Issa Hassan Vision and Colour - Shadows and Colour Gradations Chiaroscuro is an art technique that contrasts light

and dark series in a piece of work to achieve volume. This volume reminds me of how we rarely see shadows in real life as distinct blocks of black behind an object due to blocked light. The colour phenomenon I chose to observe is how the colours of objects are perceptually affected by shadows. The values of colour in shadows create not only a gradation in tone but a perceptive shift in the actual hue of the object. This is caused by the fact that while light travels in straight rays, and thus reflects. These reflections illuminate parts that would otherwise be shrouded in shadows creating the natural gradations we take for granted. Diffusion is another quality of reflected light that we take for granted. Most natural light is diffused due to the atmosphere. Diffusion is the reflection of light due to objects' bumpy surfaces or textures. Take for example a blue tarp hanging on scaffolding - since it is wrapped arround the metalwork, the folds catch the light and move with the wind, this causes a constant shift in what one would otherwise would consider a flat blue tarp. The nature of light makes an object that doesn't actually possess any blueness not only seem blue to the naked eye but also evoke a shift in value (and most times hue due to

reflections). I personally find it amazing how one could take such things for granted. Given, we're all routinely educated about the basic qualities of light in school but the fact that our very sight is manifest light is both perplexing and interesting. The science of sight and light doesn't take anything away from our qualia of colour or the way we each individually percieve the 'blueness' of aforementioned tarp. What one person sees as a dark blue shadow of a man standing in a snowy field, another would see black. The reality of what is seen is simply reflected and refracted (bent) light. Another example of the gradation of colour within shadows occur within hair. Thttp://support.apple.com/kb/HT4407he colour we actually percieve someone's hair to be is a result of mostly shadows. The individual strands under direct sunlight reveal a more truthful representation of what a person's hair colour actually is. It's difficult to distinguish between the first 'layer' of hair we see and the shadowed roots of one's hair. Most black hair is actually a dark brown and to achieve deep blacks, artifical hair dyes use blue-based blacks to absorb more light. I ultimately find it relevant how artists use colour in their work, most notably in colour field paintings, and have passages that don't read as flat, regardless of the subject matter.