https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-left_lighting

Top-left lighting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Artistic convention
[300px-Still_life_-_Caravaggio]
 
Still Life with Fruit by Caravaggio (1571-1610)
[220px-Higuey]
 
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]

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.

References[edit]

 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. CS1 maint: discouraged
    parameter (link)
 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. ^ Simsek, Mert (10 January 2018). "Mastering Shadows in Android".
    Medium.


Stub   This article related to art techniques is a stub. You can help
icon   Wikipedia by expanding it.

  * v
  * t
  * e

Stub   This cartography or mapping term article is a stub. You can
icon   help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  * v
  * t
  * e

*
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=
Top-left_lighting&oldid=1019177073"
Categories:

  * Artistic techniques
  * Artistic technique stubs
  * Cartography stubs

Hidden categories:

  * CS1 maint: discouraged parameter
  * Articles with short description
  * Short description with empty Wikidata description
  * All stub articles

Navigation menu

Personal tools

  * Not logged in
  * Talk
  * Contributions
  * Create account
  * Log in

Namespaces

  * Article
  * Talk

[ ]

Variants

Views

  * Read
  * Edit
  * View history

[ ]

More

Search

[                    ] [Search] [Go]
 

Navigation

  * Main page
  * Contents
  * Current events
  * Random article
  * About Wikipedia
  * Contact us
  * Donate

Contribute

  * Help
  * Learn to edit
  * Community portal
  * Recent changes
  * Upload file

Tools

  * What links here
  * Related changes
  * Upload file
  * Special pages
  * Permanent link
  * Page information
  * Cite this page
  * Wikidata item

Print/export

  * Download as PDF
  * Printable version

Languages

Add links

  * This page was last edited on 21 April 2021, at 22:24 (UTC).
  * Text is available under the Creative Commons
    Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By
    using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
    . Wikipedia(r) is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
    Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

  * Privacy policy
  * About Wikipedia
  * Disclaimers
  * Contact Wikipedia
  * Mobile view
  * Developers
  * Statistics
  * Cookie statement

  * Wikimedia Foundation
  * Powered by MediaWiki