Sunlight Rays Landscape Photography

Surface illumination
The spectrum of surface illumination depends upon solar elevation due to atmospheric effects, with the blue spectral component from atmospheric scatter dominating during twilight before and after sunrise and sunset, respectively, and red dominating during sunrise and sunset. These effects are apparent in natural light photography where the principal source of illumination is sunlight as mediated by the atmosphere.
According to Craig Bohren, "preferential absorption of sunlight by ozone over long horizon paths gives the zenith sky its blueness when the sun is near the horizon".