[[Screenshot Reference from Mirrors Edge Catalyst](https://imgur.com/a/8tsvlqs)]
I’m looking at something a tad exaggerated like the overly stylized world of mirrors edge catalyst, but I see this happens IRL.
In the left side of the reference, the scaffolding is a very intense yellow, however the shadow being cast shifts hue from yellow to orange. why is it changing to a warmer color? shouldn’t it shift to a cooler color from the color of the sky? If the yellow bounce light is so strong, shouldn’t it be a darker color of the same hue? Assuming it is not metallic, How can we predict which way the hue of an object’s shadow will shift?
In: Physics
I’m not 100% sure I understand what you’re asking about, but let me tell you what I think you’re looking for.
I don’t see a shadow cast by the scaffold onto something else, so I assume you mean the shadow being cast onto the yellow scaffold, right? In that case, the shadowed region is being lit by light from the sky (and other objects in the area), but since the material/paint is so bright yellow, it’s absorbing all the blue and only reflecting the yellow light in the light hitting it – which isn’t much, which is why it’s much darker than the other, full sun sections. That said I wouldn’t describe it as a warmer color – the shadow is still cooler than the full sun sections.
If you mean the shadow above the yellow scaffold, on the white building, which is also pretty yellow, thats because it’s a yellow light coming off the scaffold which is the brightest light hitting it, and the white surface reflect almost all of that light.
A shadow is the color of all the light that was NOT blocked by the object. That is, it will be whatever color the random, scattered, reflected light around it is.
During normal daytime outdoors this is usually just a weaker version of the same color as sunlight, although there will be variations based on the local environment. With controlled lighting though, it’s possible to make some very cool effects out of this, like the magenta shadow effect.
Here’s a demonstration: [https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/colored-shadows](https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/colored-shadows)
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