Light theory

Light!

What is light?

Quite simply, light is electromagnetic radiation. These bits of electromagnet radiation comes in two forms: Linear parallel rays and multi-directional rays.

Rule:

Light always travel in straight lines

Why do we need light?

It should be quite obvious why we need light, as we wont be able to see anything. But the be more specific: without light, we wont be able to what colours there is (in-fact you wouldn't be able to see any at all), you wouldn't be able to see any form nor distance of things.

How does light work?

Light is comprised of three different elements:

Absorbtion

Reflection

Refraction

What do these do?

Absorbtion: With absorbtion, it increase the saturation of a colour, and also the intensity of said colour.

Reflection: Reflection is when light bounces and diffuses (bounce light)

Refraction: This is where light is deflected through an object.

Fresnel Effect:

The Fresnel is the effect of light on water. When light hits the water at a steep angle, which changes the amount of light is reflected, thus light and detailed reflection. And the opposite of this is when the light hit shallower areas of water, which the reflected light is blurred and disordered and possible see the ground under the water.

Shadows: How do they work?

The shadows of an object completely depends and is determined on the intensity and the distance of the light source. Also the closer the shadow is to the casting object, the darker the cast shadow. The further away the shadow is from the casting object the more lighter and defused the cast shadow will be.

Examples of light and shadows!
For these examples i am using concept art pieces from Alice: Madness Returns

Above are the said concept art pieces from Alice: Madness Returns. Below are the same images with annotations.

Example 1

 Example 2

In example 1 It's also quite clear to see where the light source is, and exactly where it causes bounce light. There are many instances of bounce light in this image (I only annotated a few, if not the image will be covered in annotation)

In example 2, the it's easier to see that the light rays are linear parallel rays. It's also show a perfect example of the Fresnel effect. It show that because the water is shallow, the rays of light bounces off but there is no clear reflected light, but is blurred and you are able to see under the water.