Help about light and productivity.

[RamiC]

I am an Art Facilitator, in need of a way to explain the relevance of natural sunlight to human perception of colour, depth and shape. Does anyone know either a good web site or simple way I could put it into words or numbers? Of course post anything you can think of, it might make an interesting thread, but to reach the person I need to explain this to, I need basic level stuff.

I tried to explain that I, and my students must have access to real daylight. I was presented with a string of fairy lights and told "there you go, there is the light you needed." I do not know where to start because I cannot fathom how someone is seeing few miniature light bulbs and the sun as the same thing.

I have found this which is entirely art experience based, not physics.

And this which looks helpful...for the pictures...

If anybody can help me, thank you very much.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

I'm certainly no expert and it's an interesting problem for sure. Is this friend\colleague color-blind by chance? I have red\green and blue\green color blindness so those colors are muted for me. A red cardinal sitting in the grass is difficult for me to make out, for instance, because the red in the bird's feathers is just kind of dull.

That picture, though, I feel conveys it pretty well. It's obvious from those graphs that natural sunlight\daylight offers the broadest spectrum and most consistent intensity for the different wavelengths. Viewing a piece of art in that light is going to give you the best\most natural experience and allow you to see the most color details simply because those wavelengths are present and intense enough to bring them out. The only other thing I could think of would be a live demonstration. A colorful piece observed in daylight, cool white led and, maybe just for an extreme demonstration a red and\or blue\black light to demonstrate the effects of viewing the piece in each light.

 

[RamiC]

I'm certainly no expert and it's an interesting problem for sure. Is this friend\colleague color-blind by chance? I have red\green and blue\green color blindness so those colors are muted for me. A red cardinal sitting in the grass is difficult for me to make out, for instance, because the red in the bird's feathers is just kind of dull.

Thank you, that is a very good thought. She complimented me on the colour choices of the clothes I wear to work. I work in grey, black and beige, the cheapest second hand and damaged garments I can find. Colour wise, to me the clothes are awful, but I am trying to make the paintings look good not me. She is the only person I ever had to explain that to. Everyone else has been able to tell it is my workwear, and why. As an artist, I am a colourist to the core.

I just had to search for red cardinal, we don't have them around here, but looking at those images, if she would be unable to see those little guys in grass, I can understand why we have a total communication failure now. That animal is not camoflaged, not on grass.

I am so not confused now.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Maybe as a demonstration you could show the spectra above and talk about how artificial light is sort of like adding a filter. Or seeing the world through sunglasses, and when you take them off after an hour, the colors strike you differently.

Or if there is a little demo of color-blindness, where you can hold a colored filter over the dot diagram and you can't see the number, but when you remove it you can.

That said, I don't know that students must have sunlight. But certainly lighting conditions affect our perceptions.

 

[RamiC]

Maybe as a demonstration you could show the spectra above and talk about how artificial light is sort of like adding a filter. Or seeing the world through sunglasses, and when you take them off after an hour, the colors strike you differently.

Or if there is a little demo of color-blindness, where you can hold a colored filter over the dot diagram and you can't see the number, but when you remove it you can.

View attachment 361309

The filter idea is great, but right now the people who think I can work without natural light have no idea that they need to understand the science. They think it is just me being difficult. Physics and human eye biology just exist as it goes, I did not make the way light works to be awkward.

 

[BeyondET]

I am an Art Facilitator, in need of a way to explain the relevance of natural sunlight to human perception of colour, depth and shape. Does anyone know either a good web site or simple way I could put it into words or numbers? Of course post anything you can think of, it might make an interesting thread, but to reach the person I need to explain this to, I need basic level stuff.

I tried to explain that I, and my students must have access to real daylight. I was presented with a string of fairy lights and told "there you go, there is the light you needed." I do not know where to start because I cannot fathom how someone is seeing few miniature light bulbs and the sun as the same thing.

I have found this which is entirely art experience based, not physics.

And this which looks helpful...for the pictures...

View attachment 361261
If anybody can help me, thank you very much.

Blue eyes are a great example because they are not blue but clear. It appears blue because of visible light reflection regardless of the source.

Now ultraviolet, infrared light is from the sun, you can get creative with equipment that produces the source.

 

[RamiC]

Blue eyes are a great example because they are not blue but clear. It appears blue because of visible light reflection regardless of the source.

Now ultraviolet, infrared light is from the sun, you can get creative with equipment that produces the source.

If you have the equipment, in case it is not obvious from my first post, I do not work in a science lab. In fact I can safely suggest that I should probably never be allowed anywhere near one. What is the equipment anyway?

 

[BeyondET]

If you have the equipment, in case it is not obvious from my first post, I do not work in a science lab. In fact I can safely suggest that I should probably never be allowed anywhere near one. What is the equipment anyway?

A UV light is a example.

 

[RamiC]

A UV light is a example.

Yes.

I already told my colleague that if the visual art must be moved to our new location, I need a UV light (at least 1000 lux, preferably more) for each artist. That is when I was provided with a set of decorative fairy lights and told that was the light I had asked for.

I saw that essentialsaltes commented above that art can be taught without real daylight, and yes a room full of keen young students selected for passion and talent can manage a lot in reasonable (500 lux) light. My art groups are emotionally distressed vulnerable adults with no self confidence, and they are seeking art as an activity to relax. It amounts to false advertising to offer our service in poor light in my department. I am approaching an authority above my own manager's level now, because no one is listening on my floor.

DH is a professional photographer, it is hard to describe his reaction to the physics ignorance on this.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Yes.

I already told my colleague that if the visual art must be moved to our new location, I need a UV light (at least 1000 lux, preferably more) for each artist. That is when I was provided with a set of decorative fairy lights and told that was the light I had asked for.

I saw that essentialsaltes commented above that art can be taught without real daylight, and yes a room full of keen young students selected for passion and talent can manage a lot in reasonable (500 lux) light. My art groups are emotionally distressed vulnerable adults with no self confidence, and they are seeking art as an activity to relax. It amounts to false advertising to offer our service in poor light in my department. I am approaching an authority above my own manager's level now, because no one is listening on my floor.

DH is a professional photographer, it is hard to describe his reaction to the physics ignorance on this.

You can buy 'daylight' bulbs and strips that approximate the spectrum of sunlight, if that's what you're after...

 

[RamiC]

You can buy 'daylight' bulbs and strips that approximate the spectrum of sunlight, if that's what you're after...

That is what I asked for, but cannot get because no one else can see why I need them.

 

[RamiC]

So I owe this thread an explanation...as garnered from serious staff meeting earlier on.

My boss has moved everyone around as a safety measure, because of a threatening guy who has been hanging about abusing our services. Boss also admitted to suffering extreme stress over the situation, and he would because he is a very conscientious person. This sort of explains the oddness that was suddenly being ordered to help people with visual art in a dingy corner as if it didn't matter, and why science seems to have been ignored.

I am still not quite over the immense frustration, but it helps a lot to have this part of the puzzle solved.

 

[RamiC]

You can buy 'daylight' bulbs and strips that approximate the spectrum of sunlight, if that's what you're after...

I know it has been a while, but finally this Monday the manager has ordered me some studio lights. 2000 lux 95 CRI genuine real artist's studio lights. Thank you everyone who tried to and did help in this thread.