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  • Museum visitors interacting with the Sophisticated Shadows exhibit at the Exploratorium.
  • Museum visitor interacting with the Sophisticated Shadows exhibit at the Exploratorium.
  • Two light sources used in the Sophisticated Shadows exhibit at the Exploratorium.
  • Museum visitors interacting with the Sophisticated Shadows exhibit at the Exploratorium.
  • Museum visitor interacting with the Sophisticated Shadows exhibit at the Exploratorium.
  • Two light sources used in the Sophisticated Shadows exhibit at the Exploratorium.

Sophisticated Shadows

Explore images made from shadows.

If you think shadows are a straightforward business, prepare for a surprise—actually, a whole bunch of surprises. Combining various light sources in various ways, you’ll quickly discover that there’s nothing simple about a simple shadow. 


Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections
Exhibit Developer:   Artist Robert Larue (Bob) Miller, 1979

What’s going on?

There’s really no end to the discoveries possible at this exhibit. But there’s one phenomenon that most people find delightfully baffling: Hold up a screen with holes of various shapes punched in it—a circle, a square, a star—and the patterns of light and shadow made by each aren’t at all what you’d expect. You don’t see a circle, a square, or a star—but instead an upside-down image of the letter F—which happens to be the shape of the light source.

Light passing through small holes or gaps behaves like light in a pinhole camera—light rays from the source cross and invert as they make their way through the hole. Provided the light source is far enough away, the exact shape of the hole doesn’t matter.

Similar optics are in play when you see dappled circles of light beneath a leafy tree. Those perfect circles of light don’t come from perfectly circular gaps between the leaves—they are images of the circular Sun.

During an eclipse, it’s easy to see that light passing through a small hole takes the shape not of the hole, but of the light source. (click image to enlarge)

 
Phenomena: Image Formation, Lateral Inhibition, Parallax, Projections, Shadows
Collections: Artist-in-Residence, Seeing the Light, Young Kids

More to explore

Bob Miller Light Walk Tools: Then and Now
Bob Miller/Light Walk

Exploring the idea that light is information by using a collection of ingeniously simple props and tools.

Light Play

Explore light, shadow, and motion using a variety of simple materials and light sources.

To Do and Notice: Making a Pinhole Viewer
You can make a simple pinhole viewer that lets you see the images carried by light shining through a pinhole.
How to Build a Sun Viewer

Check out this D.I.Y. video on how to build your own sun viewer using items that you may have lying around your house.

Related exhibits

Colored Shadows
Colored Shadows

Not all shadows are black.

Gray Step
Gray Step

Your visual system uses edges to detect differences.

Shadow Box
Shadow Box

Capture a moment in time.

Rotating Shadow House
Rotating Shadow House

Explore the shifting light of day.


IMLS acknowledgment

This web project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-30-16-0175-16].

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