Three photographs of the same white cone, sphere, cylinder and block: lit from the side at top, from behind the camera in the middle, and from in front of the camera at bottom.

Concept · Seeing Light

Direction of Light

Where the light comes from decides how much of a subject is in light and how much in shadow.

Cross's photographs show one white group lit three ways: from the upper left (top), from behind the viewer (middle) and from in front of the viewer (bottom).

  • Side light divides each form into light and shadow, which makes its shape easy to read.
  • Light from behind the viewer flattens form; Cross wrote that its contrasts come mostly from local color.

Image: Internet Archive · Public domain (published before 1931)

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