Lighting Observation 3.1
1) 2/15/12 – 11:23 AM – Sitting in the house of Adams Playhouse.
2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was sitting in the house waiting for the symposium to begin and was finishing mu math homework as I waited. There were only the scoop lights on in the house and the work-lights over the stage. The shadows were really intense and made it hard to work.
3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was sitting in the house of the Adams Playhouse waiting for the symposium to begin as I rushed through my last few questions of my math homework. I was leaning over in the uncomfortable seats as I used my legs as a table. I was about halfway through my first problem and I realized that I couldn’t see my work in front of me. Without realizing my struggles I automatically found myself straining back and forth in my seat to just a small bit of light to hit my paper. The Playhouse was plenty bright but all the light was coming from one direction, behind me.
I strained for a good minute before I realized I was simply blocking all of the light that was being cast down behind me. I looked up at the lights that were on and the house was solely illuminated by the few scoop lights hanging on the ceiling of the house. I looked back down at my paper and realized how defined my shadow was on my paper. the top and edges of the paper had plenty of light but the outlined shadow of my head was extremely dark and impossible to work under. I was slightly confused as to why there was no other light hitting my paper from any other angles. I looked over the stage and saw that the work-lights were on but after studying them I realized that they were not illuminating anything other than what was on stage because the fixtures were hung so hight and bleeding was prevented by the borders in the flys. I noticed that around my main shadow there were two other very faint shadows that were hardly noticeable until I really studied the light. These shadows were cast off from the reflections of the lights above the house. I sat there and played with my shadows until the symposium started, looking up at the lights while I did so. I was able to realize the characteristics of this form of lighting and saw that with just this one light being projected on me as opposed to the full house lights, my visibility had been severely decreased.