Top-left lighting

Last updated
Still Life with Fruit by Caravaggio (1571-1610) Still life carvaggio.png
Still Life with Fruit by Caravaggio (1571–1610)
Hill profiles on a 1639 map of Hispaniola by Joan Vinckenboons Higuey.jpg
Hill profiles on a 1639 map of Hispaniola by Joan Vinckenboons

Top-left lighting is an artistic convention in which illustrations are produced so that the light appears to come from the top left of the picture.

The vertical element of the convention comes from the human intuition that sunlight comes from above. Most people prefer lighting from the left when resolving a convex–concave ambiguity, and this preference may be stronger for right-handed people. This is reflected in Roman mosaics and in Renaissance, baroque and impressionist art. [1] [2]

Top-left lighted UI elements in "classic" Windows applications, reproduced by winecfg. Winecfg in 32-bit mode (v 5.5) -- main tab.png
Top-left lighted UI elements in "classic" Windows applications, reproduced by winecfg.

In cartography, the predominant custom of placing the shadow on the right-hand side of hill profiles was established during the 15th century. [3] Computer interfaces tend to use top left lighting as well (cf. Windows 9x and macOS screenshot), although this trend has gradually shifted more towards light coming straight from the top (cf. Android key light.) [4] [5]

There are notable exceptions to this convention, such as Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus due to the point of view which may represent geographical perspective and location.

Viewing images that do not conform to this convention may show a form of convex–concave ambiguity.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lens</span> Optical device which transmits and refracts light

A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (elements), usually arranged along a common axis. Lenses are made from materials such as glass or plastic and are ground, polished, or molded to the required shape. A lens can focus light to form an image, unlike a prism, which refracts light without focusing. Devices that similarly focus or disperse waves and radiation other than visible light are also called "lenses", such as microwave lenses, electron lenses, acoustic lenses, or explosive lenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirror</span> Object that reflects an image

A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the image in an equal yet opposite angle from which the light shines upon it. This allows the viewer to see themselves or objects behind them, or even objects that are at an angle from them but out of their field of view, such as around a corner. Natural mirrors have existed since prehistoric times, such as the surface of water, but people have been manufacturing mirrors out of a variety of materials for thousands of years, like stone, metals, and glass. In modern mirrors, metals like silver or aluminium are often used due to their high reflectivity, applied as a thin coating on glass because of its naturally smooth and very hard surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North</span> One of the four cardinal directions

North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. North is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.

The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system converges light, while a negative focal length indicates that the system diverges light. A system with a shorter focal length bends the rays more sharply, bringing them to a focus in a shorter distance or diverging them more quickly. For the special case of a thin lens in air, a positive focal length is the distance over which initially collimated (parallel) rays are brought to a focus, or alternatively a negative focal length indicates how far in front of the lens a point source must be located to form a collimated beam. For more general optical systems, the focal length has no intuitive meaning; it is simply the inverse of the system's optical power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shadow</span> Area where light is blocked by an object

A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or a reverse projection of the object blocking the light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trapezoid bone</span> Carpal (wrist) bone

The trapezoid bone is a carpal bone in tetrapods, including humans. It is the smallest bone in the distal row of carpal bones that give structure to the palm of the hand. It may be known by its wedge-shaped form, the broad end of the wedge constituting the dorsal, the narrow end the palmar surface; and by its having four articular facets touching each other, and separated by sharp edges. It is homologous with the "second distal carpal" of reptiles and amphibians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trapezium (bone)</span> Bone of the wrist

The trapezium bone is a carpal bone in the hand. It forms the radial border of the carpal tunnel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molding (decorative)</span> Class of decorative elements in the ornamentation

Moulding, or molding, also coving, is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster, but may be of plastic or reformed wood. In classical architecture and sculpture, the moulding is often carved in marble or other stones. In historic architecture, and some expensive modern buildings, it may be formed in place with plaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fill flash</span> Photographic technique

Fill flash is a photographic technique used to brighten deep shadow areas, typically outdoors on sunny days, though the technique is useful any time the background is significantly brighter than the subject of the photograph, particularly in backlit subjects. To use fill flash, the aperture and shutter speed are adjusted to correctly expose the background, and the flash is fired to lighten the foreground.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fill light</span>

In television, film, stage, or photographic lighting, a fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic range of the recording media and record the same amount of detail typically seen by eye in average lighting and considered normal. From that baseline of normality, using more or less fill will make shadows seem lighter or darker than normal, which will cause the viewer to react differently, by inferring both environmental and mood clues from the tone of the shadows.

This article contains a list of cinematic techniques that are divided into categories and briefly described.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollow-Face illusion</span> Optical illusion

The Hollow-Face illusion is an optical illusion in which the perception of a concave mask of a face appears as a normal convex face.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optical flat</span> Extremely flat piece of optical-grade glass

An optical flat is an optical-grade piece of glass lapped and polished to be extremely flat on one or both sides, usually within a few tens of nanometres. They are used with a monochromatic light to determine the flatness of other surfaces, whether optical, metallic, ceramic, or otherwise, by interference. When an optical flat is placed on another surface and illuminated, the light waves reflect off both the bottom surface of the flat and the surface it is resting on. This causes a phenomenon similar to thin-film interference. The reflected waves interfere, creating a pattern of interference fringes visible as light and dark bands. The spacing between the fringes is smaller where the gap is changing more rapidly, indicating a departure from flatness in one of the two surfaces. This is comparable to the contour lines one would find on a map. A flat surface is indicated by a pattern of straight, parallel fringes with equal spacing, while other patterns indicate uneven surfaces. Two adjacent fringes indicate a difference in elevation of one-half wavelength of the light used, so by counting the fringes, differences in elevation of the surface can be measured to better than one micrometre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portrait photography</span> Type of photography aimed at expressing the personality of the human subject(s)

Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Frequently, portraits are commissioned for special occasions, such as weddings, school events, or commercial purposes. Portraits can serve many purposes, ranging from usage on a personal web site to display in the lobby of a business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curved mirror</span> Mirror with a curved reflecting surface

A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflecting surface. The surface may be either convex or concave. Most curved mirrors have surfaces that are shaped like part of a sphere, but other shapes are sometimes used in optical devices. The most common non-spherical type are parabolic reflectors, found in optical devices such as reflecting telescopes that need to image distant objects, since spherical mirror systems, like spherical lenses, suffer from spherical aberration. Distorting mirrors are used for entertainment. They have convex and concave regions that produce deliberately distorted images. They also provide highly magnified or highly diminished (smaller) images when the object is placed at certain distances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrain cartography</span> Representation of surface shape on maps

Terrain cartography or relief mapping is the depiction of the shape of the surface of the Earth on a map, using one or more of several techniques that have been developed. Terrain or relief is an essential aspect of physical geography, and as such its portrayal presents a central problem in cartographic design, and more recently geographic information systems and geovisualization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rectilinear polygon</span> Polygon in which all angles are right

A rectilinear polygon is a polygon all of whose sides meet at right angles. Thus the interior angle at each vertex is either 90° or 270°. Rectilinear polygons are a special case of isothetic polygons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plane mirror</span> Mirror with a flat reflecting surface

A plane mirror is a mirror with a flat (planar) reflective surface. For light rays striking a plane mirror, the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence. The angle of the incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the surface normal. Therefore, the angle of reflection is the angle between the reflected ray and the normal and a collimated beam of light does not spread out after reflection from a plane mirror, except for diffraction effects.

in front of the mirror; these images appear to be behind the plane in which the mirror lies. A straight line drawn from part of an object to the corresponding part of its image makes a right angle with, and is dodged by, the surface of the plane mirror. The image formed by a plane mirror is virtual it is not real image. it is always upright, and of the same shape and size as the object it is reflecting. A virtual image is a copy of an tidies formed at the location from which the light rays appear to come. Actually, the image formed in the mirror is a perverted image (Perversion), there is a misconception among people about having confused with perverted and laterally-inverted image. If a person is reflected in a plane mirror, the image of his right hand appears to be the right hand of the image.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photographic lighting</span>

Photographic lighting refers to how a light source, artificial or natural, illuminates the scene or subject that is photographed. Photographers can manipulate the positioning and the quality of a light source to create visual effects, potentially changing aspects of the photograph such as clarity, tone and saturation to create an accurate rendition of the scene.

<i>Disc Installation</i>

Robert Irwin is associated with the Modern Art movement and is best known for his Installation art. Philosophers influence Irwin’s work, such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s ideas of engagement and interaction between the physical world and people. Irwin reflects these ideas through his disc installations. From 1967-1969 he worked on this installation, which consists of convex discs made of metal and plastic. The discs hang on a wall and are illuminated by floodlights to create the illusion of no edges. It is a play on light, dark, shadows, and the space in which the discs lie in.

References

  1. J. Sun and P. Perona, "Where is the sun?", Nature Neuroscience, 1(3), 183-184, 1998.
  2. McManus, I Christopher; Joseph Buckman; Euan Woolley (2004). "Is light in pictures presumed to come from the left side?". Perception. 33 (12): 1422. doi:10.1068/p5289. PMID   15729910. S2CID   23528850 . Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  3. E. Imhof, Cartographic Relief Presentation, Walter de Gruyter, 1982, reissued by ESRI Press, 2007, ISBN   978-1-58948-026-1, pp. 2-3.
  4. "How To Use Shadows And Blur Effects In Modern UI Design". Smashing Magazine. 22 February 2017.
  5. Şimşek, Mert (10 January 2018). "Mastering Shadows in Android". Medium.

See also