Watch the Magic!!

The world is a place of beauty. Vibrant colors surround us on a daily basis. Now, before this chapter, I might have taken the importance of light for granted when it comes to its relationship with color. I know shadows have been a part of my life since I was young, from games like shadow tag to seeing your shadow on the playground, they have always been apparent. However, when we learned about colors as children, I do not recall our teachers stressing the importance of light. There was simply ROYGBIV, or Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet which made up the colors of the rainbow.

So, as for the pictures above, I took a uniquely shaped, transparent vase and placed it outside on a redwood picnic table in my backyard, where the variation in sunlight is the most significant. The first photo was taken around 2 p.m. which accounts for the intensity of the brightness. The walls of my house appear extremely white, although they are really more of an off-white/eggshell color. The picnic table appears very washed out, rather than the dark shade of brown that it appears to be in person. The sunlight allows for the vase to cast a distinct shadow upon the table which distracts from the intended focal point, or vase. The light also shines through the clear vase, allowing you to see the edge of the picnic table through the top of it. Due to the intensity of the lighting, the value is lighter at the top of the vase than the bottom. The second photo was taken later in the evening, after the sunlight was no longer visible in the backyard. The shades are much darker than in the first photo, and the apparently visible shadow is no longer cast on the right side of the vase. Instead, a very dark shadow appears to the left of the vase, but is only slightly visible compared to the first photo. The walls of the house are now a darker shade of tan, the picnic table has a visible tint to it, and the edge of the table is no longer visible through the vase. Overall, in both photos the vase appears to be a relatively cool color blue, however the shadowing in the second photo gives the vase a much darker value.

Did you ever think about the importance of lighting prior to this experience as far as colors are concerned? I have formed a greater appreciation for the relationship between light and color after this weeks lecture. Now when I step out into the world, I will be seeing it through a different pair of eyes. Eyes that appreciate the importance of light when it comes to viewing the beauty in this world. I think you will take great joy in doing the same.