In this video, you can see how the shadows get blurrier as the branches move progressively farther away. The clip is an excerpt from my Gumroad tutorial "How I Paint Dinosaurs."
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Equipment shown:
Matthews C Stand (Century Stand)
Extension grip arm
Previous posts about cast shadows
Casting long shadows to suggest ground contours
Cast shadows, part 1
Cast shadows, part 2
Chromatic shadows
Dappled light
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Gouache in the Wild Tutorial
There's a large building in our town, with a plain white wall. Two trees cast shadows on it at a certain time of day. The nearest one to the wall casts a sharp-edged shadow, while the farther one creates a much softer, blurred image.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see this unique light effect I feel the urge to grab the nearest passer by and point out this fascinating spectacle, and share the moment...
However, I strongly suspect that most bag-laden shoppers would just look at me like I've been in the sun a little too long.
Oh well.
Ah, David, you're not alone.
ReplyDeleteAnd a timely reminder of gaps in my video library. To Gumroad!
So an object that starts close to the shaded surface and progresses away would leave a progressively blurred shadow? Say a telephone pole on a street with a low angle sun for instance.
ReplyDeleteYes Chris. A shadow cast by a lamp post, telephone pole, or similar, will be sharpest at the base, where it meets the pavement/sidewalk. As you follow the shadow along though, it gets increasingly less distinct as stray light enters from the sides. You can even see the effect if you stand a pencil on end in a patch of sun.
ReplyDelete