unobserved, but, if we want to be true to nature in our colouring, we must not omit to give it expression. The difference of colour the reflected ray. Now, standing on the side towards which the basin is tipped up, lower the eye almost to the level of the water, and again let down the button as before (Fig. 27). The effect in Fig. 26. | Fig. 27. this case will be very different; the reflexion of the button before it enters the water will be nearly as distinct as the object itself, while the button after entering the water almost entirely disappears. Thus it is evident that on looking very obliquely on to the surface,
