Hands and feet

A hand looks complicated until you see it as simple forms: a block for the palm, cylinders for the fingers, a wedge for the thumb. Light shows these forms the same way it shows the basic forms.

The fist is a cube with four bumps; the open hand is a flat plane with tubes on it; the foot is a wedge with a ramp for the arch. Side light shows the tubes, top light flattens them.

1

Each finger is a cylinder: a gradient across, a flat band along.

AZ 50° EL 45°

darkest 40%average 63%brightest 76%lit 73%

2

The knuckles of the fist catch a highlight in a row, like four small spheres.

AZ 50° EL 45°

darkest 34%average 56%brightest 78%lit 52%

3

The arch of the foot makes a cast shadow under itself when the lamp is low.

AZ -80° EL 15°

darkest 31%average 57%brightest 81%lit 57%

4

Light from the side makes the long tendons and the creases of the hand read.

AZ -80° EL 15°

darkest 32%average 46%brightest 72%lit 32%

Side light shows the structure of the hand: the back is a flat plane, the fingers are cylinders and the knuckles turn quickly.

Each card is one lamp position: the picture it makes, a diagram of where the lamp stands (azimuth is measured from the camera: 0° is a lamp at the camera, positive turns it toward the picture’s left, 180° is straight behind; elevation is the angle above the table), and the values measured on the form itself.

3/4 high

AZ 50° EL 45°

darkest 40%average 63%brightest 76%lit 73%

Load in the room →

Raking side

AZ -80° EL 15°

darkest 32%average 46%brightest 72%lit 32%

Load in the room →

Load the hand open, relaxed and fist in turn with the lamp at the side. In the Surface view you see the form with no light at all: compare it with the lit picture.

Open this lesson in the Light Study Room

The room opens with the shape and the first set-up already loaded, and the same diagram you see here follows your lamp as you move it. Drag the lamp’s marker on the picture, or move it on the pad, and switch between Picture, Light only, Surface and Shadow. Or open it from inside the studio: the Study button in the bottom bar, then Academy lessons. The Light Study Room is a separate classroom for learning light on 3D shapes; when you are ready, “Send to studio” takes the shape into the main editor.

Exercises

1. Light the open hand from the side and find the long cylinders of the fingers.
2. Find the position where the four knuckles of the fist throw a row of tiny shadows.
3. Light the foot from low and from above. Which one shows the arch?

Michelangelo →Da Vinci →