Being and east-coaster most of my life, all I wanted to do on my first visit to Perth was to watch the sun set into a real ocean (not Port Philip bay!). I positioned myself on a beach and the sun set - behind Rottnest Island
Never mind whether it's sunrise or sunset ... why is the reflection bent!?!?
It doesn't look like a lens distortion ... and how can the water have a slope on it??
The reflection seems to deviate starting from a line of disturbance in the water in the middle distance.
Thinks
Ah yes, I know what it is ... the picture was taken in Scotland and the water is curved due to the kryptonite radiation field surrounding the Loch Ness monster.
1. The horizon isn't level which makes the bent reflection more pronounced.
2. Looks as though the waves may have a current or (as Phil said) a tidal flow and are traveling in such a manor to give this distorted look to the reflection, was there a breeze at the time ?
... it might be that the full tapering “cone” of reflected light is not being recorded ... if we draw straight lines to define the edges, for some reason, the RHS is not being reflected/recorded?
1. The horizon isn't level which makes the bent reflection more pronounced.
2. Looks as though the waves may have a current or (as Phil said) a tidal flow and are traveling in such a manor to give this distorted look to the reflection, was there a breeze at the time ?
There are a number of perfectly straightforward explanations for the apparent bend in the reflection of the sun:
Relativitistic meniscus effect - the surface of the water near the shore is slightly lower in level than the average water surface further out... this can be magnified by wave action - the flat water between waves reflects better than the tops of waves which tend to scatter light. Surely you've noticed this at the beach!
Gravitational lensing - it is possible there's a concentration of dark matter to the left just off the coast... if only we could see it! It would have to be very concentrated to only affect the path of the light rays reflecting off the water close to shore and not affect the others... but you could be onto something there...
If you were using a polarising filter on your lens it may have been adjusted to eliminate the polarised reflections at the particular angle of the right hand side of the reflection more-so than the left... nahhh... who would do that???
The speed of light is wrong and it really travels much slower than previously thought. Differences in path length means that different parts of the reflection correspond to different positions of the sun...
The corollary of 4 is that the speed of light is correct but there's a local time warp just off shore... is Rocky Horror Point nearby?
Quantum cricketer's may suggest that there's a rough patch where you see the bend which causes the spin on the photons to produce a bit more turn...
or possibly all people who perceive the bend in the reflection in this photo are themselves bent or twisted... everything is relative you know...
I could go on but that might be considered silly...
Interesting effect though! I think I have noticed it in some photos before, but never really thought about it... I can't explain it, but you don't let that stop you, eh?
I sent the pic to Channel 7 newsroom and the meteorologist said that it was a matter of various water temperatures distorting the reflection........ NOT convinced, having seen sunrises over Ball Bay for the past 8 years.
Being and east-coaster most of my life, all I wanted to do on my first visit to Perth was to watch the sun set into a real ocean (not Port Philip bay!). I positioned myself on a beach and the sun set - behind Rottnest Island 
... why is the reflection bent!?!?
