Objects and their shadows: "Me and my shadow"
| What is a shadow? A shadow is the darkness that is cast
when light shines on an opaque (nontransparent) object.
Shadows cast from the side opposite of the light source.
Shadows are all around us, wherever there is light. We see
shadows of trees and buildings. Our bodies cast shadows. The light of
the sun also causes the earth to throw a huge shadow into space. The
moon is eclipsed (darkened) when it passes into the shadow. There are two types of shadows: umbra and penumbra. An umbra shadow occurs when a small light produces a dark shadow, because the object stops all of the light falling on it. When a large light source produces a shadow, it's called a penumbra shadow, because some of the light shines past the object into the shadow and lightens it. Shadows on earth are not as dark as shadows on the moon or in space. The reason for this is come of the light is scattered by the atmosphere and causes the light to lighten the shadows. Goal: Explore how an object's shadow can add visual interest to a photograph in addition to achieve visual tension between the object and the shadow to form different kinds of shapes. Assignment: Our theme, The Human Body. The 5th graders in this assignment were to use the largest light source (the sun) to produce the penumbra shadow of their bodies around the school campus. |
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