Experiment with Shadows

I did an experiment trying to figure out how the shadows would exactly work, to create this shadow on the top of the plane in Josh Lang’s close-up photo.

The variables that have to be reconciled are:

1. the angle of the light source

2. the angle of the door

3. the angle of the camera

Specifically, the light has to be at the correct angle to cause the shadow to go toward the lower right corner. The door has to be( a) at an 11:00 angle to the camera and( b) upright to the point that it appears to the camera to be a straight line.

And that position has to result in a shadow that c) makes the  horizontal window in Puentes’ images appear to be vertical, with (d) the shadowed area above and below the window being the same height.

I cut a piece of styrofoam to the same dimensions as the door in Puentes’ image. I attached a wire to the top of it so I could adjust the angles easily while photographing the shadows that resulted.

I cannot replicate that shadow. To get (c) I need to violate (a). To get (d) I need to violate (b).

I don’t see any way that the shadow on Lang’s image could happen in real life. The images from my experiment are in the document below.

 

Experiment with shadows