It seems a silly question but it doesn’t seem to make sense. If you stand in the middle of 4 light sources, one on each side while being the same distance from each one: how can they be strong enough to cast a shadow yet not strong enough to remove the competing shadow from the equally powerful light source?
In: Physics
I think your base assumption rests in the mind framing it as casting a shadow. Try to imagine the view with only one light, then a second light, and then the third. Notice how the shadow is reduced as each successive light is added. The shadow is always there, but may be reduced to a level where you are less likely to notice it.
Light is always additive. This adding of light always reduces the shadows, but it is pretty much always relative here in the real world.
You’re thinking about how the shadow is strong enough to cancel out the light. It’s simpler than that, there are dark patches wherever the pole directly blocks some light.
The shadows you’re seeing are illuminated by 3 of the lights, but they aren’t as bright as the spots illuminated by all 4 lights. The difference between the 100% illuminated grass and the 75% illuminated grass is the shadow you see.
When there are multiple light sources each light source provides a fairly equal percentage of the light so with four light sources each light provides 25% of the light so that a shadow could be an area where the light from only 3 light sources can reach, so the light is 75% of the surrounding light this means that the shadows aren’t as dark as they would be with a single light source.
The other light source is equally powerful, but it’s closer to you than it is to the other light sources.
Your body simply blocks the light from touching the ground, so if that happens to 4 lights, there’s gonna be 4 shadows
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