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Posted on 27/03/15 09:46:07 AM

Steve Caplin
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Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

On the wall of the hotel room I stayed at in Marseille recently was an interesting wall lamp. Or rather, it was deliberately uninteresting: a simple curved plastic shade, held in place by two bolts near the bottom.

But what was interesting was the subtle way in which the side lighting from the window added shading to the lamp. I've left the shadow in place so you can see the light direction; can you rebuild the lamp?

There's a clipping path which outlines the lamp area, to make it easier for you to select. I'll post the real thing next Friday.

High res is here.

Posted on 27/03/15 12:48:29 PM

DavidMac
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

Sorry Steve. This is very dumb of me but I don't quite understand what you are asking for here. What do mean by re-build the lamp? You mean show it lit without daylight? Show it from another angle? I am a bit puzzled here .......

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Posted on 27/03/15 1:39:10 PM

Steve Caplin
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

Show it by daylight, but with the proper shading. This is a grey shape I've added on top of the lamp.

Posted on 27/03/15 2:13:37 PM

srawland
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

Sorry, Steve, but I'm with David here. It looks to me like it's already a simple plastic shade. This is indeed a subtle exercise.

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Posted on 27/03/15 3:51:06 PM

DavidMac
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

I seem to be a bear of very little brain this morning. So let me get this clear. The clipping path is the real shade's profile/outline but you have filled it with a flat grey to conceal the three dimensional shade beneath. That is what we need to deduce and restore.

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Posted on 27/03/15 4:48:30 PM

Steve Caplin
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

That's right. You have to reproduce the original shading on the lamp. The shade is curved, remember, it bends around the light behind it.

I don't think it's that difficult to get it approximately right, but tricky to make it look realistic.

Posted on 27/03/15 5:09:41 PM

DavidMac
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

I have to be missing something very silly and embarrassing here ....... it cannot be be this simple and obvious.

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Posted on 27/03/15 5:17:17 PM

GKB
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

How about this?

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Posted on 27/03/15 6:13:26 PM

DavidMac
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

Here's a further speculation on how it might look lit at night ....... depending on whether the shade is opaque or translucent.

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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 27/03/15 10:38:01 PM

DavidMac
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

All my attempts are based on the premise that the shade is a semi circular section and stops just a little short of contact with the wall. It is of course perfectly possible that it is fully circular - a conical section - in which case my efforts are all way off base.

But I am not going to offer up versions based on all possibilities .......

I still have this sneaky feeling that I am entirely missing something here and, come Friday next, am going to be cringing with embarrassment.

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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 27/03/15 11:23:16 PM

michael sinclair
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

Okay, I got it!

Fact 1: the light is switched off (note the daylight shading).

Fact 2: clearly the actual design of the lampshade is unknown factor; therefore, whatever design the lampshade is that we choose, then we adhere to the shading of the curvature of the lampshade relative to the shading we see in the original image.

Fact 3: Thus thou must entereth unto the place of Google images and searcheth for lampshades.

Fact 4: if the above explanation of this further clarification of detail from Steve's original criteria is still wrong, then I feel another Napoleon coming on.

Posted on 28/03/15 05:44:17 AM

srawland
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

michael sinclair wrote:

Fact 3: Thus thou must entereth unto the place of Google images and searcheth for lampshades.

Fact 4: if the above explanation of this further clarification of detail from Steve's original criteria is still wrong, then I feel another Napoleon coming on.

In America we call those types of lighting fixtures sconces. You might want to search on that term too.

And, Michael, I'm glad the soldiers are coming back. You had me worried last week that you weren't feeling well.

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Posted on 28/03/15 11:12:32 AM

DavidMac
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Re: Challenge 549: A subtle exercise

michael sinclair wrote:

....... if the above explanation of this further clarification of detail from Steve's original criteria is still wrong, then I feel another Napoleon coming on.

A nice table lamp perhaps?