A shadow is an area deprived of light, but what does that mean when doing a painting?
What it means is if we are not paying attention to the kind of light source and the shadows resulting from it, we might create unintended distortions in our painting. The images could be masterfully formed, but if the shadows are wrong, the entire painting will FEEL wrong.
First, consider the light source: if images are illuminated by a direct light source, two major kinds of shadows appear -- form shadows and cast
shadows. Form shadows are those areas on a form being deprived of light because the light is on the other side of them. Cast shadows are areas where the light is blocked by a shape or
image.
Comparing this black puppy with the white one, see the difference in the light/shadow relationship? In outdoor diffused light, the light source is the entire sky, so the image is illuminated from all directions and
the form shadows recede in all directions, too. Cast shadows are at a minimum.
Try this: Take a photo of an outdoor image in direct
sunlight. Wait for an overcast day and take another picture of the same image. Side by side, do a drawing of each image, giving attention to how shadows behave in each kind of light.
Doing an exercise like this can show you more about these kinds of shadows than I could teach you in ten thousand words. You can access the archive of all my newsletters at anytime by going HERE. |
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